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|align="center"|<ref name="sordo">{{cite web|title=Sordo extends Hyundai contract|url=https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/october-2019/sordo-hyundai/page/6739--12-12-.html|website=wrc.com|publisher=[[WRC Promoter GmbH]]|date=9 October 2019|accessdate=15 October 2019}}</ref>
|align="center"|<ref name="sordo">{{cite web|title=Sordo extends Hyundai contract|url=https://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/october-2019/sordo-hyundai/page/6739--12-12-.html|website=wrc.com|publisher=[[WRC Promoter GmbH]]|date=9 October 2019|accessdate=15 October 2019}}</ref>
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|{{flagicon|EST}} [[Ott Tänak]]
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|{{flagicon|EST}} [[Martin Järveoja]]
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|{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Thierry Neuville]]
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|{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Nicolas Gilsoul]]
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|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Sébastien Loeb]]
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|{{flagicon|KOR}} [[Hyundai Motorsport]]
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Revision as of 10:20, 21 November 2019

Ott Tänak (left) and Martin Järveoja (right) are the reigning Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions.
Hyundai (i20 Coupe WRC pictured) are the reigning Manufacturers' Champions.

The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship will be the forty-eighth season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews are due to compete in fourteen rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews are free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 are eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The championship is due to begin in January 2020 with the Rallye Monte Carlo and conclude in November 2020 with Rally Japan.[1][2] The series will be supported by the World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and Junior World Rally Championship categories at selected events.[3]

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja are the reigning Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions, having secured their maiden titles at the 2019 Rally Catalunya.[4] Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, the team Tänak and Järveoja will compete for, are the reigning Manufacturers' Champions.[5][a] Hyundai won their maiden manufacturers' title when the final round of the 2019 championship was cancelled.[7]

Calendar

A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2020 championship. Event headquarters are marked with a black dot.

The 2020 championship is due to be contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America and Oceania.[1][2]

Round Start date Finish date Rally Rally headquarters Surface Stages Distance
1 23 January 26 January Monaco Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Mixed[b] 16 305.47 km
2 13 February 16 February Sweden Rally Sweden Torsby, Värmland Snow 19 301.26 km
3 12 March 15 March Mexico Rally Guanajuato México León, Guanajuato Gravel TBA TBA
4 16 April 19 April Chile Rally Chile Concepción, Biobío Gravel TBA TBA
5 30 April 3 May Argentina Rally Argentina Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba Gravel TBA TBA
6 21 May 24 May Portugal Rally de Portugal Matosinhos, Porto Gravel TBA TBA
7 4 June 7 June Italy Rally Italia Sardegna Alghero, Sardinia Gravel TBA TBA
8 16 July 19 July Kenya Safari Rally Kenya Nairobi, Nairobi County Gravel TBA TBA
9 6 August 9 August Finland Rally Finland Jyväskylä, Central Finland Gravel TBA TBA
10 3 September 6 September New Zealand Rally New Zealand Auckland, Auckland Region Gravel TBA TBA
11 24 September 27 September Turkey Rally of Turkey Marmaris, Muğla Gravel TBA TBA
12 15 October 18 October Germany ADAC Rallye Deutschland Bostalsee, Saarland Tarmac TBA TBA
13 29 October 1 November United Kingdom Wales Rally GB Llandudno, Conwy Gravel TBA TBA
14 19 November 22 November Japan Rally Japan Nagoya, Chūbu Tarmac TBA TBA
Source:[1][2][8][9][10][11]

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.[12] Bids to revive Rally Japan and the Safari Rally were received, and candidate events were run in 2019.[13][14] Both events were accepted to the 2020 calendar, as was a proposal to revive Rally New Zealand.[1]

  • The Safari Rally will be run as a World Championship event for the first time since 2002. The event will be based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and feature stages around Lake Naivasha.[9] In contrast to the event's traditional endurance format, which featured stages hundreds of kilometres long, the 2020 Safari Rally will follow a compact route to comply with FIA regulations mandating the maximum route distance.
  • Rally Japan returns to the calendar for the first time since 2010, replacing Rally Australia as the final round of the championship. The rally will move away from its original headquarters in Hokkaidō to a new base in Nagoya and will be run on tarmac rather than gravel.[8]
  • Rally New Zealand will return to the calendar for the first time since 2012. The event will return to Auckland.[1]

The addition of these events saw the Tour de Corse and the Rallies of Catalunya and Australia removed from the calendar.[2] Organisers of Rally Catalunya agreed to forfeit their place on the 2020 calendar as part of a rotation system that will see European events host rallies in two out of three calendar years. The Tour de Corse was removed in response to concerns from teams about the logistics of visiting Corsica, while Rally Australia was removed as the event's base in a regional centre rather than a major metropolitan area meant that the rally struggled to attract spectators.[2]

Entries

The following teams and crews are under contract to contest the 2020 championship. Ford, Hyundai and Toyota are all represented by manufacturer teams and eligible to score points in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.

