The 2021 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-ninth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in twelve rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car, Rally Pyramid and Group R 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 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza. The series was supported by WRC2 and WRC3 categories at every round of the championship and by the Junior WRC at selected events.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured their seventh championship titles at the 2020 Rally Monza. Hyundai were the defending manufacturers' champions and were defending their manufacturers' title for the second consecutive year.
At the conclusion of the championship, Ogier and Ingrassia won their eighth world titles after winning the 2021 Rally Monza. Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin finished second, trailing by twenty-three points. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were third, a further thirty-one points behind. In the manufacturers' championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT clinched the title, a massive fifty-nine-point lead over the defending manufacturer champion Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, with M-Sport Ford WRT in third.
Calendar
The 2021 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe and Africa: RoundStart dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceRef.121 January24 January Rallye Automobile Monte CarloGap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurMixed14257.64 km226 February 28 February Arctic Rally FinlandRovaniemi, LaplandSnow10251.08 km322 April25 April Croatia RallyZagrebTarmac20300.32 km420 May23 May Rally de PortugalMatosinhos, PortoGravel20337.51 km53 June6 June Rally Italia SardegnaOlbia, SardiniaGravel20303.10 km624 June27 June Safari Rally KenyaNairobiGravel18320.19 km715 July18 July Rally EstoniaTartu, Tartu CountyGravel24314.16 km813 August 15 August Ypres Rally BelgiumYpres, West FlandersTarmac20295.78 km99 September12 September Acropolis Rally GreeceLamia, Central GreeceGravel15292.19 km101 October3 October Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel19287.11 km1114 October17 October RACC Rally Catalunya de EspañaSalou, CataloniaTarmac17280.46 km1218 November21 November ACI Rally MonzaMonza, LombardyTarmac16253.18 kmSources: The following rounds were included on the original calendar published by WRC Promoter GmbH, but were later cancelled: Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceCancellation reasonRef.11 February14 February Rally SwedenTorsby, VärmlandSnow19313.81 kmCOVID-19 pandemic9 September 12 September Rally ChileConcepción, BiobíoGravelCOVID-19 pandemic19 August22 August Rally GBFinancial issues11 November14 November Rally JapanNagoya, ChūbuTarmac20300.11 kmCOVID-19 pandemic
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. Three events were successful, 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. The rally returned to running exclusively on tarmac roads for the first time since .
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. 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. Rally Croatia made its championship debut, replacing Rally Mexico. 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. 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.
Rally GB was replaced by the Ypres Rally in Belgium. 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 , but it was ultimately called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rally was also originally included on the 2020 calendar, but was also cancelled because of the pandemic. Rally Monza was confirmed to hold the season finale for the second year in a row. The Safari Rally was run as a World Championship event for the first time since . The event was based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and featured stages around Lake Naivasha. The event had been planned to make its return to the championship in 2020, but was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rally Sweden was included on the first draft of the calendar with its traditional February date, but was cancelled before the start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arctic Rally in northern Finland was chosen as a replacement to ensure that a winter rally was included on the calendar. 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. The Ypres Rally had also been included on this reserve list before it replaced Rally GB, so as the Acropolis Rally and Rally Monza.
