DirtFish understands this year’s Junior World Rally Championship will run to a shortened four-round calendar, with Estonia, Germany and Italy being added to the already-run Rally Sweden.
No official comment has been forthcoming from the FIA or Junior WRC promoter on the subject of a revised calendar, but sources have confirmed the four rounds. The prize of a new Ford Fiesta R5 MkII and 200 tires from Pirelli is expected to remain in place and will be awarded following a double-header event at Rally Italy in October.
The source said: “The organizers [of JWRC] have been working a lot with the drivers and with the events to find out what is possible and what they are wanting. The problem is one for the logistics, to fit four rallies into the end of the season is too much – don’t forget, they are working with 15 or 16 cars and this is complicated. If some are crashed, it makes it tough to get the cars ready if the next rally is coming one week [later].”
Both Germany and Sardinia were already locked into the original 2020 calendar, with Finland and Rally GB having dropped out after both were canceled.
Photo: M-Sport
The vast majority of the crews are expected to return to JWRC competition in Estonia. Jon Armstrong has already talked of his struggle to get his campaign back on track following his Rally Sweden crash and fellow Brit Catie Munnings is also understood to be struggling to finalize funding for the rest of the year.
Swede Tom Kristensson won the JWRC season opener in Torsby, leading Mārtinš Sesks home by 37s in the all-Fiesta R2T series.
