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The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship will be the forty-eighth season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews are due to compete in fourteen rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews are free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 are eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The championship is due to begin in January 2020 with the Rallye Monte Carlo and conclude in November 2020 with Rally Japan. The series will be supported by the World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and Junior World Rally Championship categories at selected events.

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja are the reigning Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions, having secured their maiden titles at the 2019 Rally Catalunya. Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, the team Tänak and Järveoja will compete for, are the reigning Manufacturers' Champions. Hyundai won their maiden manufacturers' title when the final round of the 2019 championship was cancelled.

Calendar

The 2020 championship is due to be contested over thirteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America and Oceania.

Round	Start date	Finish date	Rally	Rally headquarters	Surface	Stages	Distance
1	23 January	26 January	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Mixed	16	304.28 km
2	13 February	16 February	Rally Sweden	Torsby, Värmland	Snow	19	301.26 km
3	12 March	15 March	Rally Guanajuato México	León, Guanajuato	Gravel	24	325.28 km
4	23 April	26 April	Rally Argentina	Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba	Gravel	TBA	TBA
5	21 May	24 May	Rally de Portugal	Matosinhos, Porto	Gravel	TBA	TBA
6	4 June	7 June	Rally Italia Sardegna	Alghero, Sardinia	Gravel	TBA	TBA
7	16 July	19 July	Safari Rally Kenya	Nairobi, Nairobi County	Gravel	TBA	TBA
8	6 August	9 August	Rally Finland	Jyväskylä, Central Finland	Gravel	TBA	TBA
9	3 September	6 September	Rally New Zealand	Auckland, Auckland Region	Gravel	TBA	TBA
10	24 September	27 September	Rally of Turkey	Marmaris, Muğla	Gravel	TBA	TBA
11	15 October	18 October	ADAC Rallye Deutschland	Bostalsee, Saarland	Tarmac	TBA	TBA
12	29 October	1 November	Wales Rally GB	Llandudno, Conwy	Gravel	TBA	TBA
13	19 November	22 November	Rally Japan	Nagoya, Chūbu	Tarmac	TBA	TBA
Source:

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. Bids to revive Rally Japan and the Safari Rally were received, and candidate events were run in 2019. Both events were accepted to the 2020 calendar, as was a proposal to revive Rally New Zealand.

• The Safari Rally will be run as a World Championship event for the first time since 2002. The event will be based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and feature stages around Lake Naivasha. In contrast to the event's traditional endurance format, which featured stages hundreds of kilometres long, the 2020 Safari Rally will follow a compact route to comply with FIA regulations mandating the maximum route distance.
• Rally Japan returns to the calendar for the first time since 2010, replacing Rally Australia as the final round of the championship. The rally will move away from its original headquarters in Hokkaidō to a new base in Nagoya and will be run on tarmac rather than gravel.
• Rally New Zealand will return to the calendar for the first time since 2012. The event will return to Auckland.

The addition of these events saw the Tour de Corse and the Rallies of Catalunya and Australia removed from the calendar. 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. Rally Chile was included on the original calendar, but was later cancelled in the face of ongoing political unrest in the country.

Entries

The following teams and crews are under contract to contest the 2020 championship. Ford, Hyundai and Toyota are all represented by manufacturer teams and eligible to score points in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.

No.	Driver name	Co-driver name	Entrant	Car	Ref.
3	Teemu Suninen	TBA	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC
6	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	TBA	TBA	Toyota Yaris WRC
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
17	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC
19	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
33	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC
TBA	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC
TBA	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC
TBA	TBA	TBA	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC

In detail

Reigning World Champions Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja left Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT and moved to Hyundai Motorsport. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul remained with Hyundai, marking their seventh season with the team. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena also renewed their contracts with the team. Loeb and Elena will contest the championship on a part-time basis, sharing their car with the crew of Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio. Crews led by Andreas Mikkelsen and Craig Breen were left without drives.

The Citroën World Rally Team had committed to entering two full-time entries instead of three, continuing the policy they introduced in 2019. Sébastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi were under contract to lead the team's crews until the team announced that they would withdraw from the championship with immediate effect. Citroën cited Ogier's decision to leave the team as the reason for withdrawing, but pledged support for independent teams competing with the R5 variant of the Citroën C3 WRC in the championship's support categories.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT will feature an entirely new line-up in 2020. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia will replace Ott Tänak and Martin Jarveojä, while Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin were recruited from M-Sport Ford WRT. Reigning World Rally Championship-2 Pro champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen will make their competitive début in Toyota's third car. Toyota will enter an additional two cars for Jari-Matti Latvala and Takamoto Katsuta on a part-time basis. Katsuta will contest all of the European rallies, while Latvala will contest two events with further starts depending on his budget. Kris Meeke and Sebastian Marshall were released from the team.

