2021 WRC2 Championship

The 2021 FIA WRC2 Championship was the ninth season of WRC2, a rallying championship for organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was open to cars entered by teams and complying with Rally2 regulations. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza, and ran in support of the 2021 World Rally Championship.

Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen were the defending 2020 drivers' and co-drivers' champions. Toksport WRT were the defending teams' champions.

Andreas Mikkelsen was crowned 2021 drivers' champion at the penultimate round despite not competing there. As he had used different co-drivers through the season a co-driver of a different crew would therefore become co-driver champion. Torstein Eriksen, consistent co-driver of Mads Østberg, was able to retain his championship title. Movisport became the teams' champion.

Calendar

The 2021 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe and Africa:

The following rounds were included on the original calendar published by WRC Promoter GmbH, but were later cancelled:

Calendar changes

With the addition of Rally Chile to the calendar in 2019, the FIA opened the tender process for new events to join the championship in 2020. Three events were successful, but the championship was affected by a series of cancellations in 2019 and 2020 that necessitated changes to the 2021 calendar:

• Rally Catalunya returned to the championship. The rally was removed from the 2020 schedule as part of an event-sharing agreement that would see it removed from the calendar for one year, but was guaranteed a spot on the calendar for the next two. The rally returned to running exclusively on tarmac roads for the first time since 2009.

• Rally Chile was due to return after a one-year absence. The rally had been included on the original draft of the 2020 calendar, but was later cancelled in the face of ongoing civil unrest in the country. Organisers of the event negotiated a return to the calendar for the 2021 championship, but it was again cancelled due to continued travel and other restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Acropolis Rally replaced the rally after a seven-year absence on the calendar.
• Rally Croatia made its championship debut, replacing Rally Mexico. Croatia thus became the 34th country to host a World Rally Championship round. It was based in Zagreb, and ran on tarmac roads.
• Rally Deutschland was removed from the calendar. The event had planned to run in 2020, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not included on the 2021 calendar.
• The Rallies of Finland and Portugal also returned to the championship after a one-year absence. The 2020 events were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Rally GB was replaced by the Ypres Rally in Belgium. Rally GB had originally planned to move from Wales to Northern Ireland, but the event was replaced when organisers were unable to come to an agreement with the government of Northern Ireland to support the rally.
• Rally Japan was scheduled to return to the calendar for the first time since 2010, but it was ultimately called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rally was also originally included on the 2020 calendar, but was also cancelled because of the pandemic. Rally Monza was confirmed to hold the season finale for the second year in a row.
• The Safari Rally was run as a World Championship event for the first time since 2002. The event was based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and featured stages around Lake Naivasha. The event had been planned to make its return to the championship in 2020, but was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Rally Sweden was included on the first draft of the calendar with its traditional February date, but was cancelled before the start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arctic Rally in northern Finland was chosen as a replacement to ensure that a winter rally was included on the calendar.

In light of the disruption caused by the pandemic in 2020 and in anticipation of further delays, the calendar included an additional six reserve rounds that could be included in the event of rallies being cancelled. These events include rallies in Turkey, Argentina and Latvia. The Ypres Rally had also been included on this reserve list before it replaced Rally GB, so as the Acropolis Rally and Rally Monza.

Entries

The following teams and crews entered 2021 WRC2:

In detail

M-Sport Ford WRT entered a Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II for Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul, the crew combining their WRC2 campaign with a drive for M-Sport's main team in the WRC. Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula joined the WRC2 effort in Croatia, alternating in the car with Fourmaux. Following Suninen leaving M-Sport before the Acropolis Rally, Fourmaux will leave WRC-2 as well to drive the rest of the season in the main category. A second Fiesta was entered for Martin Prokop and Michal Ernst in the Arctic Rally Finland. Ernst was replaced by Viktor Chytka in Portugal, having been originally meant to co-drive for Prokop in Lapland. Zdeněk Jůrka became Prokop's third co-driver of the season in Sardinia. Ernst is due to return to co-drive in Greece. The reigning JWRC champion Tom Kristensson joined the team in Croatia, co-driven by David Arhusiander.

Hyundai Motorsport N signed Oliver Solberg and Aaron Johnston signed for a two-year deal, the pair joining to compete alongside the crew of Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson. Veiby was however suspended from competing in the WRC for the rest of the year for breaching COVID-19 protocols in Portugal. Reigning WRC-3 champions Jari Huttunen and Mikko Lukka entered driving a third car for the team. Italian driver Andrea Crugnola was meant to drive in Sardinia with co-driver Pietro Ometto, but had to withdraw due to most of the Hyundai WRC-2 team having to quarantine following Portugal. Hyundai introduced a successor to the Hyundai i20 R5 known as the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 in Belgium. Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula will join Hyundai WRC-2 ranks for the penultimate round in Spain.

The reigning teams' champions Toksport WRT signed former WRC works driver Andreas Mikkelsen and 2020 WRC-3 runner-up Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, with Ola Fløene and Marcelo Der Ohannesian respectively as co-drivers. Eyvind Brynildsen and Veronica Engan replaced Bulacia Wilkinson and Der Ohannesian for the round in Lapland following the latter crew being prevented from entering the event by visa issues. Elliott Edmondson will replace Fløene as Mikkelsen's co-driver starting from the Acropolis Rally.

Italian team Movisport joined the championship, entering a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov, who left Hyundai after 2020. The team also entered a Škoda Fabia R5 for Enrico Brazzoli and Maurizio Barone in selected events. Barone was replaced by Danilo Fappani in Sardinia. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm returned to the category, driving a second Volkswagen for Movisport in Lapland and Portugal. Gryazin and Aleksandrov will switch to a Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II for the Acropolis Rally. After leaving M-Sport Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula will drive a Volkswagen for Movisport in Finland.

Portuguese team Sports & You entered a Citroën C3 Rally2 for the French crew of Eric Camilli and François-Xavier Buresi. Camilli was co-driven by Benjamin Veillas in Portugal.

Saintéloc Junior Team joined the championship, entering a Citroën C3 Rally2 for Sean Johnston and Alex Kihurani. The team will enter a second C3 in Greece for Canadian driver Leonid "Crazy Leo" Urlichich and British co-driver Tom Woodburn.

ALM Motorsport entered a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for Estonian Georg Linnamäe and Ukrainian Volodymyr Korsia. After being suspended due to breaching COVID-19 protocols, Korsia was replaced with Tanel Kasesalu for one round, before James Morgan became Linnamäe's permanent co-driver. Linnamäe will drive a Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo in Greece.

2020 WRC-2 champion Mads Østberg entered the 2021 season in Croatia driving a Citroën C3 Rally2 for TRT World Rally Team. He was co-driven by Torstein Eriksen.

Changes

Technical regulations

Pirelli alone supplied tyres to all teams entering WRC-2 with the removal of Michelin and Yokohama as FIA approved tyre suppliers.

Sporting regulations

Competitors in the WRC-2 category were awarded Power Stage bonus points for the first time.

Results and standings

Season summary

Scoring system

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. 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.

FIA WRC2 Championship for Drivers

FIA WRC2 Championship for Co-Drivers

FIA WRC2 Championship for Teams

Notes

External links

• (in English, French, and Spanish)
• at eWRC-results.com