2019 World Rally Championship

2019 FIA World Rally Championship

Previous

2018

Next

2020

Support series:
FIA World Rally Championship-2 Pro
FIA World Rally Championship-2
FIA Junior World Rally Championship

Thierry Neuville is the current drivers' championship leader.

Nicolas Gilsoul is the current co-drivers' championship leader.

Hyundai (i20 Coupe WRC pictured) are the current manufacturers' championship leader.

The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship is the forty-seventh season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews will compete in fourteen events for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews are free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only Manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 are eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The series will once again be supported by the World Rally Championship-2 category at every round and by the Junior World Rally Championship at selected events. The World Rally Championship-3 was discontinued.

After the fifth round, Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul lead the drivers' and co-drivers' championships by ten points ahead of defending champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja are third, a further eighteen points behind. In the manufacturers' championship, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT hold a thirty-seven-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.

Calendar

A map showing the locations of the rallies in the 2019 championship. Event headquarters are marked with a black dot.

The championship will be contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Australia.

Round	Dates		Rally	Rally headquarters	Rally details
	Start	Finish			Surface	Stages	Distance	Notes
1	24 January	27 January	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	Gap, Hautes-Alpes	Mixed	15	302.77 km
2	14 February	17 February	Rally Sweden	Torsby, Värmland	Snow	19	316.80 km
3	7 March	10 March	Rally Guanajuato México	León, Guanajuato	Gravel	21	316.51 km
4	28 March	31 March	Tour de Corse	Bastia, Haute-Corse	Tarmac	14	347.51 km
5	25 April	28 April	Rally Argentina	Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba	Gravel	18	349.48 km
6	9 May	12 May	Rally Chile	Talcahuano, Concepción	Gravel	17	325.70 km
7	30 May	2 June	Rally de Portugal	Matosinhos, Porto	Gravel	20	311.23 km
8	13 June	16 June	Rally Italia Sardegna	Alghero, Sardinia	Gravel	19	313.44 km
9	1 August	4 August	Rally Finland	Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi	Gravel	23	307.22 km
10	22 August	25 August	ADAC Rallye Deutschland	Bostalsee, Saarland	Tarmac	19	343.95 km
11	12 September	15 September	Rally of Turkey	Marmaris, Muğla	Gravel	TBA	TBA
12	3 October	6 October	Wales Rally GB	Llandudno, Conwy	Gravel	TBA	TBA
13	24 October	27 October	RACC Rally Catalunya de España	Salou, Tarragona	Mixed	TBA	TBA
14	14 November	17 November	Rally Australia	Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	Gravel	TBA	TBA
Source:

Calendar expansion

Following the return of Rally Turkey to the championship in 2018, the FIA announced plans to expand the calendar to fourteen rounds in 2019 with the long-term objective of running sixteen championship events. Twelve prospective bids for events were put together, including candidate events in New Zealand, Japan and Chile. Prospective events in Kenya, Croatia, Canada and Estonia expressed interest in joining the calendar within five years.

The planned expansion put pressure on European rounds to maintain their position on the calendar as teams were unwilling to contest sixteen events immediately. The Tour de Corse and Rally Italia Sardegna proved to be unpopular among teams for the logistical difficulties of travelling to Corsica and Sardinia and low spectator attendance at the events. Organisers of Rally Japan reached an agreement with the sport's promoter to host a rally in 2019, with the proposed event moving from Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido to Toyota City in Honshu. However, plans to return to Japan were abandoned when the promoter came under pressure to retain the Tour de Corse.

The proposed events in Japan and Kenya will run candidate events in 2019 in a bid to join the championship in 2020. The calendar published in October 2018 included Rally Chile as part of the expansion to fourteen rounds. The event will be based in Concepción and run on gravel roads. Rally Chile will be run back-to-back with Rally Argentina.

Route changes

The route of Rallye Monte Carlo was shortened by 71.93 km (44.7 mi) compared to the 2018 route. The route was revised after rule changes that were introduced for the 2019 championship limited the maximum distance of a route to 350 km (217.5 mi). Organisers of the Tour de Corse announced plans for a new route, with up to three-quarters of the 2019 route being revised from the 2018 rally.

Entries

The following teams and crews are competing in the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship. Citroën, Ford, Hyundai and Toyota are all represented by manufacturer teams and eligible to score points in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.

