2017 Junior WRC Championship

The 2017 FIA Junior WRC Championship was the fifth season of Junior WRC, a rallying championship governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, running in support of the World Rally Championship.

The championship was open to drivers born after 1 January 1988, although no such restriction existed for co-drivers. They competed in identical one-litre Ford Fiesta R2s built and maintained by M-Sport, with DMACK tyres. Crews were also eligible to score points in WRC3. The championship was competed over six European WRC rounds.^[1] Nil Solans was crowned champion at the end of the season.^[2]

The final 2017 Junior WRC Championship calendar consisted of six European events, taken from the 2017 World Rally Championship.^[3]

Round	Dates		Rally name	Rally headquarters	Rally details
	Start	Finish			Surface	Stages	Distance
1	7 April	9 April	Tour de Corse	Bastia, Haute-Corse	Tarmac	10	316.76 km
2	9 June	11 June	Rally Italia Sardegna	Alghero, Sardinia	Gravel	19	312.66 km
3	30 June	2 July	Rally Poland	Mikołajki, Warmia-Masuria	Gravel	23	318.47 km
4	28 July	30 July	Rally Finland	Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi	Gravel	25	314.20 km
5	18 August	20 August	Rallye Deutschland	Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate	Tarmac	21	309.17 km
6	6 October	8 October	Rally Catalunya	Salou, Tarragona	Mixed	19	312.02 km
Source:[3][1]

The following crews competed in the championship.

Drivers	Co-drivers	Rounds
Sebastian Careaga	Claudio Bustos	1
	Rodrigo Sanjuan	2–3
Nicolas Ciamin	Thibault de la Haye	1–6
Robert Duggan	Gerard Conway	1
	Tom Woodburn	2
Terry Folb	Christopher Guieu	1–6
Emil Lindholm	Tomi Tuominen	3–4
Miko-Ove Niinemaë	Martin Valter	1–2
Dennis Rådström	Johan Johansson	1–4, 6
Nil Solans	Miquel Ibáñez	1–6
Julius Tannert	Jürgen Heigl	1–6
William Wagner	Kévin Parent	1
Dillon van Way	Dai Roberts	1–4
Source:[4][5][6][7][8][9]

The series will change from using Citroën DS3 R3Ts with Michelin tyres, to use Ford Fiesta R2 prepared by M-Sport with DMACK tyres.^[1]

The championship will also adopt the prize format of the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy in which the season will be divided into "stages" and a prize awarded to the top-placed driver in each stage (contrary to the previous Junior WRC Championship, in which there was only one prize). The driver with most points after the first two rallies will be awarded two drives in the 2018 WRC2 in a Ford Fiesta R5. The driver with most points scored in the second pair of rallies will win an equal prize, as will the top-placed driver in the third pair of rallies. Additionally, an extra prize drive will be awarded to the overall winner of the category.^[1]

The season started with the Tour de Corse where Nil Solans won the event from start to finish. After building a lead of more than 40 seconds in the first Leg, he managed he was chased by local Terry Folb, until a driveshaft problem made him lost his second place to fellow Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin.^[10]

Round	Event name	Winning driver	Winning co-driver	Winning time	Report
1	Tour de Corse	Nil Solans	Miquel Ibáñez	3:53:44.4	Report
2	Rally Italia Sardegna	Nil Solans	Miquel Ibáñez	4:00:07.8	Report
3	Rally Poland	Nil Solans	Miquel Ibáñez	3:17:47.0	Report
4	Rally Finland	Nicolas Ciamin	Thibault de la Haye	2:57:23.4	Report
5	Rallye Deutschland	Julius Tannert	Jürgen Heigl	3:30:54.4	Report
6	Rally Catalunya	Nil Solans	Miquel Ibáñez	3:29:02.3	Report

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. An additional point is given for every stage win. The best 5 classification results count towards the drivers’ and co-drivers’ totals, but stage points from all 6 rounds can be retained. ^[11]

Pos. Driver FRA ITA POL FIN GER ESP Drops Points 1 Nil Solans 1+4 1+8 1+9 2+5 2+4 1+10 18 158 2 Nicolas Ciamin 2+2 2+4 3 1+11 3+10 5+7 10 125 3 Terry Folb 3+4 4+2 4+5 Ret+4 4+7 2+1 0 92 4 Julius Tannert 4 3 5 4+1 1 3 10 80 5 Dennis Rådström 5 5+1 2+6 3+4 4+1 0 77 6 Dillon Van Way 8 7 6 5 WD 0 28 7 Robert Duggan 6 6+4 WD 0 20 8 Sebastian Careaga 7 8 7 WD WD 0 16 9 Emil Lindholm 8+1 Ret+1 0 6 10 Miko-Ove Niinemäe 9 Ret WD 0 2 Pos. Driver FRA ITA POL FIN GER ESP Drops Points Source:[11]

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)

Pos. Co-driver FRA ITA POL FIN GER ESP Drops Points 1 Miquel Ibáñez 1+4 1+8 1+9 2+5 2+4 1+10 18 158 2 Thibault de la Haye 2+2 2+4 3 1+11 3+10 5+7 10 125 3 Christopher Guieu 3+4 4+2 4+5 Ret+4 4+7 2+1 0 92 4 Jürgen Heigl 4 3 5 4+1 1 3 10 80 5 Johan Johansson 5 5+1 2+6 3+4 4+1 0 77 6 Dai Roberts 8 7 6 5 WD 0 28 7 Tom Woodburn 6+4 WD 0 12 8 Rodrigo Sanjuan 8 7 WD WD 0 10 9 Gerard Conway 6 0 8 10 Claudio Bustos 7 0 6 11 Tomi Tuominen 8+1 Ret+1 0 6 12 Martin Valter 9 Ret WD 0 2 Pos. Co-driver FRA ITA POL FIN GER ESP Drops Points Source:[11]

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)

Pos.	Country	FRA	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	ESP	Points
1	Spain							136
2	France							109
3	Germany							94
4	Sweden							69
5	United States							34
6	Bolivia							22
7	Ireland							20
8	Finland							6
9	Estonia							4
Pos.	Co-driver	FRA	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	ESP	Points
Source:[11]

• Official website of the World Rally Championship