Entries
Four teams from three manufacturers contested the 2021 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, enlisting the following crews for each round as detailed. All crews use tyres provided by Pirelli. +ManufacturerEntrantCarNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsFord M-Sport Ford WRTFord Fiesta WRC3 Teemu Suninen Mikko Markkula1–2, 5, 716 Adrien Fourmaux Renaud Jamoul3–4, 6, 8–9 Alexandre Coria10–1244 Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson1–2 Chris Patterson3–4, 6–11 Stuart Loudon5 Jonas Andersson12Hyundai Hyundai Shell Mobis WRTHyundai i20 Coupe WRC3 Teemu Suninen Mikko Markkula126 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio1 Borja Rozada4–6 Cándido Carrera9, 11–128 Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja1–1111 Thierry Neuville Martijn WydaegheAll42 Craig Breen Paul Nagle2–3, 7–8, 10 Hyundai 2C CompetitionHyundai i20 Coupe WRC2 Oliver Solberg Sebastian Marshall2 Aaron Johnston5–6 Craig Drew11 Elliott Edmondson127 Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais1–3 Florian Haut-Labourdette4–914 Nil Solans Marc Martí11Toyota Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota Yaris WRC1 Sébastien Ogier Julien IngrassiaAll33 Elfyn Evans Scott MartinAll69 Kalle Rovanperä Jonne HalttunenAllSource: The below crews are not entered to score manufacturer points and are entered in World Rally Cars as privateers or under arrangement with the manufacturers. +ManufacturerEntrantCarNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsCitroën Cyrille FéraudCitroën DS3 WRC Cyrille Féraud Benoît Manzo4–5Ford JanProFord Fiesta WRC12 Janne Tuohino Reeta Hämäläinen2 M-Sport Ford WRTFord Fiesta WRC9 Jourdan Serderidis Frédéric Miclotte937 Lorenzo Bertelli Simone Scattolin2, 6 Niko PulićFord Fiesta WRC54 Niko Pulić Aleksandra Kovačić3 Armando PereiraFord Fiesta WRC Armando Pereira Rémi Tutélaire3, 11Toyota RTE-MotorsportToyota Yaris WRC4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm10 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota Yaris WRC18 Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt1–7 Keaton Williams8–9 Aaron Johnston10–12Source:
In detail
M-Sport Ford WRT only entered two full-time entries in 2021. The first was crewed by Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson, who contested selected rallies for the team in 2019 and 2020. Edmondson was later replaced by Chris Patterson. Stuart Loudon became Greensmith's third co-driver of the season, when Patterson was absent in Sardinia for personal reasons. Greensmith and Patterson parted away after Rally de Catalunya as Patterson decided to retire from competition. Jonas Andersson is confirmed to co-drive with Greensmith in the season finale. The second car was shared by two crews; one made up of WRC2 graduates Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul, while the other was led by Teemu Suninen, who was partnered by Mikko Markkula. However, Suninen announced that he quit from the team by mid season. Fourmaux split away with Jamoul during the season. Alexandre Coria became Fourmaux's new co-driver. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm, who drove for M-Sport in 2020, left the team. The two later joined WRC2 team Movisport.
Hyundai retained the line-up of Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja. Thierry Neuville also retained with the team, but he ended his ten-year partnership with Nicolas Gilsoul. Martijn Wydaeghe became Neuville's new co-driver. The team's third entry was shared between crews led by Dani Sordo and Craig Breen. Sordo formed a new partnership with new co-driver Borja Rozada after the Monte Carlo Rally as Carlos del Barrio moved to co-drive with Fabrizio Zaldívar in the WRC3 category. However, their partnership only lasted three rounds, with Cándido Carrera replaced Rozada. Nine-time World Champion Sébastien Loeb left Hyundai to join Bahrain Raid Xtreme team in the 2021 Dakar Rally and Team X44 in the Extreme E electric rally raid series. Tänak is confirmed to miss the season's finale for family reasons. Suninen, who left M-Sport and competed for Hyundai in the WRC2 category in Spain, replaced the Estonian in Monza.
Hyundai's second team, Hyundai 2C Competition, entered an i20 Coupe WRC for Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais at every round of the championship. Loubet and Landais had previously contested three events with the team in 2020. Florian Haut-Labourdette later replaced Landais to co-drive with Loubet since Portugal. However, Loubet's full-season programme was brought to an early end as he suffered a hip injury after being involving in a car accident. Junior WRC Champion Nil Solans made his top-tier debut in Spain as a replacement to the injured Loubet with Marc Martí. Oliver Solberg and Aaron Johnston made their World Rally Car debut at the Arctic Rally. However, Johnston was replaced by Sebastian Marshall at the weekend after testing positive for COVID-19 pandemic. Solberg announced later in the season that the partnership with Johnston ended. American Rally Association champion Craig Drew took over the seat in Catalunya, before Edmondson cooperated with Solberg in Monza.