Can Ogier make history as the Monte Carlo Rally kick-starts WRC 2026?

Just weeks after sealing a record-equaling ninth World Rally Championship, Sebastien Ogier begins his title defense on home roads with history in his sights.

The 2026 WRC season starts this weekend with its most iconic event, the Monte Carlo Rally, and a victory on the often-treacherous asphalt of the Alpes Maritime would make the 42-year-old Frenchman (above, on the pre-event shakedown) the most successful driver at a single WRC event.

Ogier was born in Gap – which is once again the rally base – grew up on the mountain roads which host the Monte’s special stages, and has already won the event a record 10 times across the WRC (nine times) and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (once). Securing a 10th WRC-counting win on Sunday afternoon would move him clear of the WRC’s other great Sebastien, fellow Frenchman and nine-time champ Loeb, who racked up nine WRC event wins on both Rally Deutschland and Rally Catalunya. It would also kick-start Ogier’s quest to surpass Loeb in overall WRC titles.

The Monte Carlo Rally opens a 14-round season which marks the final year of Rally1 regulations for the top-class cars from Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford. Next season, a simplified, lower-cost WRC27 category takes over the headlining slot. Five years into the Rally1 era, the all-wheel-drive, turbocharged, 1.6-liter Toyota GR Yaris, Hyundai i20 N and M-Sport Ford Puma are very familiar to their crews, yet the challenge of the high mountain stages of the Monte will be anything but, with heavy snow predicted across the weekend for the first time in several years.

The WRC’s most unpredictable event remains an unforgiving test of judgment and nerve. Over 17 special stages and more than 210 competitive miles, crews will face constantly changing asphalt conditions – dry, wet, icy and snow-covered, often within the same stage – where tire choice can decide the outcome as much as driving.

Toyota Gazoo Racing won 12 of 2025’s 14 rallies and starts the year as favorite to retain its manufacturers’ crown. It will be tough to beat in the drivers’ title chase, too, with a formidable, albeit revamped roster.

Ogier leads the line, and will be looking to repeat what he achieved in 2025: another WRC title, but again running only a limited schedule. Last year he won scored six wins from just 11 starts; this time around, he’s cutting that back to just 10 of the 14 rounds. A tough ask? Maybe. But the WRC’s enduring benchmark should never be ruled out.

Joining him in the factory GR Yaris fleet are Elfyn Evans, who’s still chasing a first world title after a fifth runner-up finish in 2025, and new signing Oliver Solberg. The latter is the reigning champ in world rallying’s second-tier category, WRC2, but punched his ticket to the top tier by winning last July’s Rally Estonia in a one-off Rally1 drive for Toyota’s factory squad. He’s replacing two-time WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera, who’s swapping rallying for a TGR-backed season in Japan’s Super Formula open-wheel series – the first step in the 25-year-old Finn’s dream of making it to Formula 1.

Oliver Solberg joins Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Rally1 roster after taking a sensational win in a one-off drive on last year’s Rally Estonia.

Adding strength in depth, Toyota also fields factory Rally1 cars for Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari, both looking for a first top-tier win and both looking to start the season with solid finishes after DNFs on last year’s Monte Carlo Rally. Katsuta set the ball rolling with fastest time on the pre-event shakedown stage (run in possibly unrepresentative dry conditions), leading a Toyota top-five lockout.

That perhaps doesn’t bode well for Hyundai, which heads to the Monte intent on reclaiming early momentum in what it knows is a critical year. Belgium’s Thierry Neuville, the 2024 WRC champ and two-time Monte Carlo Rally winner, leads the attack alongside Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman finished third on his Hyundai debut here last season, but has still to land a first WRC event win.

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai’s 2024 WRC champ, is looking to reclaim momentum against a dominant Toyota this time around.

Like Toyota, Hyundai is minus one WRC champ in its 2026 roster. Ott Tanak, who won his only WRC title with Toyota in 2019, before switching to the Korean marque, is taking time out to recharge and leaving things open ended on any future return. Replacing him are a trio of former Hyundai factory drivers, who’ll each make a handful of starts in the third i20 N Rally1. Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo wait in the wings, but New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon returns to rallying’s top level for the first time since 2018 on the Monte.

M-Sport Ford lines up with a youthful and ambitious squad at the season opener. Josh McErlean builds on a solid Rally1 debut season and is joined by Northern Irishman Jon Armstrong, who makes his top-class debut on the sport’s most unforgiving stages. Joining them for the Monte only is Gregoire Munster, who’s been relieved of his full-time gig with M-Sport, but signs off with a return to the event where he posted his first ever WRC fastest stage time last year.

In WRC2, an iconic name returns as Lancia makes its long-awaited comeback to the championship. The debut of the Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale marks the brand’s first WRC appearance since 2000 – a symbolic moment at the event where Lancia remains the most successful manufacturer of all time. Yvan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin, who finished second and third to Oliver Solberg in WRC2 points last season, will drive the Italian cars and take on a stacked field of asphalt experts on the season opener.

One of rallying’s most evocative marques, Lancia, returns to WRC action for 2026 with a two-car WRC2 attack.

The action begins on Thursday evening and concludes on Sunday afternoon with a ceremonial finish in Monaco. Saturday night adds a spectacular twist, with the championship returning to the streets of Monaco for a competitive super-special stage around Port Hercule for the first time since 2008.

• Watch the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage action from the Monte Carlo Rally LIVE on RACER Network and the RACER+ App on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 7am ET.Plus, for a deeper dive into the FIA World Rally Championship, check out the WRC Magazine Show on RACER Network. Catch the latest episode on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 10.00pm ET and Friday, Jan. 23 at 1am ET.

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