The 2021 FIA Junior WRC Championship was the ninth season of Junior WRC, a rallying championship governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, running in support of the World Rally Championship. The championship was open to drivers under the age of thirty—although no such restriction existed for co-drivers—competing in identical one-litre Ford Fiesta R2s built and maintained by M-Sport. The championship began in April 2021 at the Croatia Rally.
Tom Kristensson and Joakim Sjöberg were the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions while Sweden was the defending Nations' Trophy winner. Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen became the first Finnish crew to win the championship. Finland took the Nations' Trophy victory.
The FIA Junior WRC Championship titles were not awarded in 2022, with WRC3 Junior titles taking their place. However, FIA Junior WRC titles would make a return in 2023.
Calendar The following events were included in the 2021 Junior WRC Championship. Each event was taken from the 2021 World Rally Championship calendar.
RoundStart dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceRef.122 April25 April Croatia RallyZagreb, City of Zagreb RegionTarmac20300.32 km220 May23 May Rally de PortugalMatosinhos, PortoGravel20337.51 km315 July18 July Rally EstoniaTartu, Tartu CountyGravel24319.38 km413 August 15 August Ypres Rally BelgiumYpres, West FlandersTarmac20295.78 km514 October17 October RACC Rally Catalunya de EspañaSalou, CataloniaTarmac19306.50 kmSource:
Calendar changes Rally Croatia made its championship début. The Ypres Rally also made its début, replacing Rally GB. Rally Catalunya returned to the schedule after being removed from the 2020 calendar before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the championship. Rally Italia Sardegna was removed from the calendar. Rally Sweden was omitted from the Junior WRC Championship calendar before it was removed from the wider World Rally Championship schedule. The Rally Monza was also removed from the calendar as it was only included on the 2020 schedule in response to the pandemic.
Entries The following crews competed in the championship:
EntrantDriverCo-driverRounds Team Flying Finn Lauri Joona Ari Koponen1–2 Mikael Korhonen3–5 LMT Autosporta Akademija Mārtiņš Sesks Renārs FrancisAll Porvoon Autopalvelu Sami Pajari Marko SalminenAll Autosport Team Estonia Robert Virves Sander Pruul1–3 Aleks Lesk4–5 Raul Badiu Raul Badiu Rareș Fetean1–3 Jon Armstrong Jon Armstrong Phil HallAll Styllex Motorsport Martin Koči Petr Těšínský1–3 Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy William Creighton Liam ReganAllSource:
Results and standing Season summary RoundEventWinning driverWinning co-driverWinning timeReportRef.1 Croatia Rally Jon Armstrong Phil Hall3:15:07.6Report2 Rally de Portugal Mārtiņš Sesks Renārs Francis4:15:52.7Report3 Rally Estonia Sami Pajari Marko Salminen3:19:03.2Report4 Ypres Rally Belgium Jon Armstrong Phil Hall2:51:55.4Report5 RACC Rally Catalunya de España Sami Pajari Marko Salminen2:58:02.5Report
Scoring system Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers. An additional point was given for every stage win. The best four results out of five counted towards the final drivers’ and co-drivers’ standings. However, all points gained from stage wins were retained. Double points were awarded for drivers' championship at the season's finale.
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
FIA Junior WRC Championship for Drivers DriverCROPORESTBELESPTotalPointsBest 41 Sami Pajari69221922141451372 Jon Armstrong12Ret62517471191193 Mārtiņš Sesks2133662693854 Lauri Joona316444288805 Robert Virves73733578716 William Creighton556575166587 Martin Koči4344Ret334348 Raul Badiu83Ret51717DriverCROPORESTBELESPTotalPointsBest 4
FIA Junior WRC Championship for Co-Drivers Co-DriverCROPORESTBELESPTotalPointsBest 41 Marko Salminen69221922141201122 Phil Hall12Ret62517471071073 Renārs Francis2133662685774 Liam Regan556575156485 Mikael Korhonen44242426 Aleks Lesk33535357 Petr Těšínský4344Ret334348 Ari Koponen316428289 Sander Pruul737272710 Rareș Fetean83Ret51717Co-DriverCROPORESTBELESPTotalPointsBest 4
FIA Junior WRC Trophy for Nations Co-DriverCROPORESTBELESPPoints13212110121Ret21383321355784636326455554454644Ret2477Ret418Co-DriverCROPORESTBELESPPoints
References
External links
FIA Junior WRC Championship 2021 at eWRC-results.com