The 2020 FIA Junior WRC Championship will resume service along with the FIA World Rally Championship on Rally Estonia for the first time in the history of both FIA Junior WRC and WRC.
The championship that nurtures the future stars of WRC will use the M-Sport Poland built Fiesta Rally4 which was released earlier in the year. The EcoBoost-powered Fiesta Rally4 is an evolution of the Fiesta R2T19 and represents M-Sport’s commitment to its ladder of opportunity, providing opportunities to young talent on every step of the rallying ladder.
The Rally4 also aligns with the FIA’s new rally pyramid structure, underlining M-Sport Poland’s dedication to ensuring the world’s top-flight junior rally championship uses the best two-wheel drive machinery on offer.
This year marks ten years since the first Rally Estonia was held and in the decade following the event has built up an impeccable reputation with drivers, teams and fans alike.
It is evidenced by its meteoric rise in popularity in recent years, culminating in the Baltic event being added to the WRC calendar. The rally recently served as an unofficial preparation event for Rally Finland thanks to its smooth but treacherously fast gravel roads, some of which were built specifically for the rally.
Compared to a typical WRC event, Rally Estonia will be shorter affair, with 233.40 competitive kilometres spread over three days. FIA Junior WRC sees its first competitive action in almost six months with a 1.28km super special stage on Friday evening allowing 12 hungry junior crews to push from the get-go in order to grab every stage win point possible – a unique characteristic of the championship.
Saturday will see this year’s juniors take on two loops across five speed tests with an additional six stages across two three-stage loops on Sunday finishing with a total of 17 stages, with each one offering a valuable stage win point.
In total, a maximum of 42 points could be taken home by one driver should they win all 17 stages and the event. All 12 Fiesta Rally4 cars will be equipped with Pirelli Scorpion K6 tyres and have a total of 14 tyres available for use across the rally including shakedown.
Using his own M-Sport-built Fiesta Rally2 and recently signed to Red Bull, the 2019 FIA Junior WRC Champion, Jan Solans, will start Rally Estonia with the 2019 FIA Junior WRC co-driver’s champion, Mauro Barreiro.
Solans has recently completed a series of intense tests to get as up to speed as possible with Rally2 machinery after a small taste of the action on Rally Spain last year where he made his WRC3 debut.
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