The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship-2 Pro was the first season of the
World Rally Championship-2 Pro, an
auto racing
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
championship for
rally car
Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...
s that is recognised by the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was created in 2019 and open to cars entered by manufacturers and complying with
Group R5 regulations.
The
World Rally Championship-2 was open to
privately entered cars.
Calendar
Entries
Crew changes
Škoda Motorsport
Škoda Motorsport is the division of Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto responsible for motorsport activities. The team had competed as a manufacturer in the World Rally Championship between 1999 and 2005 and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (be ...
scaled back their involvement in the championship to a single two-car team. The team retained defending drivers' champion
Jan Kopecký and
Kalle Rovanperä
Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000 in Jyväskylä) is a Finnish professional rally driver, who competes in the World Rally Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is the reigning World Champion. ...
, while
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
champions
Pontus Tidemand
Pontus Johan Tidemand (born 10 December 1990) is a Swedish rally and rallycross driver. He is the 2017 WRC-2 champion and a previous M-Sport and Škoda Motorsport driver. Pontus is the son of Swedish rally driver Tomas Tidemand and ex-rally c ...
and
Jonas Andersson left the team.
Tidemand later joined WRC team
M-Sport Ford on a part-time basis,
while Andersson remained in the World Rally Championship-2, partnering
Ole Christian Veiby
Ole Christian Veiby is a professional rally driver from Norway driving for Hyundai Motorsport in the WRC-2 category of the World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition ...
.
M-Sport Ford WRT will also enter two cars, one for Polish driver
Łukasz Pieniążek
Łukasz Pieniążek (born 19 September 1990) is a Polish people, Polish Rallying, rally driver. Currently, He drives for M-Sport World Rally Team, M-Sport Ford in the WRC-2 Pro category.
Rally career
Pieniążek made his World Rally Championshi ...
and the other for
Gus Greensmith
Fergus "Gus" Greensmith (born 26 December 1996) is a British rally driver.
Rally career
Greensmith's family owns fuel and lubricants distributor Crown Oil. A former youth goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C. and karter before moving into the r ...
and
Elliott Edmondson.
Greensmith will also make his World Rally Car début with M-Sport Ford WRT.
Reigning two-time
French Rally champion
Yoann Bonato
Yoann Bonato (born 13 May 1983) is a French rally driver. He currently competes in the French Rally Championship and the WRC-2, the premier support category of the World Rally Championship, with customer Citroën team CHL Sport Auto. He also ...
, who competed for privateer Citroën team
CHL Sport Auto in 2018, was entered by
the factory Citroën team for Monte Carlo, before Citroën withdrew their entry from the rally, leaving Bonato to run as a WRC-2 entrant.
After driving for Citroën's WRC team in 2018,
Mads Østberg moved to the WRC-2 in 2019, staying with Citroën's factory team in a different C3 R5, in conjunction with
DG Sport.
Although not a member of Škoda's factory roster, 2018 Finnish Rally Champion
Eerik Pietarinen was nominated to score points for Škoda alongside factory driver
Kalle Rovanperä
Kalle Rovanperä (; born 1 October 2000 in Jyväskylä) is a Finnish professional rally driver, who competes in the World Rally Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, alongside co-driver Jonne Halttunen. He is the reigning World Champion. ...
at
Rally Sweden
The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...
. Škoda would repeat this practice with 18-year-old Bolivian driver
Marco Bulacia Wilkinson
Marco Bulacia Wilkinson (born 27 September 2000) is a Bolivian rally driver. He currently partners with co-driver Marcelo Der Ohannesian in the World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 category. His younger brother Bruno is a rally driver also.
Rally c ...
, who is set to participate in the pro-class in the South American double-header in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, joining Rovanperä on the latter rally.
Results and standings
Season summary
Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event.
Drivers' standings
Co-Drivers' standings
Manufacturers' standings
Footnotes
References
External links
Official website of the World Rally ChampionshipOfficial website of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
{{World Rally Championship results
World Rally Championship-2
The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...