The 2020 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-eighth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in seven rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with various regulations, however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2020 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in December 2020 with Rally Monza. The series was supported by the WRC2, WRC3 and Junior WRC categories at selected events.
The championship was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen events were planned prior to the pandemic, but with several events being cancelled due to the pandemic, and some new ones added as replacements, eventually seven events were held. This was the fewest completed rallies of any season in the history of the series.
Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were the defending Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions, having secured their maiden titles at the 2019 Rally Catalunya. Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, the team Tänak and Järveoja compete for, were the defending Manufacturers' Champions. Hyundai won their maiden manufacturers' title when the final round of the 2019 championship was cancelled.
At the conclusion of the championship, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia won their seventh world titles after winning the 2020 Rally Monza. In doing so, Ogier and Ingrassia became the first crew to win the championship with three different manufacturers. Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin finished second, trailing Ogier and Ingrassia by eight points. Defending World Champions Tänak and Järveoja were third, a further nine points behind. In the manufacturers' championship, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT successfully defended their title, five points cleared of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, with M-Sport Ford WRT in third.
Calendar
The 2020 championship was due to be contested over thirteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North and South America, and Oceania, but the calendar was reduced to seven rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
RoundStart dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceRef.123 January26 January Rallye Automobile Monte CarloGap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurMixed16304.28 km213 February16 February Rally SwedenTorsby, VärmlandSnow11171.64 km312 March15 March Rally Guanajuato MéxicoLeón, GuanajuatoGravel21268.84 km44 September6 September Rally EstoniaTartu, Tartu CountyGravel17232.64 km518 September20 September Rally of TurkeyMarmaris, MuğlaGravel12223.00 km68 October11 October Rally Italia SardegnaAlghero, SardiniaGravel16238.84 km73 December6 December ACI Rally MonzaMonza, LombardyTarmac16239.20 kmSource: The following rounds were included on the original calendar published by WRC Promoter GmbH, but were later cancelled: Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceCancellation reasonRef.16 April19 April Rally ChileConcepción, BiobíoGravelPolitical unrest23 April26 April Rally ArgentinaVilla Carlos Paz, CórdobaGravel16322.36 kmCOVID-19 pandemic21 May24 May Rally de PortugalMatosinhos, PortoGravel22331.10 kmCOVID-19 pandemic16 July19 July Safari Rally KenyaNairobiGravel18315.12 kmCOVID-19 pandemic6 August9 August Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel24321.87 kmCOVID-19 pandemic3 September6 September Rally New ZealandAuckland, Te Ika-a-MāuiGravelCOVID-19 pandemic15 October18 October ADAC Rallye DeutschlandBostalsee, SaarlandTarmacCOVID-19 pandemic29 October1 November Wales Rally GBLlandudno, ConwyGravelCOVID-19 pandemic19 November22 November Rally JapanNagoya, ChūbuTarmac19307.78 kmCOVID-19 pandemic20 November22 November Renties Ypres Rally BelgiumYpres, West FlandersTarmac23265.69 kmCOVID-19 pandemicSource:
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. However, none of the aforementioned events were run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Safari Rally was scheduled to be run as a World Championship event for the first time since 2002. The event was to 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 was planned to follow a compact route to comply with FIA regulations mandating the maximum route distance. Rally Japan was scheduled to return to the calendar for the first time since 2010, replacing Rally Australia as the final round of the championship. The rally was scheduled to move away from its original headquarters in Hokkaidō to a new base in Nagoya and was to be run on tarmac rather than gravel. Rally New Zealand was scheduled to return to the calendar for the first time since 2012. The event was planned to 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 removed in the face of ongoing political unrest in the country. The FIA sought a replacement event to ensure that the calendar retained its planned fourteen rounds, but were unable to do so.
The Rallies in Italy were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Events in Argentina, Portugal, Kenya, Finland, New Zealand, Germany, Great Britain and Japan were cancelled. Organisers of the championship announced that they were considering adding events to the schedule that had not been part of the original calendar. Estonia, Belgium, Latvia, Croatia and Czech Republic were among the countries who had expressed interest hosting the event.
The running date of Rally Turkey was moved forward by a week, which facilitated the opportunity for additional rounds. Further calendar options included Ypres Rally and Croatia Rally. Following the cancellation of Rallye Deutschland, the running date of Rally Sardegna moved forward by three weeks. This decision was intended to avoid the clash with the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix of Formula One.
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.
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. Belgium was set to be the thirty-fourth country to hold a WRC event, but were unable to do so as the rally was eventually called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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. The rally was based in the famous Autodromo Nazionale di Monza circuit near Milan, where the Italian Grand Prix is held every year.
Route changes Prior to the Rally Sweden, it was confirmed that the route for the rally had to be shortened due to a lack of snow. 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.
Entries The following teams and crews were under contract to contest the 2020 championship. Ford, Hyundai and Toyota were all represented by manufacturer teams and eligible to score points in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. All competitors used tyres supplied by Michelin.
+ManufacturerEntrantCarTyreNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsFord M-Sport Ford WRTFord Fiesta WRC3 Teemu Suninen Jarmo LehtinenAll4 Esapekka Lappi Janne FermAll44 Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson1, 3–7Hyundai Hyundai Shell Mobis WRTHyundai i20 Coupe WRC6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio3, 6–78 Ott Tänak Martin JärveojaAll9 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena1, 511 Thierry Neuville Nicolas GilsoulAll16 Craig Breen Paul Nagle242 Craig Breen Paul Nagle4 Hyundai 2C CompetitionHyundai i20 Coupe WRC7 Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais4–696 Ole Christian Veiby Jonas Andersson7Toyota Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota Yaris WRC17 Sébastien Ogier Julien IngrassiaAll33 Elfyn Evans Scott MartinAll69 Kalle Rovanperä Jonne HalttunenAllSources: +ManufacturerEntrantCarTyreNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsCitroën Saintéloc Junior TeamCitroën C3 WRC21 Petter Solberg Andreas Mikkelsen6Ford JanProFord Fiesta WRC65 Kimmo Kurkela Reeta Hämäläinen4 M-Sport Ford WRTFord Fiesta WRC Deividas Jocius Mindaugas Varža1–3 MP-SportsFord Fiesta RS WRC22 Martin Prokop Zdeněk Jůrka6 OT RacingFord Fiesta WRC64 Georg Gross Raigo Mõlder4Toyota Latvala MotorsportToyota Yaris WRC10 Jari-Matti Latvala Juho Hänninen2 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota Yaris WRC18 Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt1–2, 4, 6–7Sources:
Summary
Reigning World Champions Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja left Toyota and moved to Hyundai. The Estonian pair chose not to compete with the number 1, which may only be used by the defending champions. 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 contested 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. Hyundai announced that they could form a second team for Breen and Mikkelsen to contest selected rallies, and entered Breen at the rally of Sweden, Estonia and Belgium. Mikkelsen returned to action at the Rally Sardegna, co-driving with World Drivers' Champion Petter Solberg. They contested the rally in Shakedown and Power Stage with Pirelli tyres to be used for the season.
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. The company also expressed a willingness to sell or rent their C3 WRCs to teams looking to compete in the sport's premier category.