No. Driver name Co-driver name Entrant Car Tyre Ref.
6 Spain Dani Sordo Spain Carlos del Barrio South Korea Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M [15]
8 Estonia Ott Tänak Estonia Martin Järveoja South Korea Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M [6][16]
11 Belgium Thierry Neuville Belgium Nicolas Gilsoul South Korea Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M [17]
19 France Sébastien Loeb Monaco Daniel Elena South Korea Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M [18]
TBA TBA TBA Japan Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC M [19]

In detail

Reigning World Champions Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja left Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT and moved to Hyundai Motorsport.[6] Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul remained with Hyundai, marking their seventh season with the team.[17] Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena also renewed their contracts with the team.[18] Loeb and Elena will contest the championship on a part-time basis, sharing their car with the crew of Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio.[15]

The Citroën World Rally Team had committed to entering two full-time entries instead of three, continuing the policy they introduced in 2019 with Sébastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi again as lead drivers. However, the team later announced that they would withdraw from the championship with immediate effect, citing Ogier's decision to leave the team as the reason.[20][c] Citroën will continue to support the R5 variant of the Citroën C3 WRC in the championship's support categories.[21]

Regulation changes

Sporting regulations

The eligibility requirements for crews entering events will be simplified and streamlined until a system called the "FIA Rally Pyramid".[3] The top tier of the sport, known as "Rally 1" will be for World Rally Cars built to regulations introduced in 2017. The second tier, "Rally 2", will be for manufacturer teams and professional independent teams entering R5 cars in the World Rally Championship-2. This will be followed by "Rally 3" for privately-entered and "gentlemen driver" crews competing with R5 cars in the World Rally Championship-3. "Rally 4" entries will not contest their own dedicated championship, but will instead serve as a bridging category aimed at making the step from R2 to R5 more managable by allowing R2 entries to be equipped with four-wheel drive. The final tier, "Rally 5", will be for crews entering R2 cars in the Junior World Rally Championship.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ Tänak and Järveoja won their titles with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT but left the team to join Hyundai for the 2020 championship.[6]
  2. ^ The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.
  3. ^ Citroën had previously announced that they would withdraw at the end of the 2021 championship, co-inciding with the expiration of Ogier's contract.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Herrero, Daniel (27 September 2019). "Australia drops off WRC calendar in 2020". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Evans, David (27 September 2019). "WRC drops Corsica, Spain and Australia, three events return for 2020". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Evans, David (8 October 2019). "FIA steps up plan to simplify WRC into five-tier career ladder". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  4. ^ Barry, Luke (27 October 2019). "WRC Spain: Toyota's Tanak takes '19 title, Neuville wins for Hyundai". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Hyundai celebrates title". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Tänak quits Toyota". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  7. ^ Howard, Tom (12 November 2019). "UPDATE: Rally Australia cancelled due to bushfires". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Three new rounds in 2020 WRC calendar". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Safari back in 2020". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  10. ^ "88th Rallye Monte-Carlo". acm.mc. Automobile Club de Monaco. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  11. ^ "The race". rallysweden.com. Rally Sweden. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  12. ^ "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  13. ^ Evans, David (8 April 2019). "FIA visits Japan and Kenya in next step for WRC returns in 2020". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  14. ^ Evans, David (2 July 2019). "Safari Rally could officially return in WRC calendar vote this week". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Sordo extends Hyundai contract". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  16. ^ Evans, David (12 January 2019). "WRC drivers' competition numbers revealed at Autosport International". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  17. ^ a b "Neuville signs new Hyundai deal". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  18. ^ a b "Loeb joins Hyundai". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  19. ^ Evans, David (27 June 2019). "Why a head vs heart call will shape WRC 2020". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  20. ^ Evans, David (20 November 2019). "Citroen ends WRC programme, cites Ogier's exit as reason". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  21. ^ a b Evans, David (15 November 2019). "Citroen won't be part of World Rally Championship hybrid era in 2022". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
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