Regulation changes

Sporting regulations

The eligibility requirements for crews entering events will be simplified and streamlined until a system called the "FIA Rally Pyramid". The top tier of the sport, known as "Rally 1" will be for World Rally Cars built to regulations introduced in 2017. The second tier, "Rally 2", will be for manufacturer teams and professional independent teams entering R5 cars in the World Rally Championship-2. This will be followed by "Rally 3" for privately-entered and "gentlemen driver" crews competing with R5 cars in the World Rally Championship-3. "Rally 4" entries will not contest their own dedicated championship, but will instead serve as a bridging category aimed at making the step from R2 to R5 more managable by allowing R2 entries to be equipped with four-wheel drive. The final tier, "Rally 5", will be for crews entering R2 cars in the Junior World Rally Championship.

Notes

1. Tänak and Järveoja won their titles with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT but left the team to join Hyundai for the 2020 championship.
2. The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.
3. The defending champion can choose to use number 1.
4. Citroën had previously announced that they would withdraw at the end of the 2021 championship, co-inciding with the planned introduction of hybrid powertrains. The planned withdrawal was attributed to Citroën's existing partnership with Formula E team Techeetah.

References

1. ^ Herrero, Daniel (27 September 2019). "Australia drops off WRC calendar in 2020". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
2. ^ Evans, David (27 September 2019). "WRC drops Corsica, Spain and Australia, three events return for 2020". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
3. ^ Evans, David (8 October 2019). "FIA steps up plan to simplify WRC into five-tier career ladder". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
4. Barry, Luke (27 October 2019). "WRC Spain: Toyota's Tanak takes '19 title, Neuville wins for Hyundai". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
5. "Hyundai celebrates title". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
6. ^ "Tänak quits Toyota". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
7. Howard, Tom (12 November 2019). "UPDATE: Rally Australia cancelled due to bushfires". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
8. ^ "Three new rounds in 2020 WRC calendar". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
9. ^ "Safari back in 2020". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
10. "88th Rallye Monte-Carlo". acm.mc. Automobile Club de Monaco. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
11. "The race". rallysweden.com. Rally Sweden. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
12. "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
13. Evans, David (8 April 2019). "FIA visits Japan and Kenya in next step for WRC returns in 2020". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
14. Evans, David (2 July 2019). "Safari Rally could officially return in WRC calendar vote this week". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
15. Evans, David (29 November 2019). "WRC's 2020 Rally Chile cancelled due to political and social unrest". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
16. ^ "Eight drivers, one seat". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019. With Hyundai Motorsport and Toyota Gazoo Racing having finalised their line-ups for 2020, the last remaining factory car untaken is the Ford Fiesta next to Teemu Suninen's in M-Sport's workshop.
17. ^ "Sordo extends Hyundai contract". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
18. "2019 FIA World Rally Championship Sporting Regulations" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 December 2018. p. 22. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019.
19. Evans, David (12 January 2019). "WRC drivers' competition numbers revealed at Autosport International". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
20. ^ Evans, David (29 November 2019). "Latvala could get five-round 2020 WRC deal in a Toyota Yaris". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
21. ^ "Neuville signs new Hyundai deal". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
22. Klein, Jamie (14 December 2019). "Toyota hands Katsuta eight WRC starts for 2020". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
23. ^ "Loeb joins Hyundai". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
24. ^ "Toyota reveals 2020 line-up". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
25. Evans, David (10 December 2019). "Hyundai could run second WRC team for exiles Breen, Mikkelsen". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
26. Evans, David (20 November 2019). "Citroen ends WRC programme, cites Ogier's exit as reason". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
27. ^ Evans, David (15 November 2019). "Citroen won't be part of World Rally Championship hybrid era in 2022". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
28. Evans, David (6 December 2019). "Kris Meeke facing uncertain future after Toyota WRC exit". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 7 December 2019.

External links

• Official website
• FIA World Rally Championship 2020 at ewrc-results.com

• 2020 World Rally Championship season
• World Rally Championship seasons
• 2020 in motorsport
• 2020 in rallying
• Scheduled motorsport seasons