P-WRC and Juniors in Brief

Both Production car World Rally Championship and FIA Junior Rally Championship were more competitive than ever during the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship on a field of several different nationalities including Qatar, Russia, Jordan, Romania and the United States.

Toshi Arai scored his second P-WRC title since 2005 against Argentina's Gabriel Pozzo who retired on the first day of Wales Rally GB, the last round of the category. With nobody else able to beat Arai, the Japanese driver won the championship sitting at home in Japan.

"The competitors this year were of a high standard - lots of national champions with good experience and different styles. It was a difficult season with a really good chance to fight. Most years there are about five real challenges but this year there were at least ten," said Arai.

Tough competitors in the P-WRC field were Britain's Mark Higgins, Portugal's Armindo Araujo, contesting the category for the first time this year, Finland's Juho Hanninen, 2004 P-WRC champion Niall McShea, Czech driver Stepan Vojtech and many others.

PG Andersson was the victor in the FIA Junior Championship against Suzuki team-mate Urvo Aava. Aava went off the road at Rallye de France - Tour de Corse, the last rally of the category, giving the Swedish driver his second Junior crown since 2004.

Some of the strong contenders in the Junior class were 2007 African Rally Champion Conrad Rautenbach, Shaun Gallagher, winner of the 2007 FIA Juniors Rookie Award, Martin Prokop from the Czech Republic, Jozef Beres, Estonia's Jaan Molder, 2006 Junior Champion Patrick Sandell and Aaron Burkart.

Both supporting championships bring a lot more nationalities and opportunities to the series, giving some of the young drivers the chance to develop their skills before they make the big step into the WRC.

Next year, both categories promise to have even more drama and excitement than this season, contributing to the success of our great sport of rallying.

2008 Production car World Rally Championship

08 - 10/02 - Uddeholm Swedish Rally
28 - 30/03 - Rally Argentina
29/05 - 01/06 - BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally
13 - 15/06 - Rally of Turkey
31/07 - 03/08 - Neste Oil Rally Finland
28 - 31/08 - Rally of New Zealand
24 - 26/10 - Rally Japan
28 - 30/11 - Wales Rally GB

2008 FIA Junior Rally Championship

29/02 - 02/03 - Rally Mexico
24 - 27/04 - Jordan Rally WRC
16 - 18/05 - Rallye d'Italia-Sardegna
31/07 - 03/08 - Neste Oil Rally Finland
15 - 17/08 - ADAC Rallye Deutschland
02 - 05/10 - Rally de España
10 - 12/10 - Rallye de France Tour de Corse