Chile completes 14-round 2019 WRC calendar

The World Motor Sport Council has signed off on the World Rally Championship's 14-round calendar, which sees Chile join the championship, making it the 32nd country to host a round of the WRC.

The calendar retains all of 2018's events and will start, as is tradition, with Rally Monte Carlo in late-January before coming to a close with Rally Australia in mid-November.

There are several minor date changes in the middle section of the season to accommodate the addition of Chile, including later slots for Portugal and Italy.

WRC promoter managing director Oliver Ciesla welcomed the new event as the WRC looks to expand its footprint outside of Europe.

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"We pursue a strategy to further globalise the championship by incorporating more events outside Europe. Turkey successfully brought a WRC footprint back to the Asian continent and Chile will prove an equally worthy addition to the 2019 calendar," he said.

"This year’s candidate rally in Chile achieved a very high level. The colour, passion and intensity of back-to-back rallies in Latin America, a region whose booming motorsport imprint provides great potential to further increase fan interest, will generate further impetus to the WRC."

Another small change announced by the WMSC is the ability for drivers to pick their own permanent race number, as is the same for Formula 1 and other series.

"In order to give consistent identity to drivers and assist with promotion, Priority 1 drivers will be free to choose their permanent car number from 2019, except number 1, which will always be reserved for the reigning World Rally Champion."

2019 World Rally Championship Calendar