2019 World Rally Championship-2

The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship-2 was the seventh season of the World Rally Championship-2, an auto racing championship for rally cars that is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was created when the Group R class of rally car was introduced in 2013 and runs in support of the World Rally Championship. The championship is open to cars complying with R5 regulations.^[1]

The 2019 season saw the creation of a new class within the championship, known as the World Rally Championship-2 Pro.^[2][3] The Pro class was open to manufacturer entries competing in cars built to R5 specifications, while the wider World Rally Championship-2 was open to privately entered cars.

Calendar[]

A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2019 championship. Event headquarters are marked with a black dot.

The championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Australia.^[2]

Round	Dates		Rally	Rally headquarters	Rally details
	Start	Finish			Surface	Stages	Distance
1	24 January	27 January	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Mixed[a]	16[b]	323.83 km
2	14 February	17 February	Rally Sweden	Torsby, Värmland	Snow	19	316.80 km
3	7 March	10 March	Rally Guanajuato México	León, Guanajuato	Gravel	21	316.51 km
4	28 March	31 March	Tour de Corse	Bastia, Corsica	Tarmac	14	347.51 km
5	25 April	28 April	Rally Argentina	Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba	Gravel	18[c]	347.50 km
6	9 May	12 May	Rally Chile	Talcahuano, Biobío	Gravel	16	304.81 km
7	30 May	2 June	Rally de Portugal	Matosinhos, Porto	Gravel	20[d]	311.47 km
8	13 June	16 June	Rally Italia Sardegna	Alghero, Sardinia	Gravel	19	310.52 km
9	1 August	4 August	Rally Finland	Jyväskylä, Central Finland	Gravel	23	307.58 km
10	22 August	25 August	ADAC Rallye Deutschland	Bostalsee, Saarland	Tarmac	19	344.04 km
11	12 September	15 September	Rally of Turkey	Marmaris, Muğla	Gravel	17	318.77 km
12	3 October	6 October	Wales Rally GB	Llandudno, Conwy	Gravel	22[e]	312.75 km
13	24 October	27 October	RACC Rally Catalunya de España	Salou, Catalonia	Mixed[f]	17	325.56 km
14	14 November	17 November	Rally Australia	Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	Gravel	Cancelled[g]
Source:[2][5][6]

Calendar expansion[]

Following the return of Rally Turkey to the championship in 2018, the FIA announced plans to expand the calendar to fourteen rounds in 2019 with the long-term objective of running sixteen championship events. Twelve prospective bids for events were put together,^[7] including candidate events in New Zealand, Japan and Chile.^[8] Prospective events in Kenya, Croatia, Canada and Estonia expressed interest in joining the calendar within five years.^{[9][10][11][12]}

The planned expansion put pressure on European rounds to maintain their position on the calendar as teams were unwilling to contest sixteen events immediately. The Tour de Corse and Rally Italia Sardegna proved to be unpopular among teams for the logistical difficulties of travelling to Corsica and Sardinia and low spectator attendance at the events.^[7][13] Organisers of Rally Japan reached an agreement with the sport's promoter to host a rally in 2019, with the proposed event moving from Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido to Toyota City in Honshu.^[14] However, plans to return to Japan were abandoned when the promoter came under pressure to retain the Tour de Corse.^[15]

The proposed events in Japan and Kenya ran candidate events in 2019 in a bid to join the championship in 2020.^[16][17] Both were successful in secure a place on the 2020 calendar. The calendar published in October 2018 included Rally Chile as part of the expansion to fourteen rounds.^[2] The event was based in Concepción and ran on gravel roads.^[18]

Route changes[]

The route of Rallye Monte Carlo was shortened by 70.91 km (44.1 mi) compared to the 2018 route.^[19] The route was revised after rule changes that were introduced for the 2019 championship limited the maximum distance of a route to 350 km (217.5 mi).^[2] Organisers of the Tour de Corse announced plans for a new route, with up to three-quarters of the 2019 route being revised from the 2018 rally.^[16] Rally de Portugal was also shortened by 46.72 km (29.0 mi) compared to the 2018 route.^[20]

Entries[]

In accordance with the 2019 regulations, all crews in WRC-2 were required to register as independent entrants. Teams were still allowed to be present, but only to prepare the car for the driver.^[1]

