Motorsport championship
Sami Pajari won the 2024 WRC2 drivers' championship. The 2024 FIA WRC2 Championship was the twelfth season of WRC2 , a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was opened to crews with cars complying with Group Rally2 regulations.[ 1] The championship began in January 2024 with the Monte Carlo Rally and concluded in November 2024 with the Rally Japan , and ran in support of the 2024 World Rally Championship .
Andreas Mikkelsen and Torstein Eriksen were the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions.[ 2] Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen became the 2024 WRC2 champions.[ 3]
A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2024 championship. Event headquarters are marked with black dots.
The 2024 season was contested over thirteen rounds crossing Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
Round Start date Finish date Rally Rally headquarters Surface Stages Distance Ref. 1 25 January 28 January Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur , France Mixed[ a] 17 324.44 km [ 4] 2 15 February 18 February Rally Sweden Umeå, Västerbotten County , Sweden Snow 18 300.10 km [ 5] 3 28 March 31 March Safari Rally Kenya Nairobi, Nakuru County , Kenya Gravel 19 355.92 km [ 6] 4 18 April 21 April Croatia Rally Zagreb , Croatia Tarmac 20 283.28 km [ 7] 5 9 May 12 May Rally de Portugal Matosinhos, Porto , Portugal Gravel 22 337.04 km [ 8] 6 30 May 2 June Rally Italia Sardegna Alghero, Sardinia , Italy Gravel 16 266.12 km [ 9] 7 27 June 30 June Rally Poland Mikołajki, Warmian–Masurian , Poland Gravel 19 304.10 km [ 10] 8 18 July 21 July Rally Latvia Liepāja, Kurzeme Planning Region , Latvia Gravel 20 300.13 km [ 11] 9 1 August 4 August Rally Finland Jyväskylä, Central Finland , Finland Gravel 20 305.69 km [ 12] 10 5 September 8 September Acropolis Rally Greece Lamia, Central Greece , Greece Gravel 15 305.30 km [ 13] 11 26 September 29 September Rally Chile Concepción, Biobío , Chile Gravel 16 306.76 km [ 14] 12 17 October 20 October Central European Rally Bad Griesbach, Bavaria , Germany Tarmac 18 302.51 km [ 15] 13 21 November 24 November Rally Japan Toyota, Aichi , Japan Tarmac 21 302.59 km [ 16] Sources: [ 17] [ 18]
The championship was expected to be expanded to 14 rounds,[ 19] however WRC Promoter GmbH retained the existing total of 13 events with the reasoning that it would aid participation of more Rally1 cars.[ 20]
The headquarters of Rally Liepāja in 2015 The WRC Promoter GmbH was also working on the two key calendar expansions for the future.[ 28]
Progress had been made for the candidate event in the United States, a location that was also aiming to join the championship in 2024.[ 29] The other key expansion was Rally China , which was last featured in 1999 . The rally was also scheduled to be held in 2016 , but it was ultimately cancelled due to the damage caused by the 2016 China floods .[ 30] In addition, the candidate list also included the event in Saudi Arabia,[ 31] where it aimed at a 2025 calendar slot.[ 32] The rally was a part of WRC Promoter GmbH's plan to deliver a desert event.[ 33] Rally Argentina was also bidding to return to the championship.[ 34]
The following teams and crews are under contract to contest WRC2 in 2024. Teams must enter two crews to be eligible for Teams' Championship points.
