The 2026 FIA World Rally Championship was 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 competed for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with Groups Rally1 to Rally5 regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with Rally1 cars were eligible to score points in the manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2026 with the Monte Carlo Rally and was set to conclude in November 2026 with the Rally Saudi Arabia, until the event was removed due to the 2026 Iran war. The Rally Italia Sardegna subsequently became the season finale. The series was 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 were the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured the 2025 championship at the 2025 Rally Saudi Arabia. Toyota were the defending manufacturers' champions.
At the conclusion of the championship, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin won their first World Rally Championship titles at the 2026 Rally Italia Sardegna. Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson were second, trailing by five points. Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen were third, a further one point behind. In the manufacturers' championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT has successfully defended their title, holding a 222-point advantage over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.
Calendar The 2026 season was scheduled to be contested over fourteen rounds across Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, but it was ultimately reduced to thirteen rounds. RoundStart dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistance122 January25 January Rallye Automobile Monte CarloGap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, FranceMixed17339.15 km212 February15 February Rally SwedenUmeå, Västerbotten County, SwedenSnow18300.66 km312 March15 March Safari Rally KenyaNairobi, Nakuru County, KenyaGravel20350.52 km49 April12 April Croatia RallyRijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, CroatiaTarmac20300.28 km523 April26 April Rally Islas CanariasLas Palmas, Gran Canaria, SpainTarmac18322.04 km67 May10 May Rally de PortugalMatosinhos, Porto, PortugalGravel23344.91 km728 May31 May Rally JapanToyota, Aichi, JapanTarmac20302.82 km825 June28 June Acropolis Rally GreeceLoutraki, Corinthia, GreeceGravel17323.31 km916 July19 July Rally EstoniaTartu, EstoniaGravel18301.80 km1030 July 2 August Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central Finland, FinlandGravel20316.60 km1127 August 30 August Rally del ParaguayEncarnación, Itapúa, ParaguayGravel22358.88 km1210 September13 September Rally ChileTalcahuano, Biobío, ChileGravel16311.70 km131 October4 October Rally Italia SardegnaAlghero, Sardinia, ItalyGravel17306.92 kmSources: The 2026 Rally Saudi Arabia was included on the original calendar published by WRC Promoter GmbH and was scheduled to be the fourteenth round of the championship, but was later removed from the season: Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceRemoval reasonRef.11 November14 November Rally Saudi ArabiaJeddah, Mecca Province, Saudi ArabiaGravel16320.34 km2026 Iran warSources:
Calendar changes
The Croatia Rally returned to the championship after missing the season, replacing the Central European Rally. The rally featured new headquarters in Rijeka, instead of Zagreb and a brand new set of mixed tarmac stages. 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 announced a change of its headquarters, with Loutraki serving as the new base after five years in Lamia. The Rally Saudi Arabia was set to hold the season finale, but it was removed from the calendar in September due to the 2026 Iran war. An all-gravel round in Catalonia, Spain was reportedly mooted as a replacement, however this did not materialise as the deadline for its confirmation was not met.
Entrants The following manufacturers contested the championship under Rally1 regulations. All crews used tyres provided by Hankook.
+ManufacturerEntrantCarNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsFord M-Sport Ford WRTFord Puma Rally155 Josh McErlean Eoin TreacyAll95 Jon Armstrong Shane ByrneAllHyundai Hyundai Shell Mobis WRTHyundai i20 N Rally14 Esapekka Lappi Enni Mälkönen2–3, 9–10, 126 Dani Sordo Cándido Carrera5–6, 8 Patricia Sáiz1311 Thierry Neuville Martijn WydaegheAll16 Adrien Fourmaux Alexandre CoriaAll20 Hayden Paddon John Kennard1, 4, 7, 11Toyota Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota GR Yaris Rally11 Sébastien Ogier Vincent Landais1, 3, 5–9, 11–13 Julien Ingrassia1018 Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston2, 433 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin1–1299 Oliver Solberg Elliott EdmondsonAll Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2Toyota GR Yaris Rally15 Sami Pajari Marko SalminenAllSources:
The following crews entered in Rally1 cars as privateers or under arrangement with the manufacturers. +ManufacturerEntrantCarNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsFord M-Sport Ford WRTFord Puma Rally19 Jourdan Serderidis Frédéric Miclotte813 Grégoire Munster Louis Louka122 Mārtiņš Sesks Renārs Francis2, 6, 8–10, 13Toyota Toyota Gazoo Racing WRTToyota GR Yaris Rally118 Takamoto Katsuta Aaron Johnston1, 3, 5–11, 13 James Fulton1233 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin1337 Lorenzo Bertelli Simone Scattolin2Sources:
In detail M-Sport kept the crew of Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy. Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne stepped 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 continued 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 was shared by crews led by drivers Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon. Paddon made his first appearance in the premium level of the championship since the 2018 Rally Australia. Lappi and Sordo also returned after their previous partial campaigns with the team in . Ott Tänak announced his indefinite break from the championship following the end of the season. Co-driver Patricia Sáiz made her WRC debut at the 2026 Rally Italia Sardegna, partnering with Sordo.
