Wikipedia

2021 Junior WRC Championship


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.[1][2] 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

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The following events were included in the 2021 Junior WRC Championship. Each event was taken from the 2021 World Rally Championship calendar.

Round Start date Finish date Rally Rally headquarters Surface Stages Distance Ref.
1 22 April 25 April   Croatia Rally Zagreb, City of Zagreb Region Tarmac 20 300.32 km [3]
2 20 May 23 May   Rally de Portugal Matosinhos, Porto Gravel 20 337.51 km [4]
3 15 July 18 July   Rally Estonia Tartu, Tartu County Gravel 24 319.38 km [5]
4 13 August 15 August   Ypres Rally Belgium Ypres, West Flanders Tarmac 20 295.78 km [6]
5 14 October 17 October   RACC Rally Catalunya de España Salou, Catalonia Tarmac 19 306.50 km [7]
Source:[8]

Calendar changes

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Rally Croatia made its championship début.[9] 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

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The following crews competed in the championship:

Entrant Driver Co-driver Rounds
  Team Flying Finn   Lauri Joona   Ari Koponen 1–2
  Mikael Korhonen 3–5
  LMT Autosporta Akademija   Mārtiņš Sesks   Renārs Francis All
  Porvoon Autopalvelu   Sami Pajari   Marko Salminen All
  Autosport Team Estonia   Robert Virves   Sander Pruul 1–3
  Aleks Lesk 4–5
  Raul Badiu   Raul Badiu   Rareș Fetean 1–3
  Jon Armstrong   Jon Armstrong   Phil Hall All
  Styllex Motorsport   Martin Koči   Petr Těšínský 1–3
  Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy   William Creighton   Liam Regan All
Source:[10][11][12][13][14]

Results and standing

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Season summary

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Round Event Winning driver Winning co-driver Winning time Report Ref.
1   Croatia Rally   Jon Armstrong   Phil Hall 3:15:07.6 Report [15]
2   Rally de Portugal   Mārtiņš Sesks   Renārs Francis 4:15:52.7 Report [16]
3   Rally Estonia   Sami Pajari   Marko Salminen 3:19:03.2 Report [17]
4   Ypres Rally Belgium   Jon Armstrong   Phil Hall 2:51:55.4 Report [18]
5   RACC Rally Catalunya de España   Sami Pajari   Marko Salminen 2:58:02.5 Report [19]

Scoring system

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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

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Pos. Driver CRO
  		POR
  		EST
  		BEL
  		ESP
  		Total
Points 		Best 4
1   Sami Pajari 69 22 19 22 14 145 137
2   Jon Armstrong 12 Ret6 25 17 47 119 119
3   Mārtiņš Sesks 2 13 36 62 6 93 85
4   Lauri Joona 31 64 4 4 2 88 80
5   Robert Virves 7 3 7 3 35 78 71
6   William Creighton 5 5 6 57 51 66 58
7   Martin Koči 43 44 Ret3 34 34
8   Raul Badiu 83 Ret 5 17 17
Pos. Driver CRO
  		POR
  		EST
  		BEL
  		ESP
  		Total
Points 		Best 4
Source:[20]
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

FIA Junior WRC Championship for Co-Drivers

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Pos. Co-Driver CRO
  		POR
  		EST
  		BEL
  		ESP
  		Total
Points 		Best 4
1   Marko Salminen 69 22 19 22 14 120 112
2   Phil Hall 12 Ret6 25 17 47 107 107
3   Renārs Francis 2 13 36 62 6 85 77
4   Liam Regan 5 5 6 57 51 56 48
5   Mikael Korhonen 4 4 2 42 42
6   Aleks Lesk 3 35 35 35
7   Petr Těšínský 43 44 Ret3 34 34
8   Ari Koponen 31 64 28 28
9   Sander Pruul 7 3 7 27 27
10   Rareș Fetean 83 Ret 5 17 17
Pos. Co-Driver CRO
  		POR
  		EST
  		BEL
  		ESP
  		Total
Points 		Best 4
Source:[20]
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

FIA Junior WRC Trophy for Nations

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Pos. Co-Driver CRO
  		POR
  		EST
  		BEL
  		ESP
  		Points
1   Finland 3 2 1 2 1 101
2   United Kingdom 1 Ret 2 1 3 83
3   Latvia 2 1 3 5 5 78
4   Estonia 6 3 6 3 2 64
5   Ireland 5 5 5 4 4 54
6   Slovakia 4 4 Ret 24
7   Romania 7 Ret 4 18
Pos. Co-Driver CRO
  		POR
  		EST
  		BEL
  		ESP
  		Points
Source:[20]
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

References

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  1. ^ "FIA Junior WRC championship goes global in 2020". fia.com. Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 29 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Superb entry for Junior opener". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH.
  3. ^ "Itinerary Croatia Rally 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Itinerary Rally de Portugal 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Itinerary Rally Estonia 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Itinerary Renties Ypres Rally Belgium 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Itinerary RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Five rounds named in junior WRC calendar". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  9. ^ Sancho, Fernando (24 December 2020). "El Rally de Croacia sera valedero para el Junior WRC en 2021". motor.es. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Entry List Croatia Rally 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Entry List Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Entry List Rally Estonia 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Entry List Ypres Rally Belgium 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Entry List RallyRACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada 2021". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Junior WRC: Armstrong seals maiden victory". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Junior WRC: Sesks soars to championship lead". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 23 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Pajari bags maiden junior win". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Junior WRC: Armstrong blasts to Ypres glory". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 15 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Pajari crowned FIA Junior WRC champion". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 17 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  20. ^ a b c "Standings". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
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