The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship-3, an auto racing championship for rally cars that was recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the third-highest tier of international rallying. It was open to privately-entered cars complying with R5 regulations and was the seventh running of the championship. [1] [2]
Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais were the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions. [3] [lower-alpha 1] Jari Huttunen and Mikko Lukka won the 2020 WRC-3 titles.
The 2020 championship was due to be contested over thirteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America and Oceania, [4] [5] but the calendar was reduced to seven rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [6]
Round | Start date | Finish date | Rally | Rally headquarters | Surface | Stages | Distance | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 January | 26 January | Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo | Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur [lower-alpha 2] | Mixed [lower-alpha 3] | 16 | 304.28 km | [7] |
2 | 13 February | 16 February | Rally Sweden | Torsby, Värmland | Snow | 11 | 171.64 km [lower-alpha 4] | [9] |
3 | 12 March | 15 March | Rally Guanajuato México | León, Guanajuato | Gravel | 21 | 268.84 km [lower-alpha 5] | [11] |
4 | 4 September | 6 September | Rally Estonia | Tartu, Tartu County | Gravel | 17 | 232.64 km | [12] |
5 | 18 September | 20 September | Rally of Turkey | Marmaris, Muğla | Gravel | 12 | 223.00 km | [13] |
6 | 8 October | 11 October | Rally Italia Sardegna | Alghero, Sardinia | Gravel | 16 | 238.84 km | [14] |
7 | 3 December | 6 December | ACI Rally Monza | Monza, Lombardy | Tarmac | 16 | 239.20 km | [15] |
Source: [6] [16] [17] |
The following rounds were included on the original calendar published by WRC Promoter GmbH, but were later cancelled:
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. [35] Bids to revive Rally Japan and the Safari Rally were received, and candidate events were run in 2019. [36] [37] Both events were accepted to the 2020 calendar, as was a proposal to revive Rally New Zealand. [4] However, none of the aforementioned events were run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [25] [28] [32]
The addition of these events saw the Tour de Corse and the Rallies of Catalunya and Australia removed from the calendar. [5] 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. [5] Rally Chile was included on the original calendar, but was later removed in the face of ongoing political unrest in the country. [18] The FIA sought a replacement event to ensure that the calendar retained its planned fourteen rounds, [40] but were unable to do so. [19]
The Rallies in Italy were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. [21] Events in Argentina, [41] Portugal, [23] Kenya, [25] Finland, [27] New Zealand, [28] Germany, [29] Great Britain [30] and Japan were cancelled. [32] Organisers of the championship announced that they were considering adding events to the schedule that had not been part of the original calendar. [42] Estonia, Belgium, Latvia, Croatia and Czech Republic were among the countries who had expressed interest hosting the event. [43]
The running date of Rally Turkey was moved forward by a week, which facilitated the opportunity for additional rounds. [44] Further calendar options included Ypres Rally and Croatia Rally. [41] Following the cancellation of Rallye Deutschland, the running date of Rally Sardegna moved forward by three weeks. [45] This decision was intended to avoid the clash with the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix of Formula One. [29]
