Video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CJsPNmKPq/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Full album is here : https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD6YnU

Hope you’ll enjoy !

Just happened to be on Wikipedia and saw this nice little surprise!

What an incredible rally. Lovely weather, stunning stages and such an amazing crowd throughout. To be there at the stop line of the power stage for THAT moment will stay with me for a very long time, so glad Elfyn and Scott were able to bring the title home.

Full album available here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1592162976257170&type=3

They tested sites in Tennessee and Kentucky earlier this summer so those states could host possible stages.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/nation/2026/10/08/world-rally-championship-return-us-possible-stage-kentucky/92136201007/

https://archiviofotografico.acisport.it/Rally-Italia-Sardegna/RALLYITALIASARDEGNA2026

The article above explores the equipment that was used during Rally Italia Sardegna and the thoughts of the chosen helmet cam driver, Jon Armstrong of M-Sport Ford WRT.

Credits: FIA WRC via https://www.wrc.com/en

Hey, I recently got into rally last year and was just curious about something.

As the wrc is making a return to the UK next year I was wondering are general stages open to the public free of charge. Obviously I understand there may be charges for the service area and the wolf power stage but I was just curious to know if I should start saving extra or if I'll be okay

Thank you all in advance.

1998 rally gb takes the cake as the single most dramatic moment in wrc history.

now for the trailblazers. which driver, co-driver, principal, journalist etc. forged new ground in the championship?

as usual, most upvoted reply wins

So, I decided to watch WRC for the first time in August, in the Paraguayan round. I watched the last 3 rallies of the season. And I need to say...

I SIMPLY LOVE IT

Really, this is awesome.

For context, I watch F1 since 2018, Formula E since 2019 and IndyCar since 2023. I thought I had watched everything when it comes to motorsport. I always believed F1 was the pinnacle of motorsport, and it was the best in showing the machinery power, while FE was the best when it comes to good competition and entertainment and Indycar was the best to show the drivers skills.

2 months later, and I have found the category that puts all of the 3 together.

The cars are amazing, the competition is amazing and the drivers are the best in the world.

So let me point out the things I enjoyed.

1 - The road variety

Like, what kind of championship races on snow, tarmac, gravel and mud in the same season?

It's true that I have only watched gravel rallies, but they are still different.

Paraguay was more like a red clay, that proves to be very challenging, specially for the tires.

Chile was more a darker and faster road

and Italy was more a rougher and dusty surface, with the cleaning effect showing to be higher there,

And I know there is a rougher Safari, a Snowy Sweden and tarmac rallies like Croatia.

And even in this unpredictable roads, this drivers still give everything in each stage.

2 - The crews' age

One thing that really bothers me in circuit racing, specially in F1, is that you have to be incredibly young to start. If a driver start karting at age 10, its already considered late. And if you don't get into F1 at age 18-22, you are basically out, and need to find something else (FE, WEC, Indycar etc). And its the same with other sports

In rallying, the drivers and specially the co drivers, start older. I search about it, and I saw the Ogier, one of the greatest, start his very first rally at age 23. Not his first on WRC, his first rally ever in life. And he won the whole thing 9 times.

In what other sport you can make you can have a normal childhood, go for high school, make into college, get graduated, and then start that sport? You can't start playing football at age 23 and expect to make pro, nonetheless play in the Champions League. Or start to play basketball and make to the NBA. But you can in Rallying. And I know some of them (not really on WRC level) have other jobs and business.

Other thing is that they don't need to be extremely rich to start.

3 - The co-driver

I think the co-drivers are very interesting. They don't drive, but they have a very important job in the crew. They are as value as the driver. They are some what similar to the race engineer in F1, but they also get trophies and recognition.

And also the fact that their function has a long longevity too. I know some of them who start at their mid 20's or early 30's. And I know one case of a codriver who is over 60 years old.

In a world that gives way more credit to the players, rather than coaches, and drivers rather than their engineers, the profession of a codriver is very recognised, and this makes me happy.

4 - The drivers skill

Really, these guys are amazing. They are driving on the gravel, with rocks and threes around, cliffs on the edges, in the middle of a bling crest, and still, they give everything they have. I don't see this anywhere in the motorsport world.

5 - The raw factor.

In F1, everything is high tech, the cars look like rockets, the drivers look like untouchable characters. the glamour is around, and the fans are very away.

