The 2019 European Rally Championship was the 67th season of the FIA European Rally Championship, the European continental championship series in rallying. The season was also the seventh following the merge between the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Alexey Lukyanuk was the reigning champion and he returned to defend the title switching from a Ford Fiesta R5 to the Citroën C3 R5. On the final round at Rally Hungary, Chris Ingram became the first British driver in 52 years to win the title in a Skoda Fabia R5.
In 2019 the two European Junior Championship tiers were renamed: ERC Junior U28 became ERC1 Junior and ERC Junior U27 is retitled ERC3 Junior.
ERC Classes FIA ERC1: Main class, for FIA-homologated cars with R5 regulations. Best 6 scores from 8 events. FIA ERC2: Second tier, for cars more standard, albeit with turbocharged engines and four-wheel drive. This class allows the N4, the R4-K and RGT rules. Best 4 scores from 8 events. FIA ERC3: Third ERC tier, the first for front-wheel-drive cars. Allows R3 and R2 cars. Best 6 scores from 8 events. FIA ERC1 Junior: For drivers aged 28 and under on 1 January 2019 in R5 cars. The champion receives a prize money to contest the two last rounds of ERC (not part of ERC1 Junior). Best 4 scores from 6 events. FIA ERC3 Junior: For drivers aged 27 and under on 1 January 2019 in R2 cars on Pirelli control tyres. The winner will get the chance to drive in two rounds of the 2020 FIA ERC in Škoda Fabia R5. Best 4 scores from 6 events. ERC Ladies Trophy: for female drivers including all classes (ERC1, ERC2 and ERC3) eligible. Drivers count their best four scores. Abarth Rally Cup: competition with six rounds of the ERC with the rear-wheel-drive Abarth 124 rally. FIA European Rally Championship for Teams: each team can nominate a maximum of three cars (from all categories), counting the two highest-placed cars from each team. Counting 6 best scores from 8 events. ERC Nations Cup: like the ERC for Teams but for teams supported by a national motorsport federation or automobile association.
Calendar
The calendar for the 2019 season features eight rallies (four rallies on tarmac and four on gravel) like the previous season, albeit in a shaked-up order. The Acropolis Rally was discontinued in its entirety after 2018, and was replaced by a new event in Hungary, Nyíregyháza Rally, which will also be the season finale. The previous season finale, Rally Liepāja, was moved to the third round of the season in May. The Cyprus Rally and Rally Poland were switched to the seventh and fourth rounds, respectively.
Round Dates Rally name 1 21–23 March Rallye Açores Gravel ERC Junior Round 1 2 2–4 May Rally Islas Canarias Tarmac ERC Junior Rd 2, Abarth Cup Rd 1 3 24–26 May Rally Liepāja Gravel ERC Junior Rd 3, Abarth Cup Rd 2 4 28–30 June Rally Poland Gravel ERC Junior Rd 4, Abarth Cup Rd 3 5 19–21 July Rally di Roma Capitale Tarmac ERC Junior Rd 5, Abarth Cup Rd 4 6 16–18 August Barum Rally Zlín Tarmac ERC Junior Rd 6, Abarth Cup Rd 5 7 27–29 September Cyprus Rally Gravel 8 8–10 November 1st Rally Hungary Tarmac Abarth Cup Rd 6
Teams and drivers
