The 2021 Junior World Rally Championship will be a five-round affair, beginning in April on Rally Croatia and concluding in October with Rally Spain.
The Junior WRC is where future WRC stars ply their trade in spec Ford Fiesta Rally4 machines, with previous series champions including Sébastien Loeb, Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans, and Craig Breen.
Last year ended up being a four-round season due to coronavirus, but in 2021 series organizers have restored the calendar back up to five rounds with three rallies on asphalt and two on gravel.
After the brand-new challenge of Rally Croatia, Junior WRC will head to Portugal on May 20-23 before trips to Estonia (July 15-18), Belgium (August 13-15) – a round that was hoped to formulate part of last season before it was canceled – and the finale in Spain.
Junior WRC team director Maciej Woda is confident the calendar will “rigorously test” the drivers as each round will require “a different set of skills”.
“No two rounds are the same which is an exciting prospect and should shake things up for the championships,” Woda added.
“We’ve worked very hard with the FIA and WRC Promoter to ensure the calendar is spaced out evenly enough to help crews prepare for each event and also leave a reasonable gap from the final round of the 2020 championship.
“Normally the Junior WRC Championship concludes in September or October and it allows the championship and crews a healthy amount of time to prepare and confirm plans for the following season.
“From speaking with all interested crews and the late conclusion of the 2020 season we made sure to provide interested crews the time needed to put their 2021 programme and plans together.”
The prize for winning Junior WRC is a brand-new Ford Fiesta Rally2 which can be used in the following year’s WRC3 season. Swede Tom Kristensson won last year’s title and will therefore appear in the car in this year’s WRC3.
