Junior World Rally Championship

Junior World Rally Championship
Category	Group Rally4
Country	International
Inaugural season
Drivers' champion	Sami Pajari
Co-Drivers' champion	Marko Salminen
Official website	www.wrc.com
	Current season

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena at the 2001 Rally Finland.

P-G Andersson and Suzuki celebrating JWRC class victory at the 2004 Rally Finland.

The FIA Junior World Rally Championship (also Junior WRC or JWRC) is an international rally competition restricted to drivers under 29 years old. The championship consists of select rallies on the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar. The category has been a stepping stone in the career of WRC Champions Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier, as well as current drivers such as Dani Sordo, Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville. Junior WRC differs from other WRC championships as all cars are identical, provided and serviced by the same entity under contract to the FIA. The car used in 2021 was a Ford Fiesta Rally4.^[1] Championship titles are awarded to the winning Driver and Co-Driver. There is also a Nations Trophy.

The 2021 season of Junior WRC will be the last under two-wheel drive regulations. New Junior categories inside each of WRC-2 and WRC-3 were announced in March 2021 to begin in the 2022 season.^[2] The FIA also announced simultaneously that there will be no two-wheel drive championship within WRC. However, Junior WRC will continue in 2022 in the existing arrive-and-drive format run by M-Sport Poland using four-wheel drive Group Rally3 cars on selected rounds of the WRC calendar.^[3]^[4]

History[]

The championship was first held in 2001 as the FIA Super 1600 Drivers' Championship, and included six events in Europe. Sébastien Loeb became the series' first champion, driving a Super 1600-class Citroën Saxo. The series became the Junior World Rally Championship the following year.

In 2007, the championship did not include events outside Europe, and was known as the FIA Junior Rally Championship (JRC) for one season only.

In 2011 the FIA replaced the Junior WRC with WRC Academy. This was the first year the championship was managed under contract. M-Sport provided identical Ford Fiesta R2 cars to entrants to use. In 2013 the series was renamed to FIA Junior World Rally Championship once again.^[5]

In 2014 Citroën won the contract to run JWRC providing Citroën DS3 R3T cars. M-Sport repurposed the old Ford Fiesta R2 units for the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy. In 2017 M-Sport regained the running rights continuing to use the Ford Fiesta R2. Following the introduction of the Rally Pyramid in 2019, the latest evolution Ford Fiesta Rally4 was introduced for the second round of the 2020 season.

At the 2018 season the number of rallies were reduced to 5, while the last rally gives double points.

In March 2021 the FIA announced there will not be any two-wheel drive championships in WRC from 2022.^[2] It was later announced Rally3 cars will be used for Junior WRC from then on.^[3]^[4]

Rules[]

The Junior WRC is open to drivers under the age of 29 who have not competed as a Priority 1 (P1) driver in an FIA World Rally Championship event. Competitors drive identical Ford Fiesta Rally4 cars using Pirelli tyres. There is no obligation to enter a minimum number of rounds and all rounds contribute to the championship points tally.^[6]

The point-scoring system is the same as in the WRC, WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships, with points allocated to the top ten classified finishers as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

The last rally in the season awards double classification points to competitors who have started at least 3 previous rounds. Power Stage points are not awarded in Junior WRC as in the other WRC championships, however JWRC competitors can score one championship bonus point for each stage win during the season.^[6]

The Nations Trophy sums points of the best performing driver from each nation each round, not including stage points.^[6]

Results[]

Drivers' Championship[]

Year	Series name	Champion	Car	2nd place	Car	3rd place	Car
2021	Junior World Rally Championship	Sami Pajari	Ford Fiesta Rally4		Ford Fiesta Rally4		Ford Fiesta Rally4
2020		Tom Kristensson	Ford Fiesta Rally4		Ford Fiesta Rally4	Sami Pajari	Ford Fiesta Rally4
2019		Jan Solans	Ford Fiesta R2	Tom Kristensson	Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2
2018		Emil Bergkvist	Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2
2017		Nil Solans	Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2
2016		Simone Tempestini	Citroën DS3 R3T	Martin Koči	Citroën DS3 R3T		Citroën DS3 R3T
2015		Quentin Gilbert	Citroën DS3 R3T	Ole Christian Veiby	Citroën DS3 R3T		Citroën DS3 R3T
2014		Stéphane Lefebvre	Citroën DS3 R3T	Alastair Fisher	Citroën DS3 R3T	Martin Koči	Citroën DS3 R3T
2013		Pontus Tidemand	Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2	Sander Pärn	Ford Fiesta R2
2012	WRC Academy	Elfyn Evans	Ford Fiesta R2		Ford Fiesta R2	Pontus Tidemand	Ford Fiesta R2
2011	WRC Academy	Craig Breen	Ford Fiesta R2	Egon Kaur	Ford Fiesta R2	Alastair Fisher	Ford Fiesta R2
2010	Junior World Rally Championship	Aaron Burkart	Suzuki Swift S1600	Hans Weijs, Jr.	Citroën C2 S1600	Todor Slavov	Renault Clio R3
2009		Martin Prokop	Citroën C2 S1600	Michał Kościuszko	Suzuki Swift S1600	Aaron Burkart	Suzuki Swift S1600
2008		Sébastien Ogier	Citroën C2 S1600	Aaron Burkart	Citroën C2 S1600	Martin Prokop	Citroën C2 S1600
2007	FIA Junior Rally Championship	Per-Gunnar Andersson	Suzuki Swift S1600	Urmo Aava	Suzuki Swift S1600	Martin Prokop	Citroën C2 S1600
2006	Junior World Rally Championship	Patrik Sandell	Renault Clio S1600	Urmo Aava	Suzuki Swift S1600	Per-Gunnar Andersson	Suzuki Swift S1600
2005		Dani Sordo	Citroën C2 S1600	Kris Meeke	Citroën C2 S1600	Guy Wilks	Suzuki Ignis S1600
2004		Per-Gunnar Andersson	Suzuki Ignis S1600	Nicolas Bernardi	Renault Clio S1600	Guy Wilks	Suzuki Ignis S1600
2003		Brice Tirabassi	Renault Clio S1600		Suzuki Ignis S1600	Daniel Carlsson	Suzuki Ignis S1600
2002		Daniel Solà	Citroën Saxo VTS S1600		Citroën Saxo VTS S1600	Janne Tuohino	Citroën Saxo VTS S1600
2001	FIA Cup for Super 1600 Drivers	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Saxo VTS S1600		Fiat Punto S1600	Niall McShea	Ford Puma S1600 Citroën Saxo VTS S1600

