The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-seventh season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews competed in fourteen events for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were 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 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The series was once again supported by the WRC2 category at every round, which was split into 2 classifications: WRC2 Pro for manufacturer entries and WRC2 for private entries, and by Junior WRC at selected events. WRC3 was discontinued in 2018.
At the conclusion of the championship, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja won their maiden drivers' and co-drivers' championships, taking an unassailable lead of thirty-six points over Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul. Defending champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished third. In the manufacturers' championship, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT won their first title since they first participated in the championship. Defending manufacturers' champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT were second, with Citroën Total WRT in third.
Calendar
The championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, and Australia. RoundDatesRallyRally headquartersRally detailsStartFinishSurfaceStagesDistance124 January27 January Rallye Automobile Monte CarloGap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurMixed16323.83 km214 February17 February Rally SwedenTorsby, VärmlandSnow19316.80 km37 March10 March Rally Guanajuato MéxicoLeón, GuanajuatoGravel21316.51 km428 March31 March Tour de CorseBastia, CorsicaTarmac14347.51 km525 April28 April Rally ArgentinaVilla Carlos Paz, CórdobaGravel18347.50 km69 May12 May Rally ChileConcepción, BiobíoGravel16304.81 km730 May2 June Rally de PortugalMatosinhos, PortoGravel20311.47 km813 June16 June Rally Italia SardegnaAlghero, SardiniaGravel19310.52 km91 August4 August Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel23307.58 km1022 August25 August ADAC Rallye DeutschlandBostalsee, SaarlandTarmac19344.04 km11 Rally of TurkeyMarmaris, MuğlaGravel17318.77 km123 October6 October Wales Rally GBLlandudno, ConwyGravel22312.75 km1324 October27 October RACC Rally Catalunya de EspañaSalou, CataloniaMixed17325.56 km1414 November17 November Rally AustraliaGravel CancelledSource:
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 ran candidate events in 2019 in a bid to join the championship in 2020. Both were successful in secure a place on the 2020 calendar. The calendar published in October 2018 included Rally Chile as part of the expansion to fourteen rounds. The event was based in Concepción and ran on gravel roads.
Route changes The route of Rallye Monte Carlo was shortened by 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 . 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. Rally de Portugal was also shortened by compared to the 2018 route.
Entries The following teams and crews competed in the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship. Citroën, Ford, Hyundai and Toyota were all represented by manufacturer teams and eligible to score points in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. All World Rally Championship entries utilizing Michelin tyres.
+ManufacturerEntrantCarCrew detailsNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsCitroënCitroën C3 WRC1 Sébastien Ogier Julien IngrassiaAll4 Esapekka Lappi Janne FermAllFordFord Fiesta WRC3 Teemu Suninen Marko Salminen1–7 Jarmo Lehtinen8–147 Pontus Tidemand Ola Fløene1–2, 11–1220 Hayden Paddon John Kennard1433 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin1–8, 12–14 Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson944 Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson7, 10Hyundai Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio3–5, 7–8, 10–11, 13–1411 Thierry Neuville Nicolas GilsoulAll18 Craig Breen Paul Nagle1419 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena1–2, 4, 6–7, 1342 Craig Breen Paul Nagle9, 12891–3, 5–6, 8–12ToyotaToyota Yaris WRC5 Kris MeekeAll8 Ott Tänak Martin JärveojaAll10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka AnttilaAllSource:
+ManufacturerEntrantCarCrew detailsNo.Driver nameCo-driver nameRoundsCitroën Mauro MieleCitroën DS3 WRC20 Mauro Miele Luca Beltrame1 Jean-Charles Beaubelique40 Jean-Charles Beaubelique Julien Pesenti4 Robert Simonetti43 Robert Simonetti Célia Simonetti4 Kris Princen72 Kris Princen Peter Kaspers10Ford JanProFord Fiesta WRC18 Jouni Virtanen Risto Pietiläinen937 Lorenzo Bertelli Simone Scattolin2, 692 Janne Tuohino Mikko Markkula2Ford Fiesta RS WRC26 Martin Prokop Jan Tománek841 Armando Pereira Rémi Tutélaire442 Alain Vauthier Gilbert Dini4Toyota GRX TeamToyota Yaris WRC68 Timo Rautiainen2 Tommi Mäkinen Racing17 Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt10, 13698Source:
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 Ogier and Julien Ingrassia left M-Sport Ford and returned 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, but Breen represented Hyundai to compete in Finland and Wales. Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen remained with the Citroën team, agreeing to a full-time factory campaign in the WRC2 class in R5 version of the C3. Later, they got an opportunity to drive a third Citroën C3 WRC in Australia to boost Ogier's title bid, but they withdrew before the rally starts as Ogier's title chance was over in Spain. 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 third car with Gus Greensmith.
Two-time World Drivers' and Co-drivers' Champions Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen returned to the championship for the first time since 2010, making one-off 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 set to enter the Rally Finland with M-Sport Ford after he left without a drive for the season, but a heavy crash during testing forced M-Sport to delay his planned return to Australia. Unfortunately, things did not work as planned as the rally was cancelled due to bushfires. Paddon's co-driver Sebastian Marshall moved to Toyota. He partnered Kris Meeke, who returned to full-time competition after being fired by Citroën halfway through the 2018 championship. Meeke's former co-driver Paul Nagle is due to cooperate with Crag Breen in Finland. Teemu Suninen also changed co-drivers, with Marko Salminen replacing Mikko Markkula. However, they ended their partnership before Sardegna as Jarmo Lehtinen took over Salminen's position. Daniel Barritt split with Elfyn Evans to partner Takamoto Katsuta in the WRC2; Evans instead was joined by Scott Martin. Katsuta and Barritt were later entered into Rallye Deutschland in a fourth Toyota.
Rule changes The maximum total distance of special stages per event was reduced from to .
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 the manufacturers' championship standings from the previous year. The reigning world champions still competed with the number 1 and their permanent teammates were assigned the number 2.
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. WRC3 was discontinued and a new class was created within the WRC2. The class, known as WRC2 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 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 although 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 WRC2 Pro winner Gus Greensmith, WRC2 winner Yoann Bonato, Stéphane Sarrazin and Adrien Fourmaux.
Rally Sweden