On 2 July 2020, it was announced that the season would return with an updated calendar. The season restarted with newcomers Rally Estonia hosting the resuming round between 4 and 6 September. The country became the thirty-third nation to stage a championship round in the WRC. [46]
Following the cancellation of Rally Japan, it was announced that Ypres Rally, officially Renties Ypres Rally Belgium, would replace Rally Japan to hold the seventh round of the season. The Sunday's route would feature the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, which would run with the 2020 World RX of Benelux of the World Rallycross Championship. [47] Belgium was set to be the thirty-fourth country to hold a WRC event, [48] but were unable to do so as the rally was eventually called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [6]
Rally Monza was announced to be the final round of the season on 9 October. This meant Italy staged two WRC events in one season as the country also stages the Sardinia rally. [49] The rally was based in the famous Autodromo Nazionale di Monza circuit near Milan, where the Italian Grand Prix is held every year. [50]
Prior to the Rally Sweden, it was confirmed that the route for the rally had to be shortened due to a lack of snow. [8] The route of Rally Mexico was shortened to allow teams time to pack up and return to their headquarters before several European nations imposed travel bans in a bid to manage the pandemic. [10]
The following crews compete in the 2020 World Rally Championship-3:
In 2019, the championship was run as the World Rally Championship-2, while the category known as the World Rally Championship-2 Pro was for professional crews entered by manufacturer teams. However, the multi-class structure was found to be too confusing, [2] and so the category was re-structured for the 2020 season. Professional crews contested the World Rally Championship-2 and privateers contested the World Rally Championship-3. [2]
Round | Event | Winning driver | Winning co-driver | Winning entrant | Winning time | Report | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo | Eric Camilli | François-Xavier Buresi | Saintéloc Junior Team | 3:24:39.8 | Report | [58] |
2 | Rally Sweden | Jari Huttunen | Mikko Lukka | Hyundai Motorsport N | 1:15:46.1 | Report | [59] |
3 | Rally Guanajuato México | Marco Bulacia | Giovanni Bernacchini | Citroën Rally Team Hungary | 3:01:25.1 | Report | [60] |
4 | Rally Estonia | Oliver Solberg | Aaron Johnston | PSRX | 2:07:32.2 | Report | [61] |
5 | Marmaris Rally of Turkey | Kajetan Kajetanowicz | Maciek Szczepaniak | Lotos Rally Team | 2:55:38.2 | Report | [62] |
6 | Rally Italia Sardegna | Jari Huttunen | Mikko Lukka | Hyundai Motorsport N | 2:50:19.2 | Report | [63] |
7 | ACI Rally Monza | Andreas Mikkelsen | Anders Jæger | Eurosol Racing Team Hungary | 2:19:47.2 | Report | [64] |
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event. Unlike the World Rally Championship, points are not awarded for the Power Stage.
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Pos. | Driver | MON | SWE | MEX | EST | TUR | ITA | MNZ | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jari Huttunen | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 83 | |||
2 | Marco Bulacia | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 70 | ||
3 | Kajetan Kajetanowicz | 4 | Ret | 1 | 2 | 5 | 65 | ||
4 | Oliver Solberg | 5 | Ret | 1 | 6 | 2 | 61 | ||
5 | Emil Lindholm | 2 | 4 | 30 | |||||
6 | Nicolas Ciamin | 2 | 6 | 9 | 28 | ||||
