The Rally2 regulations were developed ahead of the 2012 rallying season under the designation R5, a sub-class within the broader Group R framework. R5 cars were conceived as an intended replacement for the S2000 category, offering four-wheel drive and forced induction to a wider range of manufacturers while keeping costs below those of the top World Rally Car class.
In 2019, as part of a comprehensive reorganisation of the FIA Rally Pyramid, the R5 ruleset was officially renamed Group Rally2. All cars homologated or approved under the R5 designation from their introduction onwards remained eligible for competition under the new Rally2 classification, preserving the investment of teams and manufacturers who had developed R5 machinery.
The rebranding also resolved a naming ambiguity. Before 2019, the term "Rally 2" referred to a sporting provision allowing a competitor who retired from a rally to restart the following day. That concept was renamed "re-start after retirement" in FIA regulations from 2019 onwards to avoid confusion with the new car class name.
Group Rally2 should also not be confused with Group R's R2 cars, which are officially designated "Rallye 2" — a distinct and lower-specification category.
Group Rally2 cars are defined in FIA Appendix J, Article 261, as touring cars or large-scale series production cars with a supercharged (turbocharged) petrol engine and four-wheel drive. A road-going production car with at least 2,500 identical units manufactured must first be homologated in Group A, and then all the components and modifications that transform it into a Rally2-specification car are separately homologated as an extension of that base homologation.
The power-to-weight ratio is capped at 4.2 kg/hp. Engine displacement is 1.6 litres with turbocharging. The gearbox is limited to five forward speeds, a requirement shared with the top-level Rally1 class.
Rally2 cars are placed in the FIA's RC2 sporting class, which also includes Group Rally2-kit cars, R4, NR4, and S2000 machinery. Within the WRC, Rally2 entries compete exclusively in the WRC2 support championship rather than the main WRC standings, which are reserved for Rally1 machinery.
The broad eligibility of Rally2 cars — spanning continental championships, national championships, and individual rallies outside the WRC calendar — has made the category the most widely adopted class in professional rallying globally. A common regulatory base across many championships means manufacturers can develop a single Rally2 homologation and sell it to privateer teams competing at multiple levels of the sport.
Group Rally2 occupies a critical position in the rally career ladder. It is accessible enough in cost for well-funded privateer teams and national-level competitors, yet competitive enough that outright Rally2 victories carry genuine prestige. For drivers aspiring to reach the WRC, the WRC2 class contested in Rally2 cars serves as the primary proving ground, and several WRC champions developed in Rally2-specification machinery. The class has also enabled manufacturers outside the very top tier to maintain a meaningful presence in international rallying through homologated Rally2 programmes.