The FIA has supplied an extra eight Hankook tyres to top-tier World Rally Championship crews ahead of the abrasive gravel loop in Chile.
Rally1 competitors will now receive 36 covers for the South American event, rather than the standard 28.
Rally2 participants will remain on their original 30-tyre limit.
This immediate intervention follows a spate of severe delaminations and punctures during an unseasonably hot outing in Paraguay.
Hankook Faces Abrasive Gravel Challenge
The reactive allocation shift exposes wider concerns regarding compound durability and early-stage planning between governing stakeholders.
Such mid-season structural adjustments highlight the significant strategic hurdles awaiting new promoter chief Eric Boullier.
Teams must now drastically alter their loop strategies to maximise the expanded allowance over the rough terrain.
“The conditions in Paraguay were exceptionally demanding this year,” FIA road sport director Emilia Abel told DirtFish.
Abel confirmed the governing body is attempting to involve the supplier earlier in the logistical process.
Development Focus Turns To 2027
Hankook acknowledged that the aggressive nature of the compacted clay and bedrock stages caught their engineers by surprise.
“What we saw in the [Friday] morning was much more wear than we expected, much more than last year,” Hankook’s Steven Cho told Motorsport.com.
The South Korean manufacturer continues to develop its rubber ahead of the 2027 technical regulations.
Elfyn Evans currently leads the 2026 drivers’ standings and will carry a wider strategic margin into the opening Chilean stages.
