2021 Junior WRC Championship

The 2021 FIA Junior WRC Championship was the ninth season of Junior WRC, a rallying championship governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, running in support of the World Rally Championship. The championship was open to drivers under the age of thirty—although no such restriction existed for co-drivers—competing in identical one-litre Ford Fiesta R2s built and maintained by M-Sport.^[1][2] The championship began in April 2021 at the Croatia Rally.

2021 FIA Junior WRC Championship

Drivers' Champion:
Sami Pajari
Co-drivers' Champion:
Marko Salminen
Nations' Trophy winner:
Finland

Previous

2020

Next

2023

Parent series:
FIA World Rally Championship
FIA WRC2 Championship
FIA WRC3 Championship

Tom Kristensson and Joakim Sjöberg were the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions while Sweden was the defending Nations' Trophy winner. Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen became the first Finnish crew to win the championship. Finland took the Nations' Trophy victory.

The FIA Junior WRC Championship titles were not awarded in 2022, with WRC3 Junior titles taking their place. However, FIA Junior WRC titles would make a return in 2023.

Calendar

The following events were included in the 2021 Junior WRC Championship. Each event was taken from the 2021 World Rally Championship calendar.

Round	Start date	Finish date	Rally	Rally headquarters	Surface	Stages	Distance	Ref.
1	22 April	25 April	Croatia Rally	Zagreb, City of Zagreb Region	Tarmac	20	300.32 km	[3]
2	20 May	23 May	Rally de Portugal	Matosinhos, Porto	Gravel	20	337.51 km	[4]
3	15 July	18 July	Rally Estonia	Tartu, Tartu County	Gravel	24	319.38 km	[5]
4	13 August	15 August	Ypres Rally Belgium	Ypres, West Flanders	Tarmac	20	295.78 km	[6]
5	14 October	17 October	RACC Rally Catalunya de España	Salou, Catalonia	Tarmac	19	306.50 km	[7]
Source:[8]

Calendar changes

Rally Croatia made its championship début.^[9] The Ypres Rally also made its début, replacing Rally GB. Rally Catalunya returned to the schedule after being removed from the 2020 calendar before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the championship. Rally Italia Sardegna was removed from the calendar. Rally Sweden was omitted from the Junior WRC Championship calendar before it was removed from the wider World Rally Championship schedule. The Rally Monza was also removed from the calendar as it was only included on the 2020 schedule in response to the pandemic.

Entries

The following crews competed in the championship:

Entrant	Driver	Co-driver	Rounds
Team Flying Finn	Lauri Joona	Ari Koponen	1–2
		Mikael Korhonen	3–5
LMT Autosporta Akademija	Mārtiņš Sesks	Renārs Francis	All
Porvoon Autopalvelu	Sami Pajari	Marko Salminen	All
Autosport Team Estonia	Robert Virves	Sander Pruul	1–3
		Aleks Lesk	4–5
Raul Badiu	Raul Badiu	Rareș Fetean	1–3
Jon Armstrong	Jon Armstrong	Phil Hall	All
Styllex Motorsport	Martin Koči	Petr Těšínský	1–3
Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy	William Creighton	Liam Regan	All
Source:[10][11][12][13][14]

Results and standing

Season summary

Round	Event	Winning driver	Winning co-driver	Winning time	Report	Ref.
1	Croatia Rally	Jon Armstrong	Phil Hall	3:15:07.6	Report	[15]
2	Rally de Portugal	Mārtiņš Sesks	Renārs Francis	4:15:52.7	Report	[16]
3	Rally Estonia	Sami Pajari	Marko Salminen	3:19:03.2	Report	[17]
4	Ypres Rally Belgium	Jon Armstrong	Phil Hall	2:51:55.4	Report	[18]
5	RACC Rally Catalunya de España	Sami Pajari	Marko Salminen	2:58:02.5	Report	[19]

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers. An additional point was given for every stage win. The best four results out of five counted towards the final drivers’ and co-drivers’ standings. However, all points gained from stage wins were retained. Double points were awarded for drivers' championship at the season's finale.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

FIA Junior WRC Championship for Drivers

Pos. Driver CRO POR EST BEL ESP Total Points Best 4 1 Sami Pajari 69 22 19 22 14 145 137 2 Jon Armstrong 12 Ret6 25 17 47 119 119 3 Mārtiņš Sesks 2 13 36 62 6 93 85 4 Lauri Joona 31 64 4 4 2 88 80 5 Robert Virves 7 3 7 3 35 78 71 6 William Creighton 5 5 6 57 51 66 58 7 Martin Koči 43 44 Ret3 34 34 8 Raul Badiu 83 Ret 5 17 17 Pos. Driver CRO POR EST BEL ESP Total Points Best 4 Source:[20]

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

FIA Junior WRC Championship for Co-Drivers

Pos. Co-Driver CRO POR EST BEL ESP Total Points Best 4 1 Marko Salminen 69 22 19 22 14 120 112 2 Phil Hall 12 Ret6 25 17 47 107 107 3 Renārs Francis 2 13 36 62 6 85 77 4 Liam Regan 5 5 6 57 51 56 48 5 Mikael Korhonen 4 4 2 42 42 6 Aleks Lesk 3 35 35 35 7 Petr Těšínský 43 44 Ret3 34 34 8 Ari Koponen 31 64 28 28 9 Sander Pruul 7 3 7 27 27 10 Rareș Fetean 83 Ret 5 17 17 Pos. Co-Driver CRO POR EST BEL ESP Total Points Best 4 Source:[20]

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

FIA Junior WRC Trophy for Nations

Pos. Co-Driver CRO POR EST BEL ESP Points 1  Finland 3 2 1 2 1 101 2  United Kingdom 1 Ret 2 1 3 83 3  Latvia 2 1 3 5 5 78 4  Estonia 6 3 6 3 2 64 5  Ireland 5 5 5 4 4 54 6  Slovakia 4 4 Ret 24 7  Romania 7 Ret 4 18 Pos. Co-Driver CRO POR EST BEL ESP Points Source:[20]

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)