WRC Rally Monte-Carlo 2026
The 2026 Monte-Carlo Rally, the inaugural event of the World Rally Championship, remains the most unpredictable rally of the year.
It's not the fastest, nor the most spectacular in the classic sense. It's the one where understanding what's under the wheels matters most. Dry tarmac, wet tarmac, mud, ice, snow. Sometimes all in the same day, sometimes almost in the same special stage.
And that's precisely what makes Monte different from everything else: going fast isn't enough. You need to read the road, interpret the weather, trust your pace notes, and accept that one corner might have grip and the next might not.
The 2026 edition kicked off a new WRC season with plenty to watch. On one hand, the Rally1 cars, with Toyota, Hyundai, and M-Sport reshuffling the cards for the championship; on the other, a very significant return for rally enthusiasts: Lancia back in the World Championship, in WRC2, with the new Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale.
And yes, maybe we're no longer in the Delta, Martini, Group B, or Group A years. But seeing the Lancia name return to the World Championship still has a certain impact. In rallying, that badge will never be neutral.
The 2026 Monte-Carlo started in the Principality, with the presentation in Monaco and the shakedown in the Gap area, then unfolded on the French roads and returned towards the Côte d'Azur. In total, 17 special stages, with Gap once again as an important base for the race and the Turini area serving as the final backdrop for the Power Stage.
One of the most spectacular aspects of this edition was the Special Stage at the port of Monaco, returning after years of absence. A short, urban, wet, almost theatrical stage, created on part of the track linked to Formula 1 and Formula E: starting near the Rascasse, passing towards Sainte Dévote, descending towards the port, Piscine area, hairpins, wet cobblestones, and very little grip. More than a special stage, it felt like a postcard stained with rain and petrol.
And then the real Monte emerged in the mountains. Rain, mud, fog, ice, and finally snow; that snow everyone wants to see at Monte-Carlo, because without at least a little white at the sides of the roads, something always seems to be missing.
Sunday, between Col de Braus and the Turini area, was probably the most beautiful part to experience and photograph. Narrow roads, ice on the first passes, dirty cars, cold spectators, and that kind of atmosphere that makes rally different from any other form of motorsport.
In those conditions, interesting Italian names also emerged. Matteo Fontana and Alessandro Arnaboldi, in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, claimed two outright fastest times on the final day, including one on the Turini: one of those feats that make people talk beyond their category. Roberto Daprà and Luca Guglielmetti, on the other hand, finished second in WRC2 and eighth overall, with a very solid performance in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Lancia's return, with the Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale entrusted to Yohan Rossel / Arnaud Dunand and Nikolay Gryazin / Konstantin Aleksandrov, was one of the most anticipated topics of the weekend. Not a perfect fairy tale, but a comeback with immense symbolic weight: in rallying, that badge will never be neutral.
In the end, the 2026 Rallye Monte-Carlo was won by Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Behind them, more Toyota, with Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin and Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais completing a very strong podium.
Final Summary
Overall Winners:
Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson — Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Overall Podium:
- Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson — Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
- Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin — Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
- Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais — Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Highlights:
Lancia's return to the World Rally Championship with the Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale.
The Special Stage at the port of Monaco.
Snow and ice on the final stages.
Daprà-Guglielmetti second in WRC2.
Fontana-Arnaboldi achieving two outright fastest times with a Rally3 car.
The Rallye Monte-Carlo is like this: elegant and cruel, technical and romantic, worldly and dirty at the same time. You start from the Principality, end up amidst snow, mud, and French hairpins, then return to Monaco with the feeling of having witnessed something that is not just sport.
It's rallying in its purest form.
Unpredictable, imperfect, beautiful.
