Calendar
The 2021 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe and Africa:
| Round | Start date | Finish date | Rally | Rally headquarters | Surface | Stages | Distance | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 January | 24 January |  Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo | Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur [a] | Mixed [b] | 14 | 257.64 km | [6] |
| 2 | 26 February | 28 February |  Arctic Rally Finland | Rovaniemi, Lapland | Snow | 10 | 251.08 km | [7] |
| 3 | 22 April | 25 April |  Croatia Rally | Zagreb | Tarmac | 20 | 300.32 km | [8] |
| 4 | 20 May | 23 May |  Rally de Portugal | Matosinhos, Porto | Gravel | 20 | 337.51 km | [9] |
| 5 | 3 June | 6 June |  Rally Italia Sardegna | Olbia, Sardinia | Gravel | 20 | 303.10 km | [10] |
| 6 | 24 June | 27 June |  Safari Rally Kenya | Nairobi | Gravel | 18 | 320.19 km | [11] |
| 7 | 15 July | 18 July |  Rally Estonia | Tartu, Tartu County | Gravel | 24 | 314.16 km | [12] |
| 8 | 13 August | 15 August |  Ypres Rally Belgium | Ypres, West Flanders | Tarmac | 20 | 295.78 km | [13] |
| 9 | 9 September | 12 September |  Acropolis Rally Greece | Lamia, Central Greece | Gravel | 15 | 292.19 km | [14] |
| 10 | 1 October | 3 October | Rally Finland | Jyväskylä, Central Finland | Gravel | 19 | 287.11 km | [15] |
| 11 | 14 October | 17 October |  RACC Rally Catalunya de España | Salou, Catalonia | Tarmac | 17 | 280.46 km | [16] |
| 12 | 18 November | 21 November | ACI Rally Monza | Monza, Lombardy | Tarmac | 16 | 253.18 km | [17] |
| Sources: [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] | ||||||||
The following rounds were included on the original calendar published by WRC Promoter GmbH, but were later cancelled:
| Start date | Finish date | Rally | Rally headquarters | Surface | Stages | Distance | Cancellation reason | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 February | 14 February |  Rally Sweden | Torsby, Värmland | Snow | 19 | 313.81 km | COVID-19 pandemic | [23] [24] |
| 9 September | 12 September |  Rally Chile | Concepción, Biobío | Gravel | N/a | N/a | COVID-19 pandemic | [25] |
| 19 August | 22 August |  Rally GB | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Financial issues | [26] |
| 11 November | 14 November |  Rally Japan | Nagoya, Chūbu | Tarmac | 20 | 300.11 km | COVID-19 pandemic | [27] [28] |
Calendar changes
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. [29] Three events were successful, [c] but the championship was affected by a series of cancellations in 2019 and 2020 that necessitated changes to the 2021 calendar:
- Rally Catalunya returned to the championship. The rally was removed from the 2020 schedule as part of an event-sharing agreement that would see it removed from the calendar for one year, but was guaranteed a spot on the calendar for the next two. [18] The rally returned to running exclusively on tarmac roads for the first time since 2009. [31] [d]
- Rally Chile was due to return after a one-year absence. The rally had been included on the original draft of the 2020 calendar, but was later cancelled in the face of ongoing civil unrest in the country. [33] Organisers of the event negotiated a return to the calendar for the 2021 championship, but it was again cancelled due to continued travel and other restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Acropolis Rally replaced the rally after a seven-year absence on the calendar. [34]
- Rally Croatia made its championship debut, replacing Rally Mexico. [18] Croatia thus became the 34th country to host a World Rally Championship round. It was based in Zagreb, and ran on tarmac roads.
- Rally Deutschland was removed from the calendar. The event had planned to run in 2020, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [35] It was not included on the 2021 calendar.
- The Rallies of Finland and Portugal also returned to the championship after a one-year absence. The 2020 events were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [36] [37]
- Rally GB was replaced by the Ypres Rally in Belgium. [26] Rally GB had originally planned to move from Wales to Northern Ireland, but the event was replaced when organisers were unable to come to an agreement with the government of Northern Ireland to support the rally.
- Rally Japan was scheduled to return to the calendar for the first time since 2010, [18] but it was ultimately called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [28] The rally was also originally included on the 2020 calendar, but was also cancelled because of the pandemic. [38] Rally Monza was confirmed to hold the season finale for the second year in a row. [22]
- The Safari Rally was run as a World Championship event for the first time since 2002. The event was based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and featured stages around Lake Naivasha. [39] The event had been planned to make its return to the championship in 2020, but was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [40]
- Rally Sweden was included on the first draft of the calendar with its traditional February date, [41] but was cancelled before the start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [42] [24] The Arctic Rally in northern Finland was chosen as a replacement to ensure that a winter rally was included on the calendar. [43] [e]
In light of the disruption caused by the pandemic in 2020 and in anticipation of further delays, the calendar included an additional six reserve rounds that could be included in the event of rallies being cancelled. These events include rallies in Turkey, Argentina and Latvia. [18] [45] The Ypres Rally had also been included on this reserve list before it replaced Rally GB, [26] so as the Acropolis Rally and Rally Monza. [25] [22]