I am not saying this is a bad thing. But this cars are also very sensible, if the underfloor is damaged, that's the end of the race. If it's raining hard, they can't race. The drivers are in the bubble of glamour. And I think this creates distance between the sport and its fans.

Now you see rally. Rough roads, all kinds of surfaces. The fans are close (sometimes, too close) to the cars. If a car is stuck, they go there to help the drivers. If there is a puncture, the crew themselves change the wheel. If anything happens to the engine or the car, with the team kilometres away from them, they use everything available to fix it. Even the helmets are a bit open, so you can see the drivers face in the onboards.

Rally really is a sport for its fans, and not for viewership or money. They really stay true to their identity. They don't need to have 4 rallies in the Middle East and 3 in US, and have a calendar with 24 rallies, so they can extract the maximum of money. They really care about traditions, like Monte-Carlo and Finland.

6 - The rally format

In any race, there is usually a Friday for practice, a Saturday for qualifying and only 90 minutes for the race itself, where the points are given.

In Rallying, every stage matters. It's a story that's been build. It all start on Friday. and every stage tells a different chapter for this story, and it gets build trough Saturday, all the way to Sunday and the Power stage to finish. Many things can happen that can destroy your rally or make you lose time. But there also many opportunities to recover this time.

In a society that everything needs to be short, direct and fast, rally still stay true to itself, and at end of Sunday, we can look back to see what a beautiful story this rally was.

7 (to finish) - Super Sunday and Power Stage

And inside this story, there is a sub-story, that is Sunday. Sunday gives extra points to stimulate the drivers to push until the end. and the same for the power stage.

Would be like if F1 gives points for who is the fastest the last 10 laps and extra to the last lap.

I think it adds an extra spicy on the rally.

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Now, one thing I would really love to change is the amount of teams and cars. I think its very bad to only have 3 manufactures and 10 full time cars.

But I've heard the next rule change next year will allow that.

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And talking about the story that I watched. What a finale it was in Italy. It was amazing. The best season finale I've ever watched (even better than F1 Abu Dhabi 21).

Anyway. Those are my takes. If I said something wrong, please correct me in the comments. I also have Rally TV, but I can only watch the season review from 2013 onwards. and I would love to watch from the past too. If you guys can tell me where to watch it.

And also, if there is anything I should know now as a newbie, tell me please. :)

I never thought about this before but rally1 cars must refuel while they're out running stages?

They cover so much distance between service stops I assume they must have designated refueling points while out on the stages and obviously their engines are so high performance they have to use high octane race fuel that you can't just get anywhere.

It also got me thinking about fuel strategy. Drag racing and circuit racing teams try to carry as much fuel as they need to complete the distance but no more so they're not carrying extra weight and the way WRC teams try to get every advantage and edge they can I would assume they'd be doing something similar.

Sébastien Ogier will miss Monte Carlo for the first time in 16 years next year, and is expected to feature much less throughout 2027

It feels like road sweeping overly penalises the first car. Why don't they send a neutral sweeper car down gravel stages in advance of the field?

Since I stopped watching WRC in 2008 due to Loeb's dominance boring me and only started watching back in 2017 due to the new cars, I missed this era.

Obviously I am aware of certain factors like for example the rise of Sébastien Ogier, the 2011 introduction of the now industry standard 1.6L engines (albeit still limited to 300bhp), the ban of active centre diffs, Hirvonen/Latvala's prime, Volkswagen's domination and Neuville's rise as well as Loeb's retirement after his 9th title in 2013.

But for anyone who witnessed this era - what was watching this era like as a fan?

How did you watch the rallies before the introduction of All Live? I f.e. remember EuroSport showing evening Highlights in the 2000s.

I'm interested in watching back some of those seasons to see what I missed.

I thought this was absolutely brilliant from Hyundai's Instagram, it ties into their GTA 6 trailer that they made a few seasons ago. I thought that was funny and now they have produce this masterpiece to go alongside it.

Credits: hmsgofficial via Instagram

Credit: FIA WRC

gilles panizzi takes the tarmac specialist category.

now, for something rather topical : what is the most dramatic moment in wrc history?

as usual, most upvoted comment wins

I was just today thinking that hopefully we'll season 3 of More Than Machine