Crews entered by or via teams Entrant Car Driver Co-Driver Rounds Driver Name Category Co-Driver Name Category ACCR Toyota Dolák Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Filip Mareš Challenger Radovan Bucha Challenger 12 AEC – DG Sport Competition Citroën C3 Rally2 Nikolay Gryazin Challenger Konstantin Aleksandrov [ b] Challenger 1, 4, 7, 10–13 Yohan Rossel Arnaud Dunand 1, 4–5 Benjamin Boulloud 6 Florian Barral 10–12 Ahead Japan Racing Team Škoda Fabia R5 Hiroki Arai Challenger Shunsuke Matsuo Challenger 13 HW34 by Motortune Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Hamed Al-Wahaibi Challenger Ilka Minor Challenger 9 Niall Burns Challenger 10 Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy Ford Fiesta Rally2 William Creighton Challenger Liam Regan Challenger 2, 4–6, 8–9, 12 Past Racing Ford Fiesta Rally2 Daniel Alonso Villarón Challenger Alejandro López Challenger 5–6 Printsport Škoda Fabia R5 Juha Liimatainen Challenger Timo Hantunen Challenger 9 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Rakan Al-Rashed Challenger Hugo Magalhães Challenger 2, 5 Michał Sołowow Challenger Maciej Baran Challenger 2, 7 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Rakan Al-Rashed Challenger Hugo Magalhães Challenger 8 Sami Pajari Challenger Enni Mälkönen Challenger 2, 5–8, 10, 13 Sports & You Citroën C3 Rally2 Marco Bulacia Vallejo Diego 5 Toksport WRT Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo Burcu Çetinkaya Challenger Fabrizia Pons Challenger 10 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Eyvind Brynildsen Challenger Jørn Listerud Challenger 4 Gus Greensmith Jonas Andersson 3, 5, 7–11, 13 Pierre-Louis Loubet Loris Pascaud 5–6 Josh McErlean Challenger James Fulton Challenger 6 Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson 2–3, 7–9, 11 Toksport WRT 2 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Pierre-Louis Loubet Loris Pascaud 7, 9–10 Josh McErlean Challenger James Fulton Challenger 7–10, 12 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRJ Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Norihiko Katsuta Yusuke Kimura 13 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Jari-Matti Latvala Juho Hänninen 9 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Hikaru Kogure Challenger Topi Luhtinen Challenger 2, 4–6, 9, 13 Yuki Yamamoto Challenger Marko Salminen Challenger 2, 4–6, 9, 13 Sources: [ 41] [ 42] [ 43] [ 44] [ 45] [ 46] [ 47] [ 48] [ 49] [ 50] [ 51] [ 52] [ 53]
Private entries Car Driver Co-driver Rounds Driver name Category Co-driver name Category Citroën C3 Rally2 James Leckey Challenger Stephen McAuley Challenger 2, 5 Diego Dominguez Jr. Challenger Rogelio Peñate Challenger 3 José Pedro Fontes Challenger Inês Ponte Challenger 5 Pierre Lafay Challenger Charlyne Quartini Challenger 5–6, 9 Maxime Potty Challenger Jules Escartefigue Challenger 6 Renaud Herman Challenger 12 Cristian Dolofan Challenger Traian Pavel Challenger 10 Alberto Heller Challenger Luis Ernesto Allende Challenger 11 Pedro Heller Challenger Pablo Olmos Challenger 11 Emilio Rosselot Challenger Tomas Cañete Challenger 11 Gerardo Rosselot Valenzuela Challenger Marcelo Brizio Challenger 11 Satoshi Imai Challenger Jason Farmer Challenger 13 Ford Fiesta R5 Patrick Déjean Challenger Yannick Jammes Challenger 5 Ford Fiesta Rally2 Eamonn Boland Challenger Michael Joseph Morrissey Challenger 1, 4, 13 John Wartique Challenger Maxime Andernack Challenger 1 Jarosław Kołtun Challenger Ireneusz Pleskot Challenger 2 Carl Tundo Challenger Tim Jessop Challenger 3 George Vassilakis Challenger Tom Krawszik Challenger 3, 6, 10 Allan Harryman Challenger 13 Lucas Simões Challenger Valter Cardoso Challenger 5 Pepe López Challenger David Vázquez Challenger 6 Hyundai