7 | Andreas Mikkelsen | 1 | 25 | ||||||
8 | Eric Camilli | 1 | Ret | 25 | |||||
9 | Emilio Fernández | 2 | Ret | 7 | 10 | 25 | |||
10 | Alberto Heller | Ret | 4 | 5 | 22 | ||||
11 | Umberto Scandola | 8 | WD | 4 | Ret | 16 | |||
12 | Yoann Bonato | 3 | 15 | ||||||
13 | Johan Kristoffersson | 3 | 15 | ||||||
14 | Ricardo Triviño | 3 | 15 | ||||||
15 | Egon Kaur | 3 | 15 | ||||||
16 | Yağiz Avci | 3 | 15 | ||||||
17 | Yohan Rossel | 4 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 15 | |||
18 | Eerik Pietarinen | 4 | 16 | 12 | |||||
19 | Benito Guerra | 5 | 10 | ||||||
20 | Karl Kruuda | 5 | 10 | ||||||
21 | Burak Cukurova | 5 | 10 | ||||||
22 | Grégoire Munster | 5 | WD | 11 | Ret | 10 | |||
23 | Filip Mareš | 6 | 8 | ||||||
24 | Jan Solans | 12 | 6 | Ret | 8 | ||||
25 | Enrico Brazzoli | 6 | 11 | 8 | |||||
26 | Josh McErlean | 7 | 6 | ||||||
27 | Miguel Díaz-Aboitiz | 7 | WD | 6 | |||||
28 | Raul Jeets | 7 | Ret | 6 | |||||
29 | Rainer Aus | 7 | 6 | ||||||
30 | Alberto Battistolli | 7 | 6 | ||||||
31 | Cédric De Cecco | 8 | 4 | ||||||
32 | "Pedro" | Ret | 8 | Ret | 4 | ||||
33 | Michał Sołowow | 8 | 4 | ||||||
34 | Sean Johnston | 8 | Ret | Ret | 4 | ||||
35 | Luciano Cobbe | 8 | 4 | ||||||
36 | Giacomo Ogliari | 9 | 2 | ||||||
37 | Paulo Nobre | 9 | WD | WD | WD | WD | 2 | ||
38 | Joakim Roman | 9 | 2 | ||||||
39 | Priit Koik | 10 | 1 | ||||||
Pos. | Driver | MON | SWE | MEX | EST | TUR | ITA | MNZ | Points |
Source: [65] |
Pos. | Co-Driver | MON | SWE | MEX | EST | TUR | ITA | MNZ | Points | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mikko Lukka | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 83 | |||||||
2 | Maciek Szczepaniak | 4 | Ret | 1 | 2 | 5 | 65 | ||||||
3 | Aaron Johnston | 5 | Ret | 1 | 6 | 2 | 61 | ||||||
4 | Marcelo Der Ohannesian | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 53 | |||||||
5 | Marc Martí | 3 | 4 | 5 | 37 | ||||||||
6 | Mikael Korhonen | 2 | 4 | 30 | |||||||||
7 | Yannick Roche | 2 | 6 | 9 | 28 | ||||||||
8 | François-Xavier Buresi | 1 | Ret | 25 | |||||||||
9 | Giovanni Bernacchini | 1 | 25 | ||||||||||
10 | Anders Jæger | 1 | 25 | ||||||||||
11 | Rubén García | 2 | Ret | 7 | 10 | 25 | |||||||
12 | Guido D'Amore | 8 | WD | 4 | Ret | 16 | |||||||
13 | Benjamin Boulloud | 3 | 15 | ||||||||||
14 | Stig Rune Skjærmoen | 3 | 15 | ||||||||||
15 | Silver Simm | 3 | 15 | ||||||||||
16 | Onur Vatansever | 3 | 15 | ||||||||||
17 | Benoît Fulcrand | 4 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 15 | |||||||
18 | Miikka Anttila | 4 | 12 | ||||||||||
19 | Louis Louka | 5 | WD | 11 | Ret | 10 | |||||||
20 | Daniel Cué | 5 | 10 | ||||||||||
21 | Dale Moscatt | 5 | 10 | ||||||||||
22 | Burak Akcay | 5 | 10 | ||||||||||
23 | Maurizio Barone | 6 | 11 | 8 | |||||||||
24 | Jan Hloušek | 6 | 8 | ||||||||||
25 | Mauro Barreiro | 12 | 6 | Ret | 8 | ||||||||
26 | Diego Sanjuan | 7 | WD | 6 | |||||||||
27 | Andrus Toom | 7 | Ret | 6 | |||||||||
28 | Simo Koskinen | 7 | 6 | ||||||||||
29 | Simone Scattolin | 6 | 8 | ||||||||||
30 | Keaton Williams | 7 | 6 | ||||||||||
31 | Emmanuele Baldaccini | Ret | 8 | Ret | 4 | ||||||||
32 | Maciek Baran | 8 | 4 | ||||||||||
33 | Alex Kihurani | 8 | Ret | Ret | 4 | ||||||||
34 | Fabio Turco | 8 | 4 | ||||||||||
35 | Jérôme Humblet | 8 | 4 | ||||||||||
36 | Gabriel Morales | 9 | WD | WD | WD | 2 | |||||||
37 | Alexander Glavsjö | 9 | 2 | ||||||||||
38 | Giacomo Ciucci | 9 | 2 | ||||||||||
39 | Uku Heldna | 10 | 1 | ||||||||||
Pos. | Co-Driver | MON | SWE | MEX | EST | TUR | ITA | MNZ | Points | ||||
Source: [65] |
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