The 2026 season spans fourteen rounds across four continents, opening with Rallye Monte-Carlo in January and closing with a Saudi Arabia finale in November. The calendar keeps rally's trademark variety of surfaces: roughly nine gravel events, four on tarmac, and Sweden's snow-and-ice round.
The bigger story is under the bonnet. 2026 is the last year for the current Rally1 cars. A cheaper, Rally2-based technical reset arrives in 2027 to cut costs. Because this is the final season under the current rules, teams have been given a little extra development freedom for the year.
The three factory teams — Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford — go into the season chasing the last titles of the Rally1 era. For how the championship works more broadly, see what the World Rally Championship is; for the scoring, see how WRC points work.