2023 WRC3 Championship

The 2023 FIA WRC3 Championship was the tenth season of WRC3, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the third-highest tier of international rallying. It was open to privateers and teams using cars complying with Group Rally3 regulations.^[1] The championship began in January 2023 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2023 with Rally Japan, and ran in support of the 2023 World Rally Championship.

2023 FIA WRC3 Championship

Drivers' Champion:
Roope Korhonen
Co-drivers' Champion:
Anssi Viinikka

Previous

2022

Next

2024

Parent series:
FIA World Rally Championship
FIA WRC2 Championship
Support series:
FIA Junior WRC Championship

Lauri Joona and Enni Mälkönen entered as the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions.^[2]

Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka won the 2023 drivers and codrivers championships.^[3]

Calendar

A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2023 championship. Event headquarters are marked with black dots.

The 2023 season was contested over thirteen rounds crossing Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Asia.

Round	Start date	Finish date	Rally	Rally headquarters	Surface	Stages	Distance	Ref.
1	19 January	22 January	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Mixed[a]	18	325.02 km	[4]
2	9 February	12 February	Rally Sweden	Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden	Snow	18	301.18 km	[5]
3	16 March	19 March	Rally Guanajuato México	León, Guanajuato, Mexico	Gravel	23	315.69 km	[6]
4	20 April	23 April	Croatia Rally	Zagreb, Croatia	Tarmac	20	301.26 km	[7]
5	11 May	14 May	Rally de Portugal	Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal	Gravel	19	329.06 km	[8]
6	1 June	4 June	Rally Italia Sardegna	Olbia, Sardinia, Italy	Gravel	19	322.88 km	[9]
7	22 June	25 June	Safari Rally Kenya	Naivasha, Nakuru County, Kenya	Gravel	19	355.92 km	[10]
8	20 July	23 July	Rally Estonia	Tartu, Estonia	Gravel	21	300.41 km	[11]
9	3 August	6 August	Rally Finland	Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland	Gravel	22	320.56 km	[12]
10	7 September	10 September	Acropolis Rally Greece	Lamia, Central Greece, Greece	Gravel	15	270.89 km	[13]
11	28 September	1 October	Rally Chile	Concepción, Biobío, Chile	Gravel	16	321.06 km	[14]
12	26 October	29 October	Central European Rally	Passau, Bavaria, Germany	Tarmac	18	310.01 km	[15]
13	16 November	19 November	Rally Japan	Toyota, Aichi, Japan	Tarmac	22	304.66 km	[16]
Sources:[17][18]

Calendar changes

The championship was expected to be expanded to fourteen rounds from the thirteen rounds in the previous season by WRC Promoter GmbH, with eight Europe-based rallies and six fly-away events covering the season.^[19] However, when the calendar was released in late November following a lengthy delay, the number of the events was reduced to thirteen with the anticipated Saudi Arabian rally based at Jeddah, absent from the calendar.^[20][21]

Rally Mexico (picured in 2008 with a Subaru Impreza WRC) returned to the calendar.

• Rally Mexico returned to championship after missing the 2021 and 2022 championships.^[22] The organizers of the rally had previously held a national event in 2022 as a prelude for the 2023 return.^[23]
• Rally Chile rejoined the calendar after having been ruled out in 2020 and 2021 due to the Chilean protests and COVID-19 pandemic respectively.^[24][25]
• The Central European Rally, a tri-nation event held across Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, was introduced into the championship, replacing the Catalonian Rally.^[26] The rally was based out of southeast Germany, in the city of Passau in Bavaria, and ran on tarmac.^[27]
• Rally New Zealand, a round of the 2022 season, was not included on the calendar, but the organizers tried to seek an opportunity for a 2024 return as a part of the rotation program with Rally Australia.^[28]
• Ypres Rally Belgium, which was a part of the championship for the prior two seasons, dropped off the calendar and instead formed part of the 2023 British Rally Championship.^[29]

Several rally organizers also expressed their interests to return to the championship, including Rally Argentina, Rally Australia, the German Rally, and an event in Northern Ireland.^{[30][31][32][33]} The Argentine, Australian and Northern Irish bids failed and Germany organized the Central European Rally along with Austria and the Czech Republic.^[34][35] In addition to the candidate events, the WRC Promoter GmbH was also working on the calendar expansion to the Middle East and United States, but no rallies were added for the 2023 season.^[36]

