2017 European Rally Championship
The 2017 European Rally Championship was the 65th season of the FIA European Rally Championship, the European continental championship series in rallying. The season was also the fifth following the merge between the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Kajetan Kajetanowicz was the reigning champion and went on to win the third straight ERC title. This season, the European Junior Championship is split into two new categories. ERC Junior U27, which totals six events, is for drivers born on or after 1 January 1990 competing in R2 cars on Pirelli tyres. With the best  four rounds counting, the winner will receive a career progression fund worth 100,000 euros to use in ERC Junior U28 in 2018. ERC Junior U28 offers the next step on the rallying pyramid for drivers born on or after 1 January 1989. Again totalling six rounds with the best four scores counting, drivers use R5 cars with no restriction on tyre choice. The champion will get a drive on a European round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship as a P1 driver in a 2016-specification World Rally Car. Calendar. The calendar for the 2017 season features only eight  rallies compared to the previous season. Rallies dropped from the calendar were Circuit of Ireland, Ypres Rally and Rally Estonia. New event is the Rally di Roma Capitale.