Entrant	Car	Tyre	Crew details
			No.	Driver name	Co-driver name	Rounds
Alain Vauthier	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	M	42	Alain Vauthier	Gilbert Dini	4
Armando Pereira	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	M	41	Armando Pereira	Rémi Tutélaire	4
Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M	1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	1–6
			4	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	1–6
GRX Team	Toyota Yaris WRC	M	68	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	2
Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M	6	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	3–5
			11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	1–6
			19	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	1–2, 4, 6
			89	Andreas Mikkelsen	Anders Jæger-Amland	1–3, 5–6
Janne Tuohino	Ford Fiesta WRC	M	92	Janne Tuohino	Mikko Markkula	2
Jean-Charles Beaubelique	Citroën DS3 WRC	M	40	Jean-Charles Beaubelique	Julien Pesenti	4
Mauro Miele	Citroën DS3 WRC	M	20	Mauro Miele	Luca Beltrame	1
M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M	3	Teemu Suninen	Marko Salminen	1–6
			7	Pontus Tidemand	Ola Fløene	1–2
			33	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	1–6
			37	Lorenzo Bertelli	Simone Scattolin	2, 6
			TBA	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	TBA
Robert Simonetti	Citroën DS3 WRC	M	43	Robert Simonetti	Célia Simonetti	4
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M	5	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	1–6
			8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	1–6
			10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	1–6
Entries in bold type are eligible to score points in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.
Source:

Team changes

Citroën will only enter two cars for the entire season. The team had two full-time entries in 2018, with a third car run on a part-time basis. Citroën cited a change in sponsorship arrangements as being the reason behind the decision to forgo a third car. M-Sport Ford will also scale back to two full-time entries, with a third car entered on a round-by-round basis. Malcolm Wilson stepped down from his role as M-Sport Ford's team principal to oversee the company's wider commercial operations. Richard Millener was appointed as his replacement. Hyundai also replaced their team principal Michel Nandan with their customer racing manager Andrea Adamo. Toyota expanded to four cars, adding an additional car on a part-time basis. The fourth car will be run by Toyota's factory team, but entered under Marcus Grönholm's GRX Team banner.

Crew changes

Sébastien Loeb will contest six rallies with Hyundai.

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia left M-Sport Ford to return to Citroën. Ogier and Ingrassia had previously competed with the French manufacturer in 2011 before moving to Volkswagen Motorsport. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm also joined the team after two years with Toyota. Craig Breen and Scott Martin left the team when Citroën announced that they would scale back their involvement in the championship to two full-time entries for Ogier and Lappi. They were unable to secure seats for the start of the championship. Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen remained with the Citroën team, agreeing to a full-time factory campaign in the WRC-2 class in R5 version of the C3. Teemu Suninen was promoted to a full-time drive with M-Sport Ford, effectively replacing Ogier. Pontus Tidemand and Ola Fløene will contest selected rounds with M-Sport Ford. Tidemand and Fløene will share the car with Gus Greensmith.

Two-time World Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen will return to the championship for the first time since 2010, making one appearance with Toyota. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena signed a contract to contest six rounds with Hyundai, sharing an i20 with the crew of Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio. Hayden Paddon was left without a drive for the season. Paddon's co-driver Sebastian Marshall moved to Toyota. He will partner Kris Meeke, who returns to full-time competition after being fired by Citroën halfway through the 2018 championship. Teemu Suninen also changed co-drivers, with Marko Salminen replacing Mikko Markkula. Daniel Barritt split with Elfyn Evans to partner Takamoto Katsuta in the World Rally Championship-2; Evans will instead be joined by Scott Martin.

Rule changes

The maximum total distance of special stages per event was reduced from 500 km (310.7 mi) to 350 km (217.5 mi).

Drivers were permitted to choose a permanent number, similar to the numbering systems used in Formula 1, MotoGP and DTM. Prior to the 2019 championship, the numbering system was based on championship standings from the previous year. The reigning world champion still competed with the number 1.

The number of test days were reduced from 55, with teams permitted to test for 42 days per year.

The championship's support categories were restructured. The World Rally Championship-3 was discontinued and a new class was created within the World Rally Championship-2. The class, known as World Rally Championship-2 Pro, is open to manufacturer-supported teams entering cars complying with Group R5 regulations. Two-wheel drive cars and Group R2 and R3 cars are still eligible to enter rallies.

Season report

Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo

The Citroën C3 WRC of the rally winning crew Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia in the event.

Main article: 2019 Monte Carlo Rally

The first round of the 2019 World Rally Championship saw another epic battle between the three rivals Sébastien Ogier, who started his new Citroën career this season, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak. The Estonian took an early lead during the first two night stages, but a puncture on Friday forced him to stop, which cost him two minutes to replace. Neuville then took a short-lived lead althrough he missed a junction at the same stage and lost around 20 seconds. However, Ogier hammered home his advantage on the following stage and ended the day by only 2.0 seconds. On Saturday and Sunday, Ogier and Neuville were neck and neck whereas Tänak started to chase time. He set four out of four fastest stage times at leg 2 and pulled himself back to fifth overall after Andreas Mikkelsen, Elfyn Evans and Esapekka Lappi retired from the rally due to lost wheel, off road and suspension damage respectively. Having overtaken teammate Jari-Matti Latvala and nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb, Tänak eventually finished at the podium, behind Ogier, who won the rally for the six straight years, and a 4.3-second-behind Neuville. From fourth to tenth were Loeb, Latvala, a returned Kris Meeke, who put his fifth power stage victory in his pocket, new championship WRC-2 Pro winner Gus Greensmith, WRC-2 winner Yoann Bonato, Stéphane Sarrazin and Adrien Fourmaux.

