The creation of WRC2 followed a significant restructuring of the World Rally Championship's support ladder in 2012. After the FIA terminated the contract with former WRC promoter North One Sports following its collapse, a new commercial arrangement was ratified in September 2012 between Sportsman Media and Red Bull. At the same time, the FIA announced the abolition of both the Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) and the Production car World Rally Championship (PWRC), replacing them with two new support championships: WRC2 and WRC3.
A deliberate distinction was drawn from the outset: unlike the SWRC, WRC2 was not an independent world championship. That classification carried regulatory obligations under the FIA International Sporting Code — including minimum calendar commitments and world-class judging standards — that the organizers wished to avoid. Consequently, WRC2 champions are not world champions under the formal definition of that title, and the full designation "World Rally Championship 2" has rarely appeared in official regulations since the series launched.
When WRC2 began in 2013, it admitted a broader range of machinery than the old SWRC: alongside Super 2000 cars, the new R5 category and four-wheel-drive Group N cars were permitted. Round-by-round entry nomination was introduced for the first time, allowing competitors to select which rounds would count toward their championship tally with no minimum commitment required. Participation immediately grew: 36 drivers scored points in the inaugural WRC2 season, compared to just 13 in the final year of its SWRC predecessor.
The eligibility rules of WRC2 were progressively tightened in subsequent years. For the 2019 season, Super 2000 and Group N cars were removed from the eligibility list; only R5-specification cars could enter, a class later renamed Rally2 in official regulations from 2020.
The 2019 season also saw the introduction of WRC 2 Pro, a parallel sub-championship designed to attract manufacturer teams. WRC 2 Pro required a minimum of eight rallies — including at least one outside Europe — and allowed manufacturers to enter up to two crews per event. The experiment was short-lived. Critics found the two-tier structure confusing, no new manufacturers were attracted as intended, and Skoda, the only paying manufacturer entrant and the 2019 champion, withdrew from WRC entry for 2020. WRC 2 Pro was abandoned after a single season.
Between 2020 and 2021, WRC2 was restructured once more. Manufacturer and approved independent teams contested WRC2 proper, while a revived WRC3 category was created for privateer drivers in Rally2 cars. From 2022, WRC2 again expanded to allow privateers, following the introduction of the new Group Rally3 class, which gave WRC3 its own distinct technical platform.
Under the format in place since 2022, WRC2 is open to both manufacturer-entered and privateer crews driving Rally2 cars. Teams may enter a maximum of six European rounds plus one outside Europe, with the best results from a nominated subset counting toward the championship. Drivers must nominate their scoring rounds in advance; the best results from nominated events count toward the points tally.
Championship titles exist for teams, drivers, and co-drivers. A Challenger sub-classification is available to drivers without prior WRC2 or WRC3 wins in Rally2 machinery, providing a separate competitive category for emerging talent.
Power Stage points are awarded to the three fastest WRC2 drivers on selected stages, on a 3-2-1 basis.
The principal Rally2 cars eligible for WRC2 include the Hyundai i20 N Rally2, Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, Ford Fiesta Rally2, and Citroën C3 Rally2, among others. Several R5-generation cars from manufacturers including Volkswagen, Peugeot, and Proton remain eligible in their respective homologation windows.
In 2026, Lancia returned to the World Rally Championship for the first time in over three decades, entering WRC2 with the Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale — marking Lancia's first appearance in a category that did not exist during its earlier championship-winning era.
WRC2 established itself as the primary proving ground for works-backed junior drivers and privateer specialists alike. Its open nomination format and broad manufacturer support have made it consistently the most-populated of the WRC's support classes. The category has launched careers of multiple drivers who subsequently graduated to the top Rally1 class, and its manufacturer battles — most prominently Skoda's long-running factory involvement — have provided competitive narratives rivaling the top tier on many events.