2023 WRC3 Championship

The 2023 FIA WRC3 Championship was the tenth season of WRC3, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the third-highest tier of international rallying. It was open to privateers and teams using cars complying with Group Rally3 regulations. The championship began in January 2023 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2023 with Rally Japan, and ran in support of the 2023 World Rally Championship.

Lauri Joona and Enni Mälkönen entered as the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions.

Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka won the 2023 drivers and codrivers championships.

Calendar

The 2023 season was contested over thirteen rounds crossing Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Asia.

Calendar changes

The championship was expected to be expanded to fourteen rounds from the thirteen rounds in the previous season by WRC Promoter GmbH, with eight Europe-based rallies and six fly-away events covering the season. However, when the calendar was released in late November following a lengthy delay, the number of the events was reduced to thirteen with the anticipated Saudi Arabian rally based at Jeddah, absent from the calendar.

• Rally Mexico returned to championship after missing the 2021 and 2022 championships. The organizers of the rally had previously held a national event in 2022 as a prelude for the 2023 return.
• Rally Chile rejoined the calendar after having been ruled out in 2020 and 2021 due to the Chilean protests and COVID-19 pandemic respectively.
• The Central European Rally, a tri-nation event held across Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, was introduced into the championship, replacing the Catalonian Rally. The rally was based out of southeast Germany, in the city of Passau in Bavaria, and ran on tarmac.
• Rally New Zealand, a round of the 2022 season, was not included on the calendar, but the organizers tried to seek an opportunity for a 2024 return as a part of the rotation program with Rally Australia.
• Ypres Rally Belgium, which was a part of the championship for the prior two seasons, dropped off the calendar and instead formed part of the 2023 British Rally Championship.

Several rally organizers also expressed their interests to return to the championship, including Rally Argentina, Rally Australia, the German Rally, and an event in Northern Ireland. The Argentine, Australian and Northern Irish bids failed and Germany organized the Central European Rally along with Austria and the Czech Republic. In addition to the candidate events, the WRC Promoter GmbH was also working on the calendar expansion to the Middle East and United States, but no rallies were added for the 2023 season.

Location changes

• The headquarters of the Rally Italia Sardegna would be once again moved from Alghero to Olbia. The 2020 event was previously headquartered in Olbia as a result of major route revisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The 2023 edition of the Safari Rally was headquartered at the Lakeside town of Naivasha. The rally was previously headquartered in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Entries

The following crews are set to enter into the 2023 WRC3 Championship:

Results and standings

Season summary

Scoring system

FIA WRC3 Championship for Drivers

FIA WRC3 Championship for Co-Drivers

Notes

External links

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