2020 World Rally Championship-3

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.[35] Bids to revive Rally Japan and the Safari Rally were received, and candidate events were run in 2019.[36][37] Both events were accepted to the 2020 calendar, as was a proposal to revive Rally New Zealand.[4] However, none of the aforementioned events were run due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[25][28][32]

• The Safari Rally was 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.[38] In contrast to the event's traditional endurance format, which featured stages hundreds of kilometres long, the 2020 Safari Rally was planned to follow a compact route to comply with FIA regulations mandating the maximum route distance.[24]
• Rally Japan was scheduled to return to the calendar for the first time since 2010, replacing Rally Australia as the final round of the championship. The rally was scheduled to move away from its original headquarters in Hokkaidō to a new base in Nagoya and was to be run on tarmac rather than gravel.[39]
• Rally New Zealand was scheduled to return to the calendar for the first time since 2012. The event was planned to return to Auckland.[4]

The addition of these events saw the Tour de Corse and the Rallies of Catalunya and Australia removed from the calendar.[5] Organisers of Rally Catalunya agreed to forfeit their place on the 2020 calendar as part of a rotation system that will see European events host rallies in two out of three calendar years. The Tour de Corse was removed in response to concerns from teams about the logistics of visiting Corsica, while Rally Australia was removed as the event's base in a regional centre rather than a major metropolitan area meant that the rally struggled to attract spectators.[5] Rally Chile was included on the original calendar, but was later removed in the face of ongoing political unrest in the country.[18] The FIA sought a replacement event to ensure that the calendar retained its planned fourteen rounds,[40] but were unable to do so.[19]

The Rallies in Italy were postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] Events in Argentina,[41] Portugal,[23] Kenya,[25] Finland,[27] New Zealand,[28] Germany,[29] Great Britain[30] and Japan were cancelled.[32] Organisers of the championship announced that they were considering adding events to the schedule that had not been part of the original calendar.[42] Estonia, Belgium, Latvia, Croatia and Czech Republic were among the countries who had expressed interest in hosting the event.[43]

The running date of Rally Turkey was moved forward by a week, which facilitates the opportunity for additional rounds.[44] Further calendar options may include Ypres Rally and Croatia Rally.[41] Following the cancellation of Rallye Deutschland, the running date of Rally Sardegna was moving forward by three weeks.[45] This decision was intended to avoid the clash with the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix of Formula One.[29]

Estonia (Rally headquarter Tartu pictured) was the thirty-third country to host a World Rally Championship rally.

On 2 July 2020, it was announced that the season would return with an updated calendar. The season restarted with newcomers Rally Estonia hosting the resuming round between 4 and 6 September. The country became the thirty-third nation to stage a championship round in the WRC.[46]

Following the cancellation of Rally Japan, it was announced that Ypres Rally, officially Renties Ypres Rally Belgium, would replace Rally Japan to hold the seventh round of the season. The Sunday's route would feature the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, which would run with the 2020 World RX of Benelux of the World Rallycross Championship.[47] Belgium was set to be the thirty-fourth country to hold a WRC event,[48] but were unable to do so as the rally was eventually called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

Calendar newcomer Rally Monza was the season's finale.

Rally Monza was announced to be the final round of the season on 9 October. This meant Italy staged two WRC events in one season as the country also stages the Sardinia rally.[49] The rally was based in the famous Autodromo Nazionale di Monza circuit near Milan, where the Italian Grand Prix is held every year.[50]

Prior to the Rally Sweden, it was confirmed that the route for the rally had to be shortened due to a lack of snow.[8] The route of Rally Mexico was shortened to allow teams time to pack up and return to their headquarters before several European nations imposed travel bans in a bid to manage the pandemic.[10]

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event. Unlike the World Rally Championship, points are not awarded for the Power Stage.

