Andreas Mikkelsen is the 2021 WRC-2 drivers' champion.
The 2022 FIA World Rally Championship-2 is the tenth 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 is open to cars entered by teams and complying with Group Rally2.[1][2] The championship will begin in January 2022 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and is due to conclude in November 2022 with Rally Japan, and will run in support of the 2022 World Rally Championship.
Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen are the defending 2021 drivers' and co-drivers' champions. Movisport are the defending teams' champions.
A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2022 championship. Event Headquarters are marked with black dots.
Location changes[]
The headquarter of the Monte Carlo Rally moved from Gap, Hautes-Alpes to Monaco solely. The rally had previously based in Monaco in 2006.[14]
Rally Sweden is due to return to the championship after a one-year absence. In case of a lack of snow, the organizers are planned to move the rally headquarter for the first time in history.[15] It will relocate from Torsby, Värmland northwards to Umeå in Västerbotten County.[16] The rally was initially covered 303.74 km (188.7 mi) in nineteen special stages, but it was reduced to seventeen in a total of 264.81 km (164.5 mi) due to reindeer movements.[17]
Rally New Zealand is set to return to the championship for the first time since 2012.[19] The country had also secured a spot in the calendar in 2020, but their bid to return to championship was taken down due to the cancellation of the event in response to the COVID-19 situation.[20]
For the third year in a row, Rally Japan takes the final spot in the original calendar. The previous two years saw the rally called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21]
Rally Mexico has contracts to hold the WRC event in 2022 and 2023, but the rally was not included on the 2022 calendar.[22] A national event was held in the bid of a 2023 return.[23]
Rally Chile finds itself in a similar situation like Mexico when its contract with WRC Promoter GmbH is set to end in 2022. Chile had previously hosted the event in 2019.[24]
Rally GB was bidding for a 2022 return as the event was planned to hold in Northern Ireland, but the proposal was ultimately failed.[25]
Entries[]
The following teams and crews are officially entered into the 2022 World Rally Championship-2:
The following titles will be contested within the WRC-2 category in 2022:[1]
Open Championship for Drivers
Open Championship for Co-Drivers
Championship for Teams
Junior Championship for Drivers
Junior Championship for Co-Drivers
Masters Cup for Drivers
Masters Cup for Co-Drivers
In a change to 2021 rules, drivers can enter the Open and Junior championships independently instead of having to enter through a team. Teams wishing to compete in the championship for teams must follow the same rules. For WRC2 Junior championships, drivers must have been born on or after 1 January 1992 with no registration necessary. Juniors must not have previously won WRC2 or WRC3 or ever been nominated to score points in the WRC Manufacturers Championship. The Masters Cup will run alongside the open championship for drivers born on or before 1 January 1972 and have registered to compete in the cup.
For the Open and Junior Driver and Co-Driver championships, points will be considered from the best 6 of 7 rounds entered. For Teams and the Masters Cup, points from the best 5 of 6 rallies entered in Europe will count, plus bonus points from a seventh round entered outside Europe.[1]
Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event. Power Stage points are also awarded in the drivers' and co-drivers' championships, with three points awarded to the first place finisher on the stage, two to second place, and one to third. A team has to enter two cars to score points in an event. Drivers and teams must nominate a scoring rally when they enter the event and the best six scores from seven nominated rallies will count towards the final classification. Registered drivers are able to enter additional rallies with Priority 2 status without scoring points.[1]
^The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.
^Nikolay Gryazin is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[27]
^ is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[27]
^ abNikolay Gryazin is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor using the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile flag as Russian national emblems were banned by the association due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[32]
^ is Russian, but he competes as a neutral competitor using the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile flag as Russian national emblems were banned by the association due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[32]
^Evans, David (29 November 2019). "WRC's 2020 Rally Chile cancelled due to political and social unrest". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 31 December 2019. Rally Chile's Felipe Horta said: 'The decision was to wait a year to take the world championship. We have talked with the FIA and the WRC [Promoter] in Germany, where they have fortunately understood very favourably what is happening and are allowing us to cancel the 2020 date and resume the contract we have established for three years.'
Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo
Rally Sweden
Croatia Rally
Rally de Portugal
Rally Italia Sardegna
Safari Rally Kenya
Rally Estonia
Rally Finland
Ypres Rally Belgium
Acropolis Rally Greece
Rally New Zealand
RACC Rally Catalunya de España
Rally Japan
Stéphane Lefebvre
Sean Johnston
Toksport WRT
Marco Bulacia
Andreas Mikkelsen
Nikolay Gryazin[b]