ERC Entries Constructor Car Class Tyre Rounds Citroën Citroën C3 R5 Saintéloc Junior Team R5 Alexey Lukyanuk Alexey Arnautov All Sean Johnston Alex Kihurani 8 Sweden National Team Mattias Adielsson Andreas Johansson 1, 3–4 ERC1J Raly/Auto Açoreana Racing Bernardo Sousa Victor Calado 1 Citroën Rally Team Pepe López Borja Rozada 2 ERC1J Escudería Fuertwagen Motorsport Emma Falcón Eduardo González 2 ERC1J Rally Team Spain 5 STARD Hiroki Arai Ilka Minor 3–4, 6 ERC1J Jürgen Heigl 5 BTH Import Stal Rally Team Łukasz Kotarba Tomasz Kotarba 4 F.P.F. Sport SRL Luca Rossetti Eleonora Mori 5 Citroën Rally Team Hungary Ádám Velenczei Gábor Zsiros 8 Citroën DS3 R5 Psaltis Auto Parts Andreas Psaltis Andreas Chrysostomou 7 Hyundai Hyundai i20 R5 Team Hyundai Portugal R5 Bruno Magalhães Hugo Magalhães 1 Hyundai Motor España Iván Ares David Vázquez 2 Surhayén Pernía Alba Sánchez 2 Francisco López Borja Odriozola 2 Rally Team Spain José Antonio Suárez Alberto Iglesias 2 Escudería Fuertwagen Motorsport Yeray Lemes Ariday Bonilla 2 Hyundai Motorsport N Jari Huttunen Antti Linnaketo 4 Callum Devine Brian Hoy 8 Umberto Scandola Guido D'Amore 5 Hyundai Kowax Racing Kacper Wróblewski Marcin Szeja 4 Martin Vlček Ondřej Krajča 6 Petr Trnovec Miroslav Staněk 6 Rally Technology Daniel Chwist Kamil Heller 4 Printsport Lars Stugemo Kalle Lexe 5 Yiangou Motorsport Ltd Panayiotis Yiangou Panayiotis Kyriakou 7 Škoda Škoda Fabia R5 Toksport World Rally Team R5 Chris Ingram Ross Whittock 1–7ERC1J Alex Tsouloftas Antonis Chrysostomou 1–3 Eyvind Brynildsen Cato Menkerud 3 Rakan Al-Rashed Hugo Magalhães 7 Printsport 3 Sports Racing Technologies Łukasz Habaj Daniel Dymurski All Nikolay Gryazin Yaroslav Fedorov 5–6 ERC1J ARC Sport Ricardo Moura António Costa 1 Ricardo Teodósio José Teixeira 1 Luís Rego Jorge Henriques 1 Pedro Almeida Nuno Almeida 1 ERC1J ACCR Czech Rally Team I Vojtěch Štajf Veronika Havelková 1–2 Filip Mareš Jan Hloušek 3–6 ERC1J 2C Competition Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais 1–2 ERC1J Palmeirinha Rally Paulo Nobre Gabriel Morales All BP Ultimate Vodafone Škoda Team Miguel Barbosa Jorge Carvalho 1 FPAK Portugal Team ERC Aloísio Monteiro Sancho Eiró 1, 4–5 BRR Baumschlager Rally & Racing Team Marijan Griebel Stefan Kopczyk 2–3 Pirmin Winklhofer 4, 6 Albert von Thurn und Taxis Bernhard Ettel 2, 5 ACSM Rallye Team Xavier Pons Rodrigo Sanjuan 2 Érdi Team Kft. Tibor Érdi Szabolcs Kovács 2–3, 5, 7–8 Agrorodeo Vaidotas Žala Andris Mālnieks 3–4 Jaromír Tarabus Daniel Trunkát 6 LMT Autosporta Akadēmija Mārtiņš Sesks Krišjānis Caune 3 ERC1J Uldis Briedis 5 Škoda Polska Motorsport Miko Marczyk Szymon Gospodarczyk 4, 6 ERC1J Pro Racing Vytautas Švedas Žilvinas Sakalauskas 4 TGS Worldwide Aron Domżała Jarosław Baran 4 Loran SRL Giandomenico Basso Lorenzo Granai 5 Gass Racing srl Andrea Crugnola Pietro Ometto 5 Mogul Auto Šídlo Škoda Team Jan Černý Petr Černohorský 6 Samohýl Škoda Team Miroslav Jakeš Petr Machů 6 Martin Březík Marek Omelka 6 SK DER Rally Team Roman Odložilík Martin Tureček 6 BTH Import Stal Rally Team Tomáš Pospíšilík Jiří Hovorka 6 ERC1J Rally Technology Antonín Tlusťák Ivo Vybíral 6 Petrolina Racing Team Simos Galatariotis Antonis Ioannou 7 MC Racing Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Marshall Clarke 7 Korda Racing Team Firenc Vincze Igor Bacigál 8 Turán Motorsport SE Frigyes Turán László Bagaméri 8 LPWM Sport Kft Pál Lovász Tamás Kürti 8 TBR Racing Róbert Bútor Róbert Tagai 8 Extrém Sport Team Kft. József Trencsényi Gábor Verba 