2021 Arctic Rally

The Arctic Rally was not included on the first calendar published by the World Motorsport Council.[3] The event was a late addition when Rally Sweden was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5] The Arctic Rally was chosen over six other reserve events because Rally Sweden was the only snow-based event on the calendar, and none of the reserve events were planned to run on snow.[6]

The Arctic Rally will be run twice in 2021. The first running in January will be held as a round of the Finnish national rally Championship, while the second running in February will be a World Championship round. The national-level event was won by Juho Hänninen, driving a Toyota Yaris WRC.[7]

Reigning World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia enter the round with a nine-point lead over Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe are third, a further four points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT hold a twenty-two-point lead over defending manufacturers' champions Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, followed by M-Sport Ford WRT.

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene hold an eight-point lead ahead of Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Eric Camilli and François-Xavier Buresi in third. In the teams' championship, Toksport WRT lead Movisport by ten points.

In the World Rally Championship-3 standings, Yohan Rossel and Benoît Fulcrand lead the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by six points respectively. Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud are second, with Nicolas Ciamin and Yannick Roche in third in both standings, trailing by two points.

All dates and times are EET (UTC+2).