2026 World Rally Championship

Sébastien Ogier is the reigning driver's champion.
Vincent Landais is the reigning co-driver's champion.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT (GR Yaris Rally1 pictured) are the reigning manufacturers' champions.

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 (FIA) 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.

Calendar

A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2026 championship. Event headquarters are marked with black dots.

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

Round Start date Finish date Rally Rally headquarters Surface Stages Distance Ref.
1 22 January 25 January Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France Mixed[a] 17 339.15 km [1]
2 12 February 15 February Rally Sweden Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden Snow 18 300.66 km [2]
3 12 March 15 March Safari Rally Kenya Nairobi, Nakuru County, Kenya Gravel 20 350.02 km [3]
4 9 April 12 April Croatia Rally Rijeka, Croatia Tarmac TBA TBA
5 23 April 26 April Rally Islas Canarias Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain Tarmac TBA TBA
6 7 May 10 May Rally de Portugal Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal Gravel TBA TBA
7 28 May 31 May Rally Japan Toyota, Aichi, Japan Tarmac TBA TBA
8 25 June 28 June Acropolis Rally Greece Loutraki, Corinthia, Greece Gravel TBA TBA
9 16 July 19 July Rally Estonia Tartu, Estonia Gravel TBA TBA
10 30 July 2 August Rally Finland Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland Gravel TBA TBA
11 27 August 30 August Rally del Paraguay Encarnación, Itapúa, Paraguay Gravel TBA TBA
12 10 September 13 September Rally Chile Concepción, Biobío, Chile Gravel TBA TBA
13 1 October 4 October Rally Italia Sardegna Olbia, Sardinia, Italy Gravel TBA TBA
14 11 November 14 November Rally Saudi Arabia Jeddah, Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia Gravel TBA TBA
Sources:[4][5]

Calendar changes

Contracted crews

The following manufacturers are set to contest the championship under Rally1 regulations.[10] All crews use tyres provided by Hankook.[11]

Manufacturer Entrant Car No. Driver name Co-driver name
Ford M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Puma Rally1 55 Josh McErlean Eoin Treacy
TBA Jon Armstrong Shane Byrne
Hyundai Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 N Rally1 4 Esapekka Lappi Enni Mälkönen
6 Dani Sordo Cándido Carrera
11 Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe
16 Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre Coria
20 Hayden Paddon John Kennard
Toyota Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1 Sébastien Ogier Vincent Landais
18 Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston
33 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin
99 Oliver Solberg Elliott Edmondson
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 5 Sami Pajari Marko Salminen

In detail

M-Sport kept the crew of Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy.[12] 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.[13] Munster was later confirmed to contest the season opener in a third Rally1 car with the team.[14]

Esapekka Lappi (left), Dani Sordo (middle) and Hayden Paddon (right) to return to the top tier for part-time campaigns.

Hyundai maintained the services of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, and of Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria for entry in all rallies.[15] A third car will be shared by crews led by drivers Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon.[16] Paddon is set to make his first appearance in the premium level of the championship since the 2018 Rally Australia.[17] Lappi and Sordo are also due to return after their previous partial campaigns with the team in 2024.[18] Ott Tänak announced his indefinite break from the championship following the end of the 2025 season.[19]

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.[20] Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais would continue to run a partial program to contest ten rallies with the team.[21] 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.[22] However, he did not rule out a return to rallying in the future.[23] 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 2022.[24]

Notes

  1. ^ The Monte Carlo Rally is run on a tarmac and snow surface.

References

  1. ^ "Itinerary Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo 2026". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  2. ^ "Itinerary Rally Sweden 2026". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  3. ^ "Itinerary Safari Rally Kenya 2026". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  4. ^ "2026 FIA World Rally Championship calendar revealed". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  5. ^ "FIA World Motor Sport Council approves 2026 WRC Calendar". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 31 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  6. ^ Howard, Tom (15 November 2024). "Croatia strikes new deal to rejoin WRC in 2026". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  7. ^ Heinonen, Toni (12 December 2025). "Croatia's WRC rally set for a complete overhaul". rallyjournal.com. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  8. ^ Barry, Luke (31 July 2025). "WRC 2026 calendar confirmed". DirtFish. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  9. ^ "A New Chapter for EKO Acropolis Rally Greece: Loutraki to host the 2026 edition". Acropolis Rally. 15 October 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  10. ^ Howard, Tom (31 July 2025). "Hyundai's WRC future confirmed for 2026 season". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  11. ^ Bowen, James (6 December 2023). "Hankook to become WRC tire supplier from 2025". DirtFish. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Armstrong steps up to Rally1 as M-Sport confirms 2026 line-up". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  13. ^ Barry, Luke (17 December 2025). "Armstrong gets Rally1 call up at M-Sport for 2026". DirtFish. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  14. ^ Barry, Luke (19 December 2025). "Munster gets Rally1 drive for Monte Carlo". DirtFish. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  15. ^ "Paddon back in WRC as Hyundai confirm five-driver 2026 line-up". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  16. ^ Barry, Luke (5 December 2025). "Paddon, Lappi, Sordo trio replace Tänak at Hyundai". DirtFish. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  17. ^ Evans, David (5 December 2025). "How Paddon's "unheard of" WRC return happened". DirtFish. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  18. ^ Howard, Tom (5 December 2025). "Hayden Paddon, Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo join Hyundai 2026 WRC line-up". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  19. ^ "Tänak announces indefinite break from WRC". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 9 November 2025. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
  20. ^ "Solberg steps up as Toyota confirms five-car 2026 line-up". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 10 November 2025. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  21. ^ Barry, Luke (29 November 2025). "Ogier confirms he'll do 10 WRC rounds in 2026". DirtFish. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  22. ^ "Kalle Rovanperä takes on exciting new challenge with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in 2026". Toyota Gazoo Racing. 9 October 2025. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  23. ^ Howard, Tom (9 October 2025). "The motivation behind Rovanpera's switch from rally to single-seaters". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  24. ^ Barry, Luke (10 November 2025). "Solberg earns full-time Rally1 seat with Toyota". DirtFish. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
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