8 Speedlife Motorsport Maximilian Koch Lisa Brunthaler 8 Škoda Fabia R5 Evo Škoda Motorsport Jan Kopecký Pavel Dresler 6 Kresta Racing s.r.o. Tomáš Kostka Ladislav Kučera 6 Rally Technology Simon Wagner Gerald Winter 6 ERC1J BRR Baumschlager Rally & Racing Team Albert von Thurn und Taxis Bernhard Ettel 6–8 FPAK Portugal Team ERC Aloísio Monteiro Sancho Eiró 6 Toksport World Rally Team Emilio Fernández Axel Coronado 7 Chris Ingram Ross Whittock 8 ERC1J ACCR Czech Rally Team I Filip Mareš Jan Hloušek 8 ERC1J Rally Technology János Puskádi Barnabás Góbor 8 Volkswagen Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 BRR Baumschlager Rally & Racing Team R5 Marijan Griebel Stefan Kopczyk 1 Albert von Thurn und Taxis Bernhard Ettel 3–4 Mol Racing Team Norbert Herczig Ramón Ferencz All Printsport Lars Stugemo Kalle Lexe 2 Szymon Ruta Bartłomiej Boba 4 Sport Racing Technologies Oliver Solberg Aaron Johnston 3 ERC1J ACCR Czech Rally Team II Vojtěch Štajf Veronika Havelková 5–6 Autotek Motorsport Nasser Al-Attiyah Matthieu Baumel 7 Ford Ford Fiesta R5 ARC Sport R5 Miguel Correia Pedro Alves 1 ERC1J Auto Laca Competición Luis Monzón José Carlos Déniz 2 Drift Company Rally Team Niki Mayr-Melnhof Leopold Welsersheimb 2, 5, 7–8 MR Motorsport Artur Muradian Pavel Chelebaev 3 Tiger Energy Drink Rally Team Tomasz Kasperczyk Damian Syty 4 Rally Technology Marcin Słobodzian Kamil Kozdroń 4 C-Rally Jarosłw Kołtun Ireneusz Pleskot 4 EuroOil Invelt Team Václav Pech Petr Uhel 6 Sweden National Team Mattias Adielsson Andreas Johansson 6 ERC1J MM Motorsport Mikko Hirvonen Jarno Ottman 7 ACCR Czech Rally Team I Tomáš Kurka Kateřina Janovská 7 Ford Hungary Rally Team Kft. László Bodolai Tamás Szőke 8 Speedbox Racing Team Kft. László Kiss Annamária Budai 8 Klaus Motorsport Kristóf Klausz Botond Csányi 8 Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II Orange 1 M-Sport Rally Team Simone Campedelli Tania Canton 5 Hadik Rally Team András Hadik Atilla Deák 8 Peugeot Peugeot 208 T16 R5 Joachim Wagemans Rally Team R5 Joachim Wagemans François Geerlandt 8
ERC-2
Entries Constructor Car Entrant Class Tyre Drivers Co-drivers Rounds Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Russian Performance Motorsport N Sergey Remennik Marina Danilova 1 Mark Rozin 2–3 Pro Racing Juan Carlos Alonso Juan Pablo Monasterolo 1 2 4, 6–7 Neikšāns Rallysport Zelindo Melegari Corrado Bonato 2–4 Sporta Klubs Autostils Rally Team Ralfs Sirmacis Ralfs Igaveņš 3 Dmitry Feofanov Dmitry Chumak 3–4 Normunds Kokins 7 ALM Motorsport Meshari Al-Thefiri Nasser Al-Kuwari 3–7 Horváth Rally ASE Mátyás Nagy Tamás Nagy 6, 8 Q8 Oils Rally Team Petros Pantelli Kypros Christodoulou 7 Psaltis Auto Parts Antonis Chilimindris Stelios Elia 7 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Pro Racing Vytautas Švedas Žilvinas Sakalauskas 3 SLT Rally Team Louis Papageorgiou Avraam Nicolaou 7 Subaru Subaru Impreza WRX STI P&B Racing N Luís Pimentel Nuno Moura 1 Abarth Fiat Abarth 124 Rally RGT Rally Technology RGT Dariusz Poloński Łukasz Sitek 2–6, 8A Cup Abarth Spain Alberto Monarri Alberto Chamorro 2 Loran SRL Andrea Nucita Giuseppe Princiotto 2 Alina Pop 3–5 Bernardo Di Caro 6, 8 Overcame Competitión Carlos David García Jordi Díaz 2 reinisnitiss.com Reinis Nitišs Māris Kulšs 3 Movisport Zelindo Melegari Corrado Bonato 5–6
ERC-3