2021 World Rally Championship
The 2021 FIA World Rally Championship will be the forty-ninth season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews are due to compete for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews are free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 are eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship.
List of planned events
The following rallies are planned to be run as part of the 2021 World Championship:| Rally | Rally headquarters | Surface | Ref. |
 Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo | Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | Mixed | |
 Rally Sweden | Torsby, Värmland | Snow | |
 Safari Rally Kenya | Nairobi, Nairobi County | Gravel | |
 RACC Rally Catalunya de España | Salou, Catalonia | Tarmac | |
 Rally de Portugal | Matosinhos, Porto | Gravel | |
 Rally Italia Sardegna | Alghero, Sardinia | Gravel | |
 Rally Finland | Jyväskylä, Central Finland | Gravel | |
 Rally Australia | Coffs Harbour, New South Wales | Gravel | |
 Rallye Deutschland | Bostalsee, Saarland | Tarmac | |
 Rally Japan | Nagoya, Chūbu | Tarmac | |
 Wales Rally GB | Llandudno, Conwy | Gravel | - |
Calendar changes
With the addition of Rally Chile to the calendar in 2019, the FIA opened the tender process for new events to join the championship in 2020. Three events were successful, but the championship was affected by a series of cancellations in 2019 and 2020 that necessitated changes to the 2021 calendar:- Rally Australia is due to return after a two-year absence; the event was included on the 2019 calendar, but was cancelled due to a bushfire emergency. It was omitted from the 2020 calendar as part of an event-sharing agreement with Rally New Zealand that would see an event alternate between the two countries every other year.
- Rally Catalunya is due to return to the championship. The rally was removed from the 2020 schedule as part of an event-sharing agreement that would see it removed from the calendar for one year, but be guaranteed a spot on the calendar for the next two.
- Rally Chile is due to return after a one-year absence. The rally had been included on the original draft of the 2020 calendar, but was later cancelled in the face of ongoing civil unrest in the country. Organisers of the event negotiated a return to the calendar for the 2021 championship.
- The Rallies of Finland and Great Britain are due to return to the championship after a one-year absence. The 2020 events were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Rally GB was not included on a draft of the calendar published in June 2020.
- Rally New Zealand had been scheduled to return to the calendar in 2020; however, the rally was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the agreement planned for 2020, Rally New Zealand would have alternated with Rally Australia, but with the cancellation of the 2020 event it was reported that the rally would feature on the 2021 calendar. The event is planned to return to Auckland; however, it was not included on a draft of the calendar published in June 2020.
- The Safari Rally is scheduled to be run as a World Championship event for the first time since 2002. The event is to be based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and feature stages around Lake Naivasha. The event had been planned to make its return to the championship in 2020, but was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In January 2020, the West Australian opposition party began campaigning to have Rally Australia return to the state capital, Perth. The city had hosted the event from 1988 to 2006 before it moved to New South Wales.
- In May 2020, the government of Northern Ireland announced a bid to move the Rally of Great Britain from Wales to Northern Ireland. The World Rally Championship last visited Northern Ireland in 2009 when several stages of Rally Ireland were run in the region.
Entries
| Entrant | Car | Driver name | Co-driver name | Ref. |
 Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | - | - | - |
| Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC |  Ott Tänak | Martin Järveoja | |
| Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC |  Thierry Neuville | Nicolas Gilsoul | |
| Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota Yaris WRC | Elfyn Evans | Scott Martin | |
| Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota Yaris WRC | Kalle Rovanperä | Jonne Halttunen |
In detail
had planned to introduce a new car based on the Toyota GR Yaris, an "homologation special", or road-going version of a car specifically designed for competition and with production limited to the minimum number required to meet homologation requirements. However, the team later announced that it had abandoned development the GR Yaris, citing the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the automotive industry and the costs of developing the car when new regulations were due to be introduced in 2022.Six-time World Drivers' Champion Sébastien Ogier announced that he would retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2020 championship.