i20 N Rally2 Nicolas Ciamin Challenger Yannick Roche Challenger 1, 3–4, 6 Henk Vossen Challenger Willem Vissenberg Challenger 1 Wim Stupers Challenger 4 Harmen Scholtalbers Challenger 12 Emil Lindholm Reeta Hämäläinen 2, 4, 6, 8–9 Charles Munster Challenger Loïc Dumont Challenger 3 Kris Meeke Stuart Loudon 5 Teemu Suninen Mikko Markkula 5–9 Ricardo Teodósio Challenger José Teixeira Challenger 5 Benjamin Korhola Sebastian Virtanen 9 Škoda Fabia R5 Karan Patel Challenger Tauseef Khan Challenger 3 Aakif Virani Challenger Azhar Bhatti Challenger 3 Gianmarco Donetto Challenger Marco Menchini Challenger 6 Tommi Jylhä Kimmo Nevanpää 9 Anssi Rytkönen Mikael Korhonen 9 Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo Olivier Burri Challenger Anderson Levratti Challenger 1 Maurizio Chiarani Challenger Flavio Zanella Challenger 1, 4, 9 Roberto Daprà Challenger Luca Guglielmetti Challenger 1, 4–8, 10 Federico Laurencich Challenger Alberto Mlakar Challenger 1 Massimiliano Locatelli Challenger Stefano Tiraboschi Challenger 1 Filippo Marchino Challenger Pietro Elia Ometto Challenger 1, 4 Alejandro Mauro Challenger Adrián Pérez Challenger 1–2 Maurizio Morato Challenger Massimiliano Bosi Challenger 1 Miguel Díaz-Aboitiz Challenger Rodrigo Sanjuan de Eusebio Challenger 3 Diego Sanjuan de Eusebio Challenger 12 Enrico Brazzoli Challenger Martina Musiari Challenger 4, 6, 10 Pedro Almeida Challenger Mário Castro Challenger 5 Ernesto Cunha Challenger Rui Raimundo Challenger 5 Paulo Neto Challenger Nuno Mota Ribeiro Challenger 5 Diogo Salvi Challenger Carlos Magalhães Challenger 5 Carlo Covi Challenger Simone Angi Challenger 6 Luca Hoelbling Challenger Mauro Grassi Challenger 6 Giuseppe Pozzo Challenger Pier Paolo Cottu Challenger 6 Simone Romagna Challenger Dino Lamonato Challenger 6 Christian Tiramani Challenger Fabio Grimaldi Challenger 6 Wojciech Musiał Challenger Konrad Dudziński Challenger 7 Matīss Mežaks Challenger Arnis Ronis Challenger 8 Giorgos Amoutzas Challenger Giorgos Eliopoulos Challenger 10 Lambros Athanassoulas Challenger Nikolaos Zakheos Challenger 10 Nikos Pavlidis Challenger Allan Harryman Challenger 10 Eduardo Kovacs Bauer Challenger Fernando Mussano Challenger 11 Martin Scuncio Challenger Javiera Roman Challenger 11 Osamu Fukunaga Challenger Misako Saida Challenger 13 Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 Chris Ingram Challenger Hannah McKillop Challenger 1 Pepe López Challenger David Vázquez Challenger 1, 4–5 Mauro Miele Challenger Luca Beltrame Challenger 1, 4, 6, 8–9 Gregor Jeets Challenger Timo Taniel Challenger 2 Lauri Joona Challenger Janni Hussi Challenger 2, 4–7, 9–10 Isak Reiersen Challenger Lucas Karlsson Challenger 2 Marko Viitanen Challenger Tapio Suominen Challenger 2 Fabrizio Zaldivar Challenger Marcelo Der Ohannesian Challenger 2, 5–6, 8–11 Daniel Chwist Challenger Kamil Heller Challenger 3, 6, 13 Kajetan Kajetanowicz Challenger Maciej Szczepaniak Challenger 3, 6–7, 10–13 Samman Singh Vohra Challenger Alfir Khan Challenger 3 Armin Kremer Challenger Ella Kremer Challenger 4, 6–8, 10, 12 Ricardo Triviño Challenger Diego Fuentes Vega Challenger 4, 6–7, 9 Armindo Araújo Challenger Luís Ramalho Challenger 5 Miguel Granados Challenger Marc Martí Challenger 5–6, 10 Alejandro Mauro Sánchez Challenger Adrián Pérez Fernández Challenger 5–6 Josh McErlean Challenger James Fulton Challenger 5 Juan Carlos Peralta Challenger Víctor Pérez Couto Challenger 5, 10 Sergi Pérez Jr. Challenger Axel Coronado Challenger 5 Martin Prokop Challenger Michal Ernst Challenger 5–7, 9 Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson 5 Marco Bulacia Challenger Diego Vallejo Challenger 6 Uğur Soylu Challenger Sener Guray Challenger 6–10 Robert Virves Challenger Aleks Lesk Challenger 