Rally Sweden

Main article: 2019 Rally Sweden

Coming into the only snow event in the calendar, Sébastien Ogier was first on the road. However, a small mistake caused him stuck in the snowbank and there were no spectators to push him out. As a result, Rally2 for the defending world champion. On the final stage of the first leg, Jari-Matti Latvala also went wide over a crest. By choosing to run under the Rally2 regulation, he reduced his time loss to just ten minutes. Teemu Suninen surprisingly put himself on top at the end of Friday, leading from Ott Tänak by 2 seconds but that surprise did not sustain to Saturday. Beaching his Fiesta in the morning loop dropped him down to eighth. Worse still, in the afternoon loop, he hit a tree and damaged his roll cage, which forced the young Finn to retire from the leg. Tänak then took over the rally and comfortably dominated to win his first snow rally in his career with his ninth power stage victory to take maximum points and go into the lead of the championship for the first time in his career. Although Esapekka Lappi almost rolled on Friday, he still successfully finished ahead of Thierry Neuville, who made a few mistakes at this weekend, by three seconds. Andreas Mikkelsen, who once occupied the second place, completed the rally in fourth in the end after a lucky escape from the snowbank on Saturday. From fifth to tenth were Elfyn Evans, Kris Meeke, nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb, localman Pontus Tidemand, WRC-2 winner Ole Christian Veiby and rally veteran Janne Tuohino.

Rally Guanajuato México

Main article: 2019 Rally Mexico

The high-altitude terrain of Rally Mexico provided difficult conditions for the drivers. Teemu Suninen was forced to retire from the rally when he went off the road only a few kilometers into the second stage. Andreas Mikkelsen led the rally until he hit a rock and damaged his suspension. Teammate Dani Sordo, who was the first time in a World Rally Car this season, suffered a electrical issue as he was fighting for the win. Jari-Matti Latvala was running in fourth before retiring with alternator failure. Esapekka Lappi got stuck and had to run under Rally2 regulation. Kris Meeke had a flat tyre and damaged his suspension, which dropped him from the lead down to fifth place. Although Sébastien Ogier had a puncture on the opening stage of leg 2, a red flag caused by his teammate Lappi's off saved his rally and eventually won the event with a power stage victory. Ott Tänak, who was first on the road on the first day, finished second, with Elfyn Evans rounding out of the podium. Thierry Neuville completed the rally in fourth after Friday's puncture, with Meeke in fifth. From sixth to tenth were WRC-2 winner Benito Guerra, eighteen-year-old rising star Marco Bulacia Wilkinson, Latvala, Sordo and local driver Ricardo Triviño.

Tour de Corse

Main article: 2019 Tour de Corse

Corsica played a cruel joke with Elfyn Evans, who set amazing pace at the entire weekend and led the rally as championship leader Ott Tänak suffered a puncture on Saturday. However, a front-right puncture in the ultimate power stage dropped him down to third. Several more punctures also happened on Toyota duo Kris Meeke, who won another power stage, and Jari-Matti Latvala. In the end, it was Thierry Neuville that won the rally for the second time as well as his first season victory. With the victory, the Belgian moved two places to the top spot in the championship. So were their team, Hyundai. Defending world champion Sébastien Ogier finshed ahead of Evans in second, following by tarmac expert Dani Sordo in fourth. Teemu Suninen completed the event in fifth and managed to stay ahead of championship contender Tänak in fifth after a trouble-free weekend, only 6.2 seconds behind Sordo. Esapekka Lappi, who was lack of paceat the whole weekend, finished in seventh. Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb finshed the rally in eighth after a suspension damage on the very first stage, with Meeke and Latvala completing the top ten. This is the first time of the season that top ten were all covered by World Rally Cars.

Rally Argentina

Main article: 2019 Rally Argentina

Heavy rain hit Córdoba in the days leading up to the rally, making the road conditions very difficult. Thierry Neuville lead at the end of the first leg after Ott Tänak spun on the last stage of the leg, which was later stopped due to an accident for Esapekka Lappi. The Estonian attempted to regain the time on the second leg, but he was forced to stop with a broken alternator. Elfyn Evans also retired during the day after hitting a rock and rolling his Fiesta. Sébastien Ogier lost time in the morning loop with a power steering failure, dropping him to fourth place behind Kris Meeke. Neuville was untroubled throughout the final day to claim a second Argentina win, whilst teammate Andreas Mikkelsen took advantage of other drivers' problems to finish second, his best result for Hyundai. Meeke lost out on third place to Ogier after a final stage puncture, the Citroën driver also winning the power stage. Jari-Matti Latvala had a quiet run to finish fifth, ahead of Dani Sordo, Teemu Suninen and the recovering Tänak. Leading WRC-2 drivers Mads Østberg and Pedro Heller completed the points finishers.

