The 27-year-old is stepping up from FIA European Rally Championship level to the global stage as his prize for winning the Junior ERC title in 2022.
Starting from this week’s Rally Sweden, Pellier will tackle the five-round Junior WRC schedule, which is for Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars run by M-Sport Poland. Marine Pelamourgues will co-drive.
“It’s a complete dream to take part in the JWRC,” said the Frenchman. “It’s amazing and I’m impatient for these big events because I will discover many things.
“Sweden will be the first time for me on snow so I know it will be difficult. But I cannot wait for this opportunity thanks to the ERC.”
Pellier took the Junior ERC title in 2022 by winning five of the six rounds in an Opel Corsa Rally4. And he has form in the JWRC after taking a debut victory in Corsica in 2016, his one and only start in the championship prior to Rally Sweden.
Competition for Junior WRC success will be fierce with Junior ERC graduates Roberto Blach, William Creighton, Raúl Hernández and Grégoire Munster also competing in Sweden.
Toni Herranen, who battled Pellier for the Junior ERC title last season, will also be in action in the WRC3 category for Rally3 cars.
Other ERC graduates taking part on the Umeå-based event include 2014 European champion Esapekka Lappi, multiple event winner Craig Breen and former Junior ERC title winners Nikolay Gryazin and Oliver Solberg.
Meanwhile, Poland’s Michał Sołowow, who claimed seven ERC wins from 84 starts, is entered in the WRC2 and WRC Masters Cup categories in the same Orsák Rally Sport-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 ERC contender Erik Cais used to claim three WRC2 stage wins and 12th overall on Rallye Monte-Carlo last month.
Rally Sweden runs from 9 - 12 February with the 18 scheduled stages set to take place over a competitive distance of 301.18 kilometres. Pellier will carry number 52 on his Fiesta Rally3 and is the sole Frenchman among the nine-car JWRC entry.
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