Following the return of Rally Turkey to the championship in 2018, the FIA announced plans to expand the calendar to fourteen rounds in 2019 with the long-term objective of running sixteen championship events. Twelve prospective bids for events were put together,[7] including candidate events in New Zealand, Japan and Chile.[8] Prospective events in Kenya, Croatia, Canada and Estonia expressed interest in joining the calendar within five years.[9][10][11][12]
The planned expansion put pressure on European rounds to maintain their position on the calendar as teams were unwilling to contest sixteen events immediately. The Tour de Corse and Rally Italia Sardegna proved to be unpopular among teams for the logistical difficulties of travelling to Corsica and Sardinia and low spectator attendance at the events.[7][13] Organisers of Rally Japan reached an agreement with the sport's promoter to host a rally in 2019, with the proposed event moving from Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido to Toyota City in Honshu.[14] However, plans to return to Japan were abandoned when the promoter came under pressure to retain the Tour de Corse.[15]
The proposed events in Japan and Kenya ran candidate events in 2019 in a bid to join the championship in 2020.[16][17] Both were successful in secure a place on the 2020 calendar. The calendar published in October 2018 included Rally Chile as part of the expansion to fourteen rounds.[2] The event was based in Concepción and ran on gravel roads.[18]
Route changes
The route of Rallye Monte Carlo was shortened by 70.91 km (44.1 mi) compared to the 2018 route.[19] The route was revised after rule changes that were introduced for the 2019 championship limited the maximum distance of a route to 350 km (217.5 mi).[2] Organisers of the Tour de Corse announced plans for a new route, with up to three-quarters of the 2019 route being revised from the 2018 rally.[16]Rally de Portugal was also shortened by 46.72 km (29.0 mi) compared to the 2018 route.[20]
Škoda Motorsport scaled back their involvement in the championship to a single two-car team. The team retained defending drivers' champion Jan Kopecký and Kalle Rovanperä, while 2017 champions Pontus Tidemand and Jonas Andersson left the team.[35] Tidemand later joined WRC team M-Sport Ford on a part-time basis,[36] while Andersson remained in WRC2, partnering Ole Christian Veiby.[37]M-Sport Ford WRT will also enter two cars, one for Polish driver Łukasz Pieniążek and the other for Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson.[38] Greensmith will also make his World Rally Car début with M-Sport Ford WRT.[39] Reigning two-time French Rally champion Yoann Bonato, 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 WRC2 entrant.[40] 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.[41] 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 at Rally Sweden. Škoda would repeat this practice with 18-year-old Bolivian driver Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, who is set to participate in the pro-class in the South American double-header in Argentina and Chile, joining Rovanperä on the latter rally.
^"Michelin signs new WRC agreement". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018. The French tyre company and WRC Promoter have agreed an extension of their current partnership under which Michelin will be Official Tyre of the WRC until the end of 2019.
