2016 World Rally Championship

2016 World Rally Championship
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Support series: World Rally Championship-2 World Rally Championship-3 Junior World Rally Championship

Sébastien Ogier, the defending drivers' champion.

The Volkswagen Polo R WRC, the car entered by defending manufacturers' champions Volkswagen Motorsport.

The 2016 World Rally Championship is the running forty-fourth season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers compete in fourteen rounds—starting with the Rallye Monte Carlo in January and finishing with Rally Australia in November—for the World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers.

Sébastien Ogier started the season as the defending drivers' champion. His team, Volkswagen Motorsport, is the defending manufacturers' champions.

Calendar

The calendar was announced in November by the FIA.^[1] The season will maintain the same rallies as the 2015 championship with the addition of the China Rally and will be contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia.^[2][3]

Round	Dates		Rally name	Rally headquarters	Surface	Stages	Distance
	Start	Finish
1	22 January	24 January	84ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo	Gap, Hautes-Alpes	Mixed	16	337.59km
2	12 February	14 February	64th Rally Sweden	Karlstad, Värmland	Snow	12^1a	226.48km^1b
3	4 March	6 March	30º Rally Guanajuato México	León, Guanajuato	Gravel	21	399.67km
4	22 April	24 April	36º Rally Argentina	Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba	Gravel	18	364.68km
5	20 May	22 May	50º Rally de Portugal	Matosinhos, Porto	Gravel	19	368km
6	10 June	12 June	13º Rally d'Italia Sardegna	Alghero, Sardinia	Gravel	19	325.30km
7	1 July	3 July	73rd Rally Poland	Mikołajki, Warmia-Masuria	Gravel	22	316.64km
8	29 July	31 July	66th Rally Finland	Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi	Gravel	24	333.99km
9	19 August	21 August	34. ADAC Rallye Deutschland	Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate	Tarmac	18	306km
10	9 September	11 September	19th China Rally	Beijing, Hebei	Tarmac
11	30 September	2 October	59ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France	Bastia, Haute-Corse	Tarmac	10	390.92km
12	14 October	16 October	52º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada	Salou, Tarragona	Mixed
13	28 October	30 October	72nd Wales Rally GB	Deeside, Flintshire	Gravel
14	18 November	20 November