Manufacturer	Team	Car	Tyre	Crew details
				Driver name	Co-driver name	Rounds
Citroën	CHL Sport Auto	Citroën C3 R5	M	Yoann Bonato		1, 4
	Citroën Total		M		Martijn Wydaeghe	1, 4, 7–8, 10, 12–13
	G.Car Sport Racing		P			2
	Citroën Monster Procircuit Rally Team		M			6
						6
						6
	Rosselot Rally Team		M			6
	Citroën Vodafone Team		P			7
	Saintéloc Junior Team		M	Eric Camilli		13
	MRT Motorsport	Citroën DS3 R5	M			6
Volkswagen	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	M	Ole Christian Veiby	Jonas Andersson	1–2, 4, 7–8, 12–13
			P	Johan Kristoffersson		2, 9
	THX Racing		M			1, 4, 10
	Printsport		M			2, 9, 13
						2
	BMA Autosport		M	Eric Camilli		4
						12
			P	Stéphane Lefebvre		10
						10
	Lotos Rally Team		P	Kajetan Kajetanowicz		4–6, 10, 12–13
	Racing 4 You		M			7
	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden		P	Oliver Solberg	Aaron Johnston	12
				Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	12
	AR Vidal Racing		P	Nil Solans	Marc Martí	13
Ford	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta R5	M	Adrien Fourmaux	Renaud Jamoul	1, 4, 10, 12
						3
					Marc Martí	5–6
						3, 5–7
						6
			P	Emil Bergkvist		2, 7
				[h]		4, 7
				Nil Solans	Marc Martí	4, 8
	Tommi Mäkinen Racing		P	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	2, 4–8
	Castrol Ford Team Türkiye		P			11
						11
	Tommi Mäkinen Racing	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	P	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	9
	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team		P			10–11
				Jan Solans		13
			M	Gaurav Gill		11–12, 14
				Adrien Fourmaux	Renaud Jamoul	13
						13
Škoda	BMA Autosport	Škoda Fabia R5	M	[i]		1, 9
	Brettex Site Services		P	Rhys Yates	Denis Giraudet	1
						2, 4, 7, 10
	Sportec Engineering		P			1
	Toksport World Rally Team		M	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	2, 7, 11–12
						2
			P	Eyvind Brynildsen		2
	Sports Racing Technologies		P	Nikolay Gryazin		2
			M			4, 7–10
	Printsport		M	Jari Huttunen		2
						9
	Brink Motorsport		P			2
	Max Rpm		P	Patrik Flodin		2
	Pontus Tidemand Racing		P			2
	SMK Sundsvall		P			2
	SXM Compétition		P			2
			M			4
	Race Seven		M	Benito Guerra		3, 5–7
			P	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson		11–14
	RB Motorsport					8
	Free Rally Service		M			3
	2C Competition		M	Pierre-Louis Loubet	Vincent Landais	4, 7–8
	Motorsport Italia		P			4, 8, 10, 13–14
						11–12
				Paulo Nobre		5–6, 9, 11–13
			M			11
	Sport & You					7
			P			7
	Susaron Rally Team		M			6
	CB Tech Rally by Škoda		M			6
						6
						6
	ARC Sport		M			7
						7
	TGS Worldwide		P			7
	P&B Racing		M			7
	Lotos Rally Team		P	Kajetan Kajetanowicz		8, 11
	BC Vision Motorsport		P			11
						11
						11
	Calm Competició		M			13
	2C Competition	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M	Pierre-Louis Loubet		9, 12–14
	Toksport World Rally Team		M	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	9
	SXM Compétition		M			10
	Škoda Auto Deutschland		M			10
			P			10
	Race Seven		M	Benito Guerra		12
						13–14
	Sports Racing Technologies		M	Nikolay Gryazin		13
Hyundai	HMI Hyundai Italian Rally Team	Hyundai i20 R5	P	[h]		1
	Hyundai Motorsport N		P	Simone Tempestini		4, 7–8, 10, 12–13
				Jari Huttunen		7
						9
	Point Cola Racing		M			6
				Tomás Etcheverry		6
	Team Hyundai Portugal		M	Armindo Araújo		7
				Bruno Magalhães		7
	Sarrazin Motorsport		P			10
	Melvyn Evans Motorsport		P	Rhys Yates		12–13
Peugeot	Peugeot Sport Chile	Peugeot 208 T16 R5	M	Francisco López		6
Source:[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

Crew changes[]

Daniel Barritt left the M-Sport World Rally Team to partner Toyota protégé Takamoto Katsuta.^[31]

Changes[]

The formation of the World Rally Championship-2 Pro class saw the introduction of changes to class eligibility. The Pro class will be open to manufacturer-supported entries, with teams permitted to enter two crews per event. Pro class entries must contest a minimum of eight rallies, including one outside Europe. Only the eight best results will contribute to the Pro class championship. Crews contesting the wider World Rally Championship-2 will not face any such restrictions.^[32]

The team's championship of the wider World Rally Championship-2 was discontinued. Entrants in the championship are now required to register under the name of the crew's driver.^[1]

Results and standings[]

Season summary[]

Round	Event	Winning driver	Winning co-driver	Winning time	Report
1	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	Yoann Bonato		3:35:12.4	Report
2	Rally Sweden	Ole Christian Veiby	Jonas Andersson	2:54:04.0	Report
3	Rally Guanajuato México	Benito Guerra		3:52:43.5	Report
4	Tour de Corse			3:34:28.6	Report
5	Rally Argentina		Marc Martí	3:41:09.1	Report
6	Rally Chile	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	3:29:26.7	Report
7	Rally de Portugal	Pierre-Louis Loubet	Vincent Landais	3:33:09.1	Report
8	Rally Italia Sardegna	Pierre-Louis Loubet	Vincent Landais	3:43:40.2	Report
9	Rally Finland	Nikolay Gryazin		2:41:09.0	Report
10	ADAC Rallye Deutschland			3:28:16.7	Report
11	Marmaris Rally of Turkey	Kajetan Kajetanowicz		4:06:00.4	Report
12	Wales Rally GB	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	3:12:34.1	Report
13	RACC Rally Catalunya de España	Eric Camilli		3:16:26.8	Report
14	Rally Australia	Rally cancelled (due to bushfires)			Report[33]

Scoring system[]

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event.

