Parent series: World Rally Championship Support series: WRC2 Junior WRC
The 2019 FIA WRC2 Pro Championship was the first and only season of WRC2 Pro, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was open to cars entered by manufacturers and complying with Group R5 regulations,[1][2][3] while WRC2 was open to privately entered cars.
Calendar
The championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, and Australia.[2]
Following the return of Rally Turkey to the championship in 2018, the FIA announced plans to expand the calendar to fourteen rounds in 2019 with the long-term objective of running sixteen championship events. Twelve prospective bids for events were put together,[7] including candidate events in New Zealand, Japan and Chile.[8] Prospective events in Kenya, Croatia, Canada and Estonia expressed interest in joining the calendar within five years.[9][10][11][12]
The planned expansion put pressure on European rounds to maintain their position on the calendar as teams were unwilling to contest sixteen events immediately. The Tour de Corse and Rally Italia Sardegna proved to be unpopular among teams for the logistical difficulties of travelling to Corsica and Sardinia and low spectator attendance at the events.[7][13] Organisers of Rally Japan reached an agreement with the sport's promoter to host a rally in 2019, with the proposed event moving from Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido to Toyota City in Honshu.[14] However, plans to return to Japan were abandoned when the promoter came under pressure to retain the Tour de Corse.[15]
The proposed events in Japan and Kenya ran candidate events in 2019 in a bid to join the championship in 2020.[16][17] Both were successful in secure a place on the 2020 calendar. The calendar published in October 2018 included Rally Chile as part of the expansion to fourteen rounds.[2] The event was based in Concepción and ran on gravel roads.[18]
Route changes
The route of Rallye Monte Carlo was shortened by 70.91 km (44.1 mi) compared to the 2018 route.[19] The route was revised after rule changes that were introduced for the 2019 championship limited the maximum distance of a route to 350 km (217.5 mi).[2] Organisers of the Tour de Corse announced plans for a new route, with up to three-quarters of the 2019 route being revised from the 2018 rally.[16]Rally de Portugal was also shortened by 46.72 km (29.0 mi) compared to the 2018 route.[20]
Škoda Motorsport scaled back their involvement in the championship to a single two-car team. The team retained defending drivers' champion Jan Kopecký and Kalle Rovanperä, while 2017 champions Pontus Tidemand and Jonas Andersson left the team.[35] Tidemand later joined WRC team M-Sport Ford on a part-time basis,[36] while Andersson remained in WRC2, partnering Ole Christian Veiby.[37]M-Sport Ford WRT will also enter two cars, one for Polish driver Łukasz Pieniążek and the other for Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson.[38] Greensmith will also make his World Rally Car début with M-Sport Ford WRT.[39] Reigning two-time French Rally champion Yoann Bonato, who competed for privateer Citroën team CHL Sport Auto in 2018, was entered by the factory Citroën team for Monte Carlo, before Citroën withdrew their entry from the rally, leaving Bonato to run as a WRC2 entrant.[40] After driving for Citroën's WRC team in 2018, Mads Østberg moved to the WRC-2 in 2019, staying with Citroën's factory team in a different C3 R5, in conjunction with DG Sport.[41] Although not a member of Škoda's factory roster, 2018 Finnish Rally Champion Eerik Pietarinen was nominated to score points for Škoda alongside factory driver Kalle Rovanperä at Rally Sweden. Škoda would repeat this practice with 18-year-old Bolivian driver Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, who is set to participate in the pro-class in the South American double-header in Argentina and Chile, joining Rovanperä on the latter rally.
^"Urmo Aava: eesmärk on jõuda WRC sarja, mitte nendega konkureerida" [Urmo Aava: the goal is to reach WRC, not to be their rival] (in Estonian). Eesti Rahvusringhääling. 30 May 2018.
^"Rally Estonia naaseb ja tahab murda 2021. aastaks MM-sarja" [Rally Estonia returns and wants to reach the World Championship by 2021] (in Estonian). Postimees. 1 November 2017.
^Evans, David (14 June 2018). "WRC team pushing for Italy 2019 boycott over Sardinia route". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
^Evans, David (22 August 2018). "Rally Japan gets go-ahead from WRC Promoter for 2019 event". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Archived from the original on 23 August 2018.
^Evans, David (11 October 2018). "Rally Japan's WRC return set to be abandoned at FIA council meeting". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
^ abEvans, David (12 October 2018). "Tour of Corsica announces 2019 World Rally Championship reprieve". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
^Evans, David (12 October 2018). "2019 WRC calendar: 14-round schedule given green light by FIA WMSC". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
^"Chile steps up to 2019 WRC". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
^"86è Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo 2018" (PDF). acm.mc (in French). Automobile Club de Monaco. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
^"52. Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2018". ewrc-results.com. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
^"Michelin signs new WRC agreement". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018. The French tyre company and WRC Promoter have agreed an extension of their current partnership under which Michelin will be Official Tyre of the WRC until the end of 2019.
^"Rally Sweden 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). rallysweden.com. Rally Sweden. 18 January 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
^"Rally Guanajuato México 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). rallymexico.com. Rally Mexico. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
^"Corsica linea Tour de Corse 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). tourdecorse.com. 9 March 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
^"YPF Rally Argentina 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). rallyargentina.com. Rally Argentina. 6 April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
^"Copec Rally Chile 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). rallymobil.cl. Rally Chile. 18 April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
^"Vodafone Rally de Portugal 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). rallydeportugal.pt. Rally de Portugal. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
^"Rally Finland 2019 Official Entry List" (PDF). nesterallyfinland.fi. Rally Finland. 5 July 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
^"Wales Rally GB 2019 Entry List" (PDF). walesrallygb.com. Wales Rally GB. 11 September 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
^"Rally RACC Catalunya 2019 Entry List" (PDF). rallyracc.com. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
^Evans, David (28 November 2018). "Skoda Motorsport scales back for 2019 WRC2 season, Tidemand exits". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^Klien, Jamie (21 December 2018). "Tidemand gets two WRC rounds with M-Sport". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
^"Monte-Carlo and Sweden in a VW Polo R5 and new co-driver". ocveiby.com. 19 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
^"M-Sport Ford Confirm Greensmith and Pieniazek for WRC-2 Pro". M-Sport.co.uk. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
^Evans, David (9 January 2019). "M-Sport hands WRC2 driver Greensmith WRC chance". motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 9 January 2019.