The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship has been organized since 1953 and has competed in different European countries, alternating between rallies on asphalt and gravel. It was the first supranational rally championship that was organized in the world and therefore the oldest one. In 2012 it had 60 editions and in 2013 it was renewed with the merger with the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

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European Rally Championship

Category	R5 Super 2000 Group N
Country	Europe
Inaugural season	1953; 71 years ago (1953)
Drivers	Varies
Teams	Varies
Drivers' champion	Hayden Paddon
Teams' champion	MRF Racing
Official website	fiaerc.com
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The European Rally Championship was first contested in 1953^[1] and in the following year was one of the most prestigious rallying series. However, with the introduction of the World Rally Championship for manufacturers in 1973, and in particular with the drivers' World Championship being contested from 1979 on, the importance of the ERC began to decline.^[2]

Over many years, a typical ERC season featured around 40 rallies, and from 1974 on, the rallies were assigned different coefficients (1, 2, 3 or 4) that were multiplied with the championship points. Changing the coefficients to 2, 5, 10 and 20 did also not improve the situation. Thus, the ERC was more a series for event organizers than an interesting championship for drivers.^[2]

A first improvement was implemented for the 2004 season, where the number of events counting for the European Rally Championship were reduced to those with coefficient 20, while the other rallies became part of regional "European Rally Cups". An ERC season now featured around 10 to 12 events and thus had a clearer structure.^[2]

Between 2007 and 2011, the driver had to register for the European championships and thus only registered drivers could score ERC points, keeping the local drivers from taking up all ERC points despite not participating in the championship. The registered drivers were also obligated to contest a minimal number of events.^[2]

Between 2013 and 2021, French-based broadcaster Eurosport was the promoter of ERC. From 2022, it was taken over by Munich based WRC Promoter GmbH.^[3]

• European Rally Trophy
• List of European Rally Championship drivers