Junior World Rally Championship

The FIA Junior World Rally Championship (also known as the Junior WRC) is a complementary series to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) and is specifically aimed at offering young drivers a chance to gain experience and publicity at an affordable cost. The category has been a stepping stone in the career of many current WRC drivers including Sébastien Loeb, Dani Sordo, Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville.

Junior World Rally Championship
CategoryGroup R2
CountryInternational
Inaugural season2001
Drivers' champion Jan Solans
Co-Drivers' champion Mauro Barreriro
Official websitewww.wrc.com
Current season
World Rally
Championship
 
Current season
Classes of competition
Support categories
Current:
Related lists
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena at the 2001 Rally Finland.
P-G Andersson and Suzuki celebrating JWRC class victory at the 2004 Rally Finland.

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, a single specification championship running Ford Fiesta R2 vehicles. In 2013 it was renamed the FIA Junior World Rally Championship.[1]

In 2014, the JWRC car grid was replaced by the Citroën DS3 R3T, whereas M-Sport repurposed the old Ford Fiesta R2 units for the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy. In 2017, the JWRC returned to using the Ford Fiesta R2.

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

Rules

The Junior WRC is open to drivers under the age of 30 who have not competed as a Priority 1 (P1) driver in an FIA World Rally Championship event. In 2018, competitors drive in identical Ford Fiesta R2Ts using Pirelli tyres.

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

Unlike the other categories however, Junior WRC competitors score championship bonus points for each stage win during the season.

Results

Drivers' Championship
Year Series name Champion Car 2nd place Car 3rd place Car
2019 Junior World Rally Championship Jan Solans Ford Fiesta R2 Tom Kristensson Ford Fiesta R2 Dennis Rådström Ford Fiesta R2
2018 Emil Bergkvist Ford Fiesta R2 Dennis Rådström Ford Fiesta R2 Jean-Baptiste Franceschi Ford Fiesta R2
2017 Nil Solans Ford Fiesta R2 Nicolas Ciamin Ford Fiesta R2 Terry Folb Ford Fiesta R2
2016 Simone Tempestini Citroën DS3 R3T Martin Koči Citroën DS3 R3T Vincent Dubert Citroën DS3 R3T
2015 Quentin Gilbert Citroën DS3 R3T Ole Christian Veiby Citroën DS3 R3T Terry Folb 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 Yeray Lemes Ford Fiesta R2 Sander Pärn Ford Fiesta R2
2012 WRC Academy Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta R2 José Antonio Suárez Ford Fiesta R2 Pontus Tidemand Ford Fiesta R2
2011 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 Salvador Cañellas Jr. Suzuki Ignis S1600 Daniel Carlsson Suzuki Ignis S1600
2002 Daniel Solà Citroën Saxo VTS S1600 Andrea Dallavilla Citroën Saxo VTS S1600 Janne Tuohino Citroën Saxo VTS S1600
2001 FIA Cup for Super 1600 Drivers Sébastien Loeb Citroën Saxo VTS S1600 Andrea Dallavilla 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

Round wins
Updated after 2019 season.

See also

References
  1. "Exciting changes for 2013 WRC". WRC.com. WRC Official Website. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.