Results and standings

Season summary

Round	Event	Winning driver	Winning co-driver	Winning entrant	Winning time	Report
1	Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën Total WRT	3:21:15.9	Report
2	Rally Sweden	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	2:47:30.0	Report
3	Rally Guanajuato México	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën Total WRT	3:37:08.0	Report
4	Tour de Corse	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	3:22:59.0	Report
5	Rally Argentina	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	3:20:54.6	Report
6	Rally Chile					Report
7	Rally de Portugal					Report
8	Rally Italia Sardegna					Report
9	Rally Finland					Report
10	ADAC Rallye Deutschland					Report
11	Marmaris Rally of Turkey					Report
12	Wales Rally GB					Report
13	RACC Rally Catalunya de España					Report
14	Rally Australia					Report

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in each event. In the manufacturers' championship, teams were eligible to nominate three crews to score points, but these points were only awarded to the top two classified finishers representing a manufacturer and driving a 2017-specification World Rally Car. There were also five bonus points awarded to the winners of the Power stage, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. Power Stage points were only awarded in the drivers' and co-drivers' championships.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers

Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX COR ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points 1 Thierry Neuville 23 32 43 14 13 110 2 Sébastien Ogier 12 294 11 25 31 100 3 Ott Tänak 34 11 2 62 85 82 4 Kris Meeke 61 6 52 91 4 54 5 Elfyn Evans Ret 53 3 3 Ret 43 6 Andreas Mikkelsen Ret 4 Ret 2 30 7 Jari-Matti Latvala 5 21 8 10 52 29 8 Esapekka Lappi Ret 25 135 7 Ret 26 9 Dani Sordo 94 4 64 26 10 Sébastien Loeb 4 7 8 22 11 Teemu Suninen 115 23 Ret 53 7 20 12 Benito Guerra 6 12 8 13 Gus Greensmith 7 19 15 6 14 Marco Bulacia Wilkinson 7 Ret 6 15 Pontus Tidemand 20 8 4 16 Yoann Bonato 8 49 4 17 Ole Christian Veiby 12 9 Ret 2 18 Mads Østberg 11 9 2 19 Stéphane Sarrazin 9 2 20 Adrien Fourmaux 10 45 30 1 21 Pedro Heller Ret 10 1 22 Janne Tuohino 10 1 23 Ricardo Triviño 10 1 Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX COR ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD) Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 – Power stage position

FIA World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers

Pos. Co-Driver MON SWE MEX COR ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points 1 Nicolas Gilsoul 23 32 43 14 13 110 2 Julien Ingrassia 12 294 11 25 31 100 3 Martin Järveoja 34 11 2 62 85 82 4 Sebastian Marshall 61 6 52 91 4 54 5 Scott Martin Ret 53 3 3 Ret 43 6 Anders Jæger-Amland Ret 4 Ret 2 30 7 Miikka Anttila 5 21 8 10 52 29 8 Janne Ferm Ret 25 135 7 Ret 26 9 Carlos del Barrio 94 4 64 26 10 Daniel Elena 4 7 8 22 11 Marko Salminen 115 23 Ret 53 7 20 12 Jaime Zapata 6 12 8 13 Elliott Edmondson 7 19 15 6 14 Fabian Cretu 7 Ret 6 15 Ola Fløene 20 8 4 16 Benjamin Boulloud 8 49 4 17 Jonas Andersson 12 9 Ret 2 18 Torstein Eriksen 11 9 2 19 Jacques-Julien Renucci 9 2 20 Marc Martí 10 Ret 10 2 21 Renaud Jamoul 10 45 30 1 22 Mikko Markkula 10 1 Pos. Co-Driver MON SWE MEX COR ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD) Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 – Power stage position

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

Pos. Entrant MON SWE MEX COR ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points 1 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 2 3 4 1 1 157 4 4 6 4 2 2 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 3 1 2 6 4 120 5 6 5 8 5 3 Citroën Total WRT 1 2 1 2 3 117 Ret 8 7 7 Ret 4 M-Sport Ford WRT 6 5 3 3 6 78 7 7 Ret 5 Ret Pos. Entrant MON SWE MEX COR ARG CHI POR ITA FIN DEU TUR GBR CAT AUS Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

External links

• Official website
• 2019 World Rally Championship season in e-wrc website