Location changes

• The headquarters of the Rally Italia Sardegna would be once again moved from Alghero to Olbia.^[37] The 2020 event was previously headquartered in Olbia as a result of major route revisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[38]
• The 2023 edition of the Safari Rally was headquartered at the Lakeside town of Naivasha.^[39] The rally was previously headquartered in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.^[40]

Entries

The following crews are set to enter into the 2023 WRC3 Championship:

Car	Entrant	Driver name	Co-driver name	Rounds
Ford Fiesta Rally3	Hamza Anwar	Hamza Anwar	Adnan Din	2, 6–7
			Martin Brady	4
			Alexander Kihurani	8
			Julia Thulin	10
	Jason Bailey	Jason Bailey	Shayne Peterson	3, 13
			Jamie Willetts	7
	Roberto Blach	Roberto Blach	Mauro Barreiro	4, 6, 8, 10
	Petr Borodin	Petr Borodin	Roman Cheprassov	9
	Eduardo Castro	Eduardo Castro	Carla Salvat Trías	10
			Fernando Mussano	11
	Brendan Cumiskey	Brendan Cumiskey	Arthur Kierans	8
			Martin Connolly	9
	Giorgos Delaportas	Giorgos Delaportas	Evangelos Panaritis	10
	Diego Dominguez Jr	Diego Dominguez Jr	Rogelio Peñate	2–3, 7, 10–11
	Spiros Galerakis	Spiros Galerakis	Konstantinos Soukoulis	10
	Toni Herranen	Toni Herranen	Mikko Lukka	2, 5, 8–9
	Jesse Kallio	Jesse Kallio	Jussi Lindberg	2, 9
	Epaminondas Karanikolas	Epaminondas Karanikolas	Giorgos Kakavas	10
	McRae Kimathi	McRae Kimathi	Mwangi Kioni	7
	Filip Kohn	Filip Kohn	Tomáš Střeska	2, 4
			Tom Woodburn	6, 9, 12
	Benjamin Korhola	Benjamin Korhola	Pekka Kelander	8–9
	Roope Korhonen	Roope Korhonen	Anssi Viinikka	2, 5–6, 8
	Ville Laakso	Ville Laakso	Jani Luhtaniemi	9
	Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy	William Creighton	Liam Regan	2, 4, 6, 8, 10
		Eamonn Kelly	Conor Mohan	2, 4, 6, 8, 10
	Kristian Nieminen	Kristian Nieminen	Valtteri Nieminen	9
	Marek Paciorkowski	Marek Paciorkowski	Kamil Heller	9
	Laurent Pellier	Laurent Pellier	Marine Pelamourgues	2, 4
			Kévin Bronner	6, 8, 10
	RACB National Team	Tom Rensonnet	Loïc Dumont	2, 4, 6, 8, 10
	Martin Ravenščak	Martin Ravenščak	Dora Ravenščak	4, 12
	Fabio Schwarz	Fabio Schwarz	Bernhard Ettel	12
	Henri Timonen	Henri Timonen	Jussi Kärpijoki	9
	Ali Türkkan	Ali Türkkan	Burak Erdener	6, 8–10
	Tuomas Vihtari	Tuomas Vihtari	Ville Harvia	9
	Jeremiah Wahome	Jeremiah Wahome	Victor Okundi	7
Renault Clio Rally3	Efthimios Halkias	Efthimios Halkias	Nikos Komnos	10
Sources:[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]