6–7, 9–10 Jarosław Kołtun Challenger Ireneusz Pleskot Challenger 7 Mikołaj Marczyk Challenger Szymon Gospodarczyk Challenger 7, 12 Artūrs Priednieks Challenger Janis Kirkovalds Challenger 8 Miguel Zaldivar Jr Challenger Diego Cagnotti Challenger 8 Teemu Asunmaa Challenger Ville Mannisenmäki Challenger 9 Tuukka Kauppinen Challenger Veli-Pekka Karttunen Challenger 9 Giorgos Kechagias Challenger Nikolaos Petropoulos Challenger 10 Panagiotis Roustemis Challenger Christos Bakloris Challenger 10 Vassileios Velanis Challenger Elias Panagiotounis Challenger 10 Jorge Martínez Fontena Challenger Alberto Alvarez Nicholson Challenger 11 Eamonn Boland Challenger Tobias Braun Challenger 12 Věroslav Cvrček Challenger Petr Těšínský Challenger 12 Marijan Griebel Challenger Michael Joseph Morrissey Challenger 12 Petr Nešetřil Challenger Jiří Černoch Challenger 12 Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Bryan Bouffier Challenger Frédéric Vauclare Challenger 1 Stéphane Lefebvre Andy Malfoy 1 Jan Solans Challenger Rodrigo Sanjuan Challenger 1–2, 5–6, 10–11, 13 Mikko Heikkilä Challenger Kristian Temonen Challenger 2, 8–9 Roope Korhonen Challenger Anssi Viinikka Challenger 2, 5–7, 9 Georg Linnamäe Challenger James Morgan Challenger 2, 5–7, 9–10 Lewis Bates Challenger Anthony McLoughlin Challenger 5 Jean-Michel Raoux Challenger Isabelle Galmiche Challenger 5–6 Gregor Jeets Challenger Timo Taniel Challenger 7–9 Brandon Semenuk Challenger Keaton Williams Challenger 8 Juhana Raitanen Challenger Samu Vaaleri Challenger 9 Chris Ingram Challenger Alexander Kihurani Challenger 13 Heikki Kovalainen Challenger Sae Kitagawa Challenger 13 Fumio Nutahara Challenger Shungo Azuma Challenger 13 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 Jacopo Bergamin Challenger Alice Tasselli Challenger 1 Jourdan Serderidis Challenger Frédéric Miclotte Challenger 1 Sources: [ 41] [ 42] [ 43] [ 44] [ 45] [ 46] [ 47] [ 48] [ 49] [ 50] [ 51] [ 52] [ 53]
Citroën Racing announced three factory-supported entries in the category, retaining Yohan Rossel and signing Nikolay Gryazin and Marco Bulacia . Rossel and Gryazin's entries will be run in collaboration with Belgian outfit DG Sport Compétition , while Portuguese team Sports & You will run Bulacia's entry.[ 54] [ 55]
Toksport WRT will run three entries supported by Škoda Motorsport . The German team retains Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith from 2023, while Pierre-Louis Loubet returns to the category, moving over from the Rally1 category and M-Sport Ford .[ 56] [ 57] [ 58]
Sami Pajari left Toksport WRT after the 2023 season. Instead, he will drive the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 , his entry being run by Finnish team Printsport .[ 59]
Power Stage points were removed from WRC2 for the 2024 season. The FIA cited complaints about the disparity in running order – where the top-five WRC2 competitors would run out of order from the other cars in class – as the primary reason for the regulation change.[ 60]
Results and standings [ edit ] A team has to enter two cars to score points in an event. Drivers and teams must nominate a scoring rally when they enter the event and the best six scores from seven nominated rallies will count towards the final classification. Registered drivers are able to enter additional rallies with Priority 2 status without scoring points.
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
FIA WRC2 Championship for Drivers [ edit ] 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 WRC2 Championship for Co-drivers [ edit ] 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 WRC2 Championship for Teams [ edit ] 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 WRC2 Challenger Championship for Drivers [ edit ]