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. James Fulton stepped in alongside Katsuta at the 2026 Rally Chile as Johnston spent additional time recovering from the crash at the 2026 Rally del Paraguay. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais continued to run a partial program to contest ten rallies with the team. Julien Ingrassia, Ogier's former co-driver, substituted Landais, who withdrew from the 2026 Rally Finland due to personal reasons. 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 ran 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 every rally weekends. Engines were 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 took place in difficult weather conditions, which affected several crews, including both M-Sport crews of McErlean and Treacy and of Armstrong and Byrne, ending M-Sport's 24-year run of point-scoring finishes. The rally was won by Solberg and Edmondson in their first event of their first full-time season in the top tier. Toyota continued its dominance in the following round, securing a 1–2–3–4 finish, with Evans and Martin winning the event.
The Safari Rally was difficult, and all three Toyota crews nominated to score points retired on Saturday. Despite running outside the top five after the first leg, Katsuta and Johnston took their maiden career victory. A similar situation occurred in Croatia, as both championship contenders Solberg and Evans exited early. Benefiting from avoiding punctures, Neuville and Wydaeghe took the lead, a position they held until the final Power Stage, where they retired after crashing off-road. Katsuta and Johnston inherited the win and led the championship for the first time in their careers. Paddon returned to the podium for the first time since the 2018 Rally Australia by finishing third.
Mid-season events
Toyota dominated the rally of Spain, with Ogier and Landais winning the event. Title contenders Solberg and Edmondson retired on the penultimate stage while in second place after crashing into the barrier. Ogier and Landais had been on course for a second consecutive victory at the Rally de Portugal until a puncture on the penultimate stage denied them the win. Neuville and Wydaeghe became the new rally leaders and won the event, Hyundai's first and only win of the season. Back on tarmac in Japan, Toyota dominated again, winning all twenty stages, with Evans and Martin taking their second victory of the season to extend their championship leads. Ogier and Landais won the Acropolis Rally after a battle with Neuville and Wydaeghe, who were affected by double punctures on the penultimate stage.
The Estonian Rally featured a dominant performance by Pajari and Salminen, who took their first victory after leading from start to finish. They secured back-to-back wins at their home event after rally leader Ogier retired on Saturday evening following a major crash. Evans and Martin secured a podium finish to extend their championship leads to thirty points, despite also rolling on Saturday. Pajari and Salminen completed a historic hat trick at the Rally del Paraguay, becoming the first crew to take their first three top-flight wins at consecutive rallies.
Closing rounds Solberg and Edmondson won their second rally of the season in Chile, but the main story of the event was Toyota's sixth consecutive manufacturers' title, tying Lancia with ten world titles. Following the removal of the Rally Saudi Arabia, Evans and Martin entered the final round of the season as championship leaders. However, a puncture and Solberg and Edmondson leading the event meant the lead was reduced to only one point going into the final Power Stage. Whoever finished ahead would be crowned champions. Solberg and Edmondson performed well and were up on Evans and Martin until the very last sector, where they went off the road in their Yaris. Although they recovered and secured the rally victory, they ultimately lost the stage and therefore the world titles to Evans and Martin. Evans became the first British WRC drivers' champion since Richard Burns in .
Results and standings Season summary