Notes

The 2011 and 2012 championships were run as the FIA WRC Academy.
The 2007 championship was run as the FIA Junior Rally Championship.
The 2001 championship was run as the FIA Cup for Super 1600 Drivers.

Statistics[]

By driver's country


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Sweden	6	2	4	12
2	France	5	2	4	11
3	Spain	4	3	0	7
4	Great Britain	1	3	4	8
5	Germany	1	1	1	3
6	Czech Republic	1	0	2	3
6	Finland	1	0	2	3
8	Ireland	1	0	0	1
8	Romania	1	0	0	1
10	Estonia	0	3	1	4
11	Italy	0	2	0	2
12	Latvia	0	1	1	2
12	Slovakia	0	1	1	2
14	Netherlands	0	1	0	1
	Norway	0	1	0	1
	Poland	0	1	0	1
17	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
Totals (17 nations)		21	21	21	63

By manufacturer


Rank	Manufacturer	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Ford	8	8	8	24
2	Citroën	8	7	7	22
3	Suzuki	3	4	5	12
4	Renault	2	1	1	4
5	Fiat	0	1	0	1
Totals (5 manufacturers)		21	21	21	63

Round wins[]

Updated after 2020 season.

Wins by driver
	Driver	Total
1	Martin Prokop	9
2	Per-Gunnar Andersson	8
3	Quentin Gilbert	5
	Tom Kristensson	5
	Sébastien Loeb	5
	Guy Wilks	5
7	Elfyn Evans	4
		4
	Nil Solans	4
	Dani Sordo	4
	Simone Tempestini	4
	Brice Tirabassi	4
13	Egon Kaur	3
	Michał Kościuszko	3
	Stephane Lefebvre	3
	Sébastien Ogier	3
	Dani Solà	3
	Pontus Tidemand	3
19	Urmo Aava	2
	Kevin Abbring	2
	Mirco Baldacci	2
	Nicolas Bernardi	2
	Craig Breen	2
	Aaron Burkart	2
	Daniel Carlsson	2
		2
	Martin Koči	2
		2
	Kris Meeke	2
		2
	Patrik Sandell	2
	Jan Solans	2
		2
		2
	Ole Christian Veiby	2
	Hans Weijs, Jr.	2
37		1
	Emil Bergkvist	1
		1
	François Duval	1
		1
	Kosti Katajamäki	1
	Jaan Mölder jr.	1
	Thierry Neuville	1
		1
		1
		1
Total		117

Wins by car
	Car	Total
1	Ford Fiesta R2	39
2	Citroën C2 S1600	21
3	Citroën DS3 R3T	19
4	Suzuki Swift S1600	15
5	Citroën Saxo S1600	8
6	Renault Clio S1600	7
6	Suzuki Ignis S1600	7
8	Fiat Punto S1600	3
8	Renault Clio R3	3
10	Citroën Saxo Kit Car	2
11	Ford Puma S1600	1
11	Volkswagen Polo S1600	1
Total		117

Gallery[]

François Duval driving a Ford Puma S1600 at the 2001 Rally Finland.
Sébastien Loeb driving his Citroën Saxo VTS S1600 in 2001.
Fiat Punto S1600 at the 2001 Rally Finland.
Renault Clio S1600 at the 2004 Rally Finland.
2004 Suzuki Ignis S1600 at an auto show in 2003.
Opel Corsa S1600 driven in 2005.
Suzuki Swift S1600 at the 2007 Rally Finland.
Ford Fiesta ST at the 2007 Wales Rally GB.
Sébastien Ogier with a Citroën C2 S1600 in 2008 Rallye Deutschland.
Martin Prokop with a Citroën C2 S1600 at the 2009 Cyprus Rally.

References[]

^ "Junior World Rally Championship". WRC - World Rally Championship. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
^ ^a ^b "FIA Announces World Motor Sport Council Decisions". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
^ ^a ^b "APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR JUNIOR WRC DRIVE DAY".
^ ^a ^b "NEW-LOOK CALENDAR TEMPTS JUNIOR WRC HOTSHOTS".
^ "Exciting changes for 2013 WRC". WRC.com. WRC Official Website. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c "2021 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP – SPORTING REGULATIONS" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

Junior WRC at WRC.com

[1] "Junior World Rally Championship". WRC - World Rally Championship. Retrieved 2021-03-03.

[:1-2] "FIA Announces World Motor Sport Council Decisions". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2021-03-05.

[driveday-3] "APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR JUNIOR WRC DRIVE DAY".

[newlook-4] "NEW-LOOK CALENDAR TEMPTS JUNIOR WRC HOTSHOTS".

[WRC_2_3_and_J-5] "Exciting changes for 2013 WRC". WRC.com. WRC Official Website. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

[:0-6] "2021 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP – SPORTING REGULATIONS" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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