World Rally Championship 2026

[CurtEgerer]

Rally Monte-Carlo started yesterday with shakedown. While Toyota had the top 5 times, many other cars were running studded tires on dry pavement to get a feel for them and were 10 seconds off the pace. As always, unless you subscribe to the WRC's Rally.TV, it takes a bit of effort to follow along Best to use a combination of WRC YouTube, Dirtfish YouTube and Redbull TV.

Notable this year is Oliver Solberg (Petter's son) stepping up to Rally 1 in a Toyota, Sebastien Ogier going for a 10th WRC title and the return of Lancia! They are running in Rally 2 category. lancia-returns-to-the-rallye-monte-carlo-world-debut-in-wrc2-for-the-ypsilon-rally2-hf-integrale

[Deschodt]

RedbullTV is back? last year they seemed to have dropped WRC daily summaries... might have to reinstall that..

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ I haven't looked this year but they're doing a one-off sponsorship of Ogier's Toyota so it seems like they would want to promote that. Classic Monte Carlo with changing road conditions up the mountain - dry, wet, ice, snow, slush. And Solberg leads by 44 seconds!

[onewhippedpuppy]

I used to watch WRC religiously when it was on Speedvision back in the day. At the time Petter Solberg was one of the dominant drivers, crazy it’s now his son!

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ same here. The early 2000s was the golden age of the WRC. Petter Solberg still having fun ....

[CurtEgerer]

Absolutely treacherous ice/snow conditions this Saturday morning on Stages 10 & 11 coming back down the mountain. The Monte Carlo has not had these conditions in years. They use the small street studs here, not the spikes used in Sweden, so traction is sketchy at best. Solberg still leading by over a minute He's got 1 previous overall win (Estonia last year on a one-off outing for Toyota) but that was a fast gravel event. This is entirely different and will set him up as an instant superstar if he can pull off the win. There's a Super Special on the 'Monaco Circuit' tonight.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I used to watch WRC religiously when it was on Speedvision back in the day. At the time Petter Solberg was one of the dominant drivers, crazy it’s now his son!

One of the best things about Speedvision back in the day.

An amazing moment with Solberg was at the Acropolis Rally and while going flat out, Solberg says the steering wheel is coming loose and fears it may come off. He says to his co driver, Phil Mills, "Get the Tools!".

Without slowing down one bit, Mills digs out tools from the back of the car, reaches over and tightens the steering wheels nut. I think they still came in second on the stage.

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ I remember that!

Another good one was when Solberg had his driver's license suspended by police in Sweden for speeding during the rally. He had his co-driver drive the transit stages ....

[CurtEgerer]

It takes a fraction of a second to lose an entire rally. Solberg went completely off road thru a snow bank on Stage 13 but wound up in a field, did a donut, got back on the road and STILL won the stage by 1.5 seconds.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Is there a good place to watch WRC?

[CurtEgerer]

The WRC has it pretty much locked down with their Rally.TV app. It's basically $10/month. Really excellent. Perfect 4K video. And they have a library of rallies going back several years.

[CurtEgerer]

[Zeke]

^^^Amazing to me that he could punch his way back up on the road and the front of the car looked none the worse for banging up the slope and bushes.

I've always like rally but it is tedious to watch. I think the YT recaps will be perfect for me. Just like F1, close up slowmo's of individual corners really shows the talent and the worthiness of the cars.

[CurtEgerer]

Oliver Solberg wins it! These were the most demanding conditions at Monte Carlo in many years. They did the Col de Turini twice this morning (12km up and 12km down each time). It's harrowing enough in the dry when watching bikes during the Tour de France. Add a rally car, black ice, slush and snow to the equation and it's craziness. Petter Solberg won 3 WRC titles but never won Monte Carlo.




Oliver raced in the US for a couple of years and won LSPR for Subaru America at age 17 in 2019. He's a generational talent.

[CurtEgerer]

A spectator video with a better view of the off that nearly cost Solberg the win:

26 Rallye Monte Carlo Solberg Off

[CurtEgerer]

So the FIA is taking the biggest gamble in the history of the sport next year. Starting next year, the sport will be completely different than anything we've ever seen. This quick video does a good job of explaining things. Making the new top class (WRC27) and current WRC2 cars (which are largely production-based) equal in performance is confusing and a huge mistake. No different than IMSA making GTP and LMP2 cars equal in performance so they can both compete for overall wins It makes no sense.

[Deschodt]

yeah, they have problems... the ratings on TV are abysmal, mostly because they are not on TV in most places, doesn't look great when a part timer like Ogier can come back run a few races and win the championship (or an even older Loeb can rejoin and win a monte like he did a few years back).

It's a 2-3 car fight at most, and frankly I don't know about you guys but neither the Toyota nor Hyundai econoboxes gets my juices flowing. I have loved Rally forever and consider those guys the most talented drivers of all series, but I sure miss the cooler era of Audi quattro, Lancia 037 or Delta, Even the celica or Subaru.. The "Mollie maid hot hatch with aero bits" trend has not captivated me (most house cleaners in my area drive those small toyota hatches in case that reference is not universal). I wish they would go back to more production like cool cars, possibly even RWD for long slides... GT3, M3, R8, Cars that make people go wow and are sideways all the time... The new cars are so good they straightline corners, the correct technique is to not drift and lose time (well that's circuit racing)...

I watched a historic rally last year on site in the south of france, and seeing the old M3s, 911s, alpines, that was fun ! The new cars are amazing for sure but not lookers both aesthetically and how they must be driven. Dunno what to think of the above, maybe it will be the end of it, maybe some strange cool stuff will come out of it.

[CurtEgerer]

It looks like a US round of the WRC is back on and a very real possibility as soon as 2027! A rally based out of Chattanooga with stages in TN and KY has been talked about on & off for 5 years. And there has been some ARA rallies to test the stages and organizers. Last I heard it was pretty much dead. But now it's back. The FIA are coming in June to check roads, infrastructure, etc. The WRC is in the process of contracting with a new worldwide promoter (which will surely result in improved TV, social media, etc.) and I think they realize - seeing F1's success - a US round (or 2 or 3 eventually) is not optional if they want to grow.

[CurtEgerer]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

It's a 2-3 car fight at most, and frankly I don't know about you guys but neither the Toyota nor Hyundai econoboxes gets my juices flowing. I have loved Rally forever and consider those guys the most talented drivers of all series, but I sure miss the cooler era of Audi quattro, Lancia 037 or Delta, Even the celica or Subaru.. The "Mollie maid hot hatch with aero bits" trend has not captivated me (most house cleaners in my area drive those small toyota hatches in case that reference is not universal). I wish they would go back to more production like cool cars, possibly even RWD for long slides... GT3, M3, R8,

I get it and agree for the most part but those cars have become too big and heavy for gravel stage rally. And the big manufacturers are only willing to spend the millions necessary if they can promote their bread & butter cars. The new WRC27 will change that a lot because you can essentially stick any body shell you want onto a spaceframe chassis. I like the concept. But they need to make it the clear top class. Just like IMSA/WEC has GTP-Hypercar and production-based GT3. The most surprising thing about the WRC27 regs is they are set for 10 years with no mention of electric or hybrid They learned their lesson that the rough and tumble of rallying is not compatible with those technologies.