Drivers' standings[]

Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX FRA ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points Best 6 1 Pierre-Louis Loubet 10 1 1 4 2 5 C 91 91 2 Kajetan Kajetanowicz 3 Ret WD 2 3 1 12 3 88 88 3 Benito Guerra 1 2 2 6 7 Ret C 75 75 4 Nikolay Gryazin 5 2 5 Ret 1 5 11 73 73 5 1 7 Ret 3 5 6 WD 64 64 6 Ole Christian Veiby 3 1 Ret Ret 5 11 4 62 62 7 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson 2 4 2 4 Ret WD 60 60 8 Takamoto Katsuta Ret 4 5 1 13 Ret Ret 47 47 9 Henning Solberg 7 3 5 4 WD 43 43 10 2 7 2 42 42 11 3 4 Ret 7 6 WD 41 41 12 Paulo Nobre 3 7 6 6 8 Ret 41 41 13 Adrien Fourmaux 2 9 8 3 13 39 39 14 Johan Kristoffersson 3 3 30 30 15 Emil Bergkvist 4 2 30 30 16 Rhys Yates 4 10 5 15 7 10 WD 30 30 17 Simone Tempestini 11 10 3 4 WD Ret 28 28 18 Ret 1 10 26 26 19 Yoann Bonato 1 12 25 25 20 1 25 25 21 Petter Solberg 1 25 25 22 Eric Camilli Ret 1 25 25 23 Ret 7 9 6 10 9 8 23 23 24 Jari Huttunen Ret Ret 2 18 18 25 2 18 18 26 3 15 15 27 4 12 12 28 4 12 12 29 5 Ret Ret 10 10 30 5 10 10 31 5 10 10 32 6 8 8 33 Eyvind Brynildsen 6 8 8 34 6 Ret 8 8 35 6 8 8 36 6 8 8 37 Ret 8 16 9 9 12 8 8 38 7 6 6 39 7 6 6 40 Patrik Flodin 8 4 4 41 8 4 4 42 Armindo Araújo 8 4 4 43 8 4 4 44 Ret 8 4 4 45 9 2 2 46 Francisco López 9 2 2 47 Nil Solans Ret Ret 9 2 2 48 Jan Solans 10 1 2 Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX FRA ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points Best 6

hideKey Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Co-Drivers' standings[]

Pos. Co-Driver MON SWE MEX FRA ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points Best 6 1 Vincent Landais 10 1 1 4 2 5 C 91 91 2 3 Ret WD 2 3 1 12 3 88 88 3 5 2 5 Ret 1 5 11 73 73 4 1 2 2 6 69 69 5 Jonas Andersson 3 1 Ret Ret 5 11 4 62 62 6 2 4 2 4 Ret WD 60 60 7 Daniel Barritt Ret 4 5 1 13 Ret Ret 47 47 8 Ilka Minor 7 3 5 4 WD 43 43 9 2 7 2 42 42 10 3 4 Ret 7 6 WD 41 41 11 Gabriel Morales 3 7 6 6 8 Ret 41 41 12 Renaud Jamoul 2 9 8 3 13 39 39 13 3 5 6 33 33 14 1 7 Ret WD 31 31 15 3 3 30 30 16 4 2 30 30 17 Marc Martí Ret Ret 1 10 Ret 9 28 28 18 11 10 3 4 WD Ret 28 28 19 1 12 25 25 20 1 25 25 21 Phil Mills 1 25 25 22 1 25 25 23 Martijn Wydaeghe Ret 7 9 6 10 9 8 23 23 24 2 18 18 25 2 18 18 26 10 5 15 7 10 WD 18 18 27 3 15 15 28 Denis Giraudet 4 12 12 29 4 12 12 30 4 12 12 31 5 Ret Ret 10 10 32 5 10 10 33 5 10 10 34 6 8 8 35 6 8 8 36 6 Ret 8 8 37 6 8 8 38 6 8 8 39 Ret 8 16 9 9 12 8 8 40 7 6 6 41 7 Ret C 6 6 42 7 6 6 43 8 4 4 44 8 4 4 45 8 4 4 46 Ret 8 4 4 47 Ret 8 4 4 48 9 2 2 49 9 2 2 50 10 1 1 Pos. Co-Driver MON SWE MEX FRA ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points Best 6

hideKey Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Footnotes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website of the World Rally Championship
• Official website of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile