2026 World Rally Championship

The 2026 FIA World Rally Championship is a planned motorsport season that would be the 54th season of the World Rally Championship, an international rallying series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and WRC Promoter GmbH. Teams and crews compete for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews are free to compete in cars complying with Groups Rally1 to Rally5 regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with Rally1 cars are eligible to score points in the manufacturers' championship. The championship is set to begin in January 2026 with the Monte Carlo Rally and is set to conclude in November 2026 with the Rally Saudi Arabia. The series is supported by the WRC2 and WRC3 categories at every round of the championship and by Junior WRC at selected events.
Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais are the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured the 2025 championship at the 2025 Rally Saudi Arabia. Toyota are the defending manufacturers' champions.
After the first round, Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson respectively lead the drivers' and co-drivers' championship over Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin by four points. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais are third, a further eight points behind. In the manufacturers' championship, the reigning manufacturers' champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT hold a 24-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.

Calendar

The 2026 season is scheduled to be contested over fourteen rounds across Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.

Calendar changes

The Croatia Rally is set to return to the championship after missing the season, replacing the Central European Rally. The rally would feature a new headquarter in Rijeka, instead of Zagreb.
The Italian Rally and Rally Japan swapped calendar slots, and the new Rally di Roma Capitale was confirmed to replace the Rally Italia Sardegna from onwards.
The organisers of the Acropolis Rally have announced the change of its headquarters, with Loutraki to serve as the new base after five years in Lamia.
Entrants

The following manufacturers are set to contest the championship under Rally1 regulations. All crews use tyres provided by Hankook.
The following crews entered in Rally1 cars as privateers or under arrangement with the manufacturers.

In detail

kept the crew of Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy. Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne would step up from the European Rally Championship to complete a full Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy lineup for the team, replacing Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka in the second full-time seat. Munster was later confirmed to contest the season opener in a third Rally1 car with the team. Mārtiņš Sesks would continue to run a partial program with the team, contesting seven events during the season.
Hyundai maintained the services of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, and of Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria for entry in all rallies. A third car will be shared by crews led by drivers Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon. Paddon is set to make his first appearance in the premium level of the championship since the 2018 Rally Australia. Lappi and Sordo are also due to return after their previous partial campaigns with the team in. Ott Tänak announced his indefinite break from the championship following the end of the season.
Toyota retained Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin as their full-time competitor, while Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen, as well as Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston were also retained. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais would continue to run a partial program to contest ten rallies with the team. Kalle Rovanperä announced that he would leave the championship to pursue a career in open-wheel racing, having signed a contract with Toyota Gazoo Racing to compete in the Super Formula Championship. However, he did not rule out a return to rallying in the future. His seat at Toyota was filled by Oliver Solberg, who is under contract to run his first full-time season in the class, having previously run on a part-time basis for Hyundai in.

Regulation changes

Following the wide criticism of lengthy itinerary, a minimum of 10 rest hours was introduced into the event. Engines are also allowed to change after the start of a rally, but in doing so, crews would incur a 60-minute time penalty.

Season report

Opening rounds

The season opener was held under complicated weather conditions, which caught out several crews, including both M-Sport crews of McErlean and Treacy, and of Armstrong and Byrne, meaning M-Sport ended their 24-year point-scoring finish. The rally was won by Solberg and Edmondson in their first rally of their first full-time season in the top-tier.

Results and standings

Season summary

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event. In the manufacturers' championship, teams are eligible to nominate three crews to score points, but these points are only awarded to the top two classified finishers representing a manufacturer and driving a 2025-specification Rally1 car. There are also five bonus points awarded to the winners in an accumulated standings across all Sunday stages, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. The same points scale is awarded to the five fastest crews of the Power Stage as well.

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers

The driver who records a points-scoring classification would be taken into account for the championship regardless of the categories.

FIA World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers

The co-driver who records a points-scoring classification would be taken into account for the championship regardless of the categories.

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

Only the best two results of each manufacturer in the respective overall classification by the end of Saturday, accumulated position of all Sunday stages and Power Stage at each rally are taken into account for the championship.