Results and standings

Season summary

Round	Event	Winning driver	Winning co-driver	Winning entrant	Winning time	Report	Ref.
1	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	No WRC3 entries				Report	[49]
2	Rally Sweden	Roope Korhonen	Anssi Viinikka	Roope Korhonen	2:44:25.9	Report	[50]
3	Rally Guanajuato México	Diego Dominguez Jr.	Rogelio Peñate	Diego Dominguez Jr.	3:46:34.2	Report	[51]
4	Croatia Rally	Eamonn Kelly	Conor Mohan	Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy	3:20:15.7	Report	[52]
5	Rally de Portugal	Roope Korhonen	Anssi Viinikka	Roope Korhonen	4:11:51.5	Report
6	Rally Italia Sardegna	Roope Korhonen	Anssi Viinikka	Roope Korhonen	4:14:20.0	Report	[53]
7	Safari Rally Kenya	Diego Dominguez Jr.	Rogelio Peñate	Diego Dominguez Jr.	4:37:57.1	Report	[54]
8	Rally Estonia	Roope Korhonen	Anssi Viinikka	Roope Korhonen	2:57:16.2	Report	[55]
9	Rally Finland	Benjamin Korhola	Pekka Kelander	Benjamin Korhola	2:54:27.0	Report	[56]
10	Acropolis Rally Greece	Diego Dominguez Jr.	Rogelio Peñate	Diego Dominguez Jr.	3:24:38.9	Report	[57]
11	Rally Chile	Eduardo Castro	Fernando Mussano	Eduardo Castro	3:36:41.7	Report	[3]
12	Central European Rally	Filip Kohn	Tom Woodburn	Filip Kohn	3:23:04.4	Report
13	Rally Japan	Jason Bailey	Shayne Peterson	Jason Bailey	5:03:05.7	Report

Scoring system

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

FIA WRC3 Championship for Drivers

Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX CRO POR ITA KEN EST FIN GRE CHL EUR JPN Points 1 Roope Korhonen 1 1 1 1 100 2 Diego Dominguez Jr. 4 1 NC 1 NC 1 Ret 87 3 Jason Bailey 2 2 1 61 4 Tom Rensonnet 5 2 6 8 3 55 5 Filip Kohn 9 6 9 NC 3 1 52 6 William Creighton 2 5 2 10 8 51 7 Eamonn Kelly Ret 1 7 Ret 2 49 8 Roberto Blach Núñez 3 4 5 5 47 9 Laurent Pellier 3 Ret 5 2 10 44 10 Eduardo Castro 4 1 37 11 Toni Herranen 8 2 3 DNS 37 12 Hamza Anwar 7 4 8 Ret 6 Ret 30 13 Benjamin Korhola 9 1 27 14 Ali Türkkan 3 4 Ret Ret 27 15 Jesse Kallio 6 2 26 16 Fabio Schwarz 2 18 17 Martin Ravenščak Ret 3 15 18 McRae Kimathi 3 15 19 Brendan Cumiskey 7 6 14 20 Henri Timonen 4 12 21 Tuomas Vihtari 5 10 22 Efthimios Halkias 6 8 23 Ville Laakso 7 6 24 Spiros Galerakis 7 6 25 Petr Borodin 8 4 26 Giorgos Delaportas 9 2 Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX CRO POR ITA KEN EST FIN GRE CHL EUR JPN Points Source:[58][59]

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 WRC3 Championship for Co-Drivers

Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX CRO POR ITA KEN EST FIN GRE CHL EUR JPN Points 1 Anssi Viinikka 1 1 1 1 100 2 Rogelio Peñate 4 1 NC 1 NC 1 Ret 87 3 Loïc Dumont 5 2 6 8 3 55 4 Liam Regan 2 5 2 10 8 51 5 Conor Mohan Ret 1 7 Ret 2 49 6 Mauro Barreiro 3 4 5 5 47 7 Shayne Peterson 2 1 43 8 Tom Woodburn 9 NC 3 1 42 9 Mikko Lukka 8 2 3 DNS 37 10 Kévin Bronner 5 2 10 29 11 Pekka Kelander 9 1 27 12 Burak Erdener 3 4 Ret Ret 27 13 Jussi Lindberg 6 2 26 14 Fernando Mussano 1 25 15 Jamie Willetts 2 18 16 Bernhard Ettel 2 18 17 Marine Pelamourgues 3 Ret 15 18 Dora Ravenščak Ret 3 15 19 Mwangi Kioni 3 15 20 Martin Brady 4 12 21 Jussi Kärpijoki 4 12 22 Carla Salvat Trías 4 12 23 Ville Harvia 5 10 24 Tomáš Střeska 9 6 10 25 Adnan Din 7 8 Ret 10 26 Alexander Kihurani 6 8 27 Martin Connolly 6 8 28 Nikos Komnos 6 8 29 Arthur Kierans 7 6 30 Jani Luhtaniemi 7 6 31 Konstantinos Soukoulis 7 6 32 Roman Cheprassov 8 4 33 Evangelos Panaritis 9 2 Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX CRO POR ITA KEN EST FIN GRE CHL EUR JPN Points Source:[58][59]

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)

Notes

1. The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.