(Results key)

Pos.	Driver	MON	SWE	MEX	EST	TUR	ITA	MNZ	Points
1	Jari Huttunen		1		2		1	3	83
2	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson			1	4	2	3	6	70
3	Kajetan Kajetanowicz			4	Ret	1	2	5	65
4	Oliver Solberg		5	Ret	1		6	2	61
5	Emil Lindholm		2					4	30
6	Nicolas Ciamin	2			6		9		28
7	Andreas Mikkelsen							1	25
8	Eric Camilli	1					Ret		25
9	Emilio Fernández			2	Ret	7	10		25
10	Alberto Heller			Ret		4	5		22
11	Umberto Scandola	8	WD				4	Ret	16
12	Yoann Bonato	3							15
13	Johan Kristoffersson		3						15
14	Ricardo Triviño			3					15
15	Egon Kaur				3				15
16	Yağiz Avci					3			15
17	Yohan Rossel	4			9		11	10	15
18	Eerik Pietarinen		4		16				12
19	Benito Guerra			5					10
20	Karl Kruuda				5				10
21	Burak Cukurova					5			10
22	Grégoire Munster	5	WD		11			Ret	10
23	Filip Mareš		6						8
24	Jan Solans				12	6	Ret		8
25	Enrico Brazzoli	6						11	8
26	Josh McErlean							7	6
27	Miguel Díaz-Aboitiz	7	WD						6
28	Raul Jeets		7		Ret				6
29	Rainer Aus				7				6
30	Alberto Battistolli						7		6
31	Cédric De Cecco							8	4
32	"Pedro"	Ret				8	Ret		4
33	Michał Sołowow		8						4
34	Sean Johnston				8	Ret	Ret		4
35	Luciano Cobbe						8		4
36	Giacomo Ogliari							9	2
37	Paulo Nobre	9	WD	WD		WD	WD		2
38	Joakim Roman		9						2
39	Priit Koik				10				1
Pos.	Driver	MON	SWE	MEX	EST	TUR	ITA	MNZ	Points
Source:[65]

(Results key)

Pos.	Co-Driver	MON	SWE	MEX	EST	TUR	ITA	MNZ	Points
1	Mikko Lukka		1		2		1	3	83
2	Maciek Szczepaniak			4	Ret	1	2	5	65
3	Aaron Johnston		5	Ret	1		6	2	61
4	Marcelo Der Ohannesian				4	2	3	6	53
5	Marc Martí			3		4	5		37
6	Mikael Korhonen		2					4	30
7	Yannick Roche	2			6		9		28
8	François-Xavier Buresi	1					Ret		25
9	Giovanni Bernacchini			1					25
10	Anders Jæger							1	25
11	Rubén García			2	Ret	7	10		25
12	Guido D'Amore	8	WD				4	Ret	16
13	Benjamin Boulloud	3							15
14	Stig Rune Skjærmoen		3						15
15	Silver Simm				3				15
16	Onur Vatansever					3			15
17	Benoît Fulcrand	4			9		11	10	15
18	Miikka Anttila		4						12
19	Louis Louka	5	WD		11			Ret	10
20	Daniel Cué			5					10
21	Dale Moscatt				5				10
22	Burak Akcay					5			10
23	Maurizio Barone	6						11	8
24	Jan Hloušek		6						8
25	Mauro Barreiro				12	6	Ret		8
26	Diego Sanjuan	7	WD						6
27	Andrus Toom		7		Ret				6
28	Simo Koskinen				7				6
29	Simone Scattolin						6		8
30	Keaton Williams							7	6
31	Emmanuele Baldaccini	Ret				8	Ret		4
32	Maciek Baran		8						4
33	Alex Kihurani				8	Ret	Ret		4
34	Fabio Turco						8		4
35	Jérôme Humblet							8	4
36	Gabriel Morales	9	WD	WD		WD			2
37	Alexander Glavsjö		9						2
38	Giacomo Ciucci							9	2
39	Uku Heldna				10				1
Pos.	Co-Driver	MON	SWE	MEX	EST	TUR	ITA	MNZ	Points
Source:[65]