Junior WRC

The FIA Junior WRC Championship is an international rallying series restricted to drivers under 29 years old, running within the framework of the World Rally Championship. The series is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and promoted by M-Sport Ltd.

Run annually since 2013, the championship is the latest in the FIA's junior driver category which began in 2001 with the Super 1600 Championship, the Junior World Rally Championship in 2002, and the WRC Academy in 2011. This category has been a stepping stone in the careers of WRC champions Sebastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier; plus leading drivers Dani Sordo, Elfyn Evans, Craig Breen and Thierry Neuville.

Junior WRC differs from the WRC support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, as the competition is managed and promoted by M-Sport under contract to the FIA. All cars are identical, provided and serviced by M-Sport on the entrants' behalf. The car used since 2022 is the company's Ford Fiesta Rally3. The championship currently consists of five select rallies of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar. FIA Championship titles are awarded to the winning Driver and Co-Driver.

The FIA did not award Junior WRC champion titles in the 2022 season. Instead, the titles of FIA WRC3 Junior were awarded to the winners of the Junior WRC competition run by M-Sport.

The championship's origins began in 2001 as the FIA Super 1600 Drivers' Championship, and included six events in Europe. Sébastien Loeb was the series' champion, driving a Super 1600 Citroën Saxo. The series became the Junior World Rally Championship the following year, with an upper age limit of 29 introduced in 2003.

In 2007, the championship did not include events outside Europe. Following introduction of an FIA rule in 2006 surrounding use of the word 'world' in championship names, the championship was known as the FIA Junior Rally Championship (JRC) for one season only. The 2010 season was the last Junior World Rally Championship.

In 2011, the FIA replaced the championship with the WRC Academy Cup. This was the first year the championship was managed under contract. M-Sport provided identical Ford Fiesta R2 cars for entrants to use. In 2013 the series was renamed to FIA Junior WRC.

In 2014, Citroën were awarded the contract to run Junior WRC providing Citroën DS3 R3T cars. M-Sport repurposed the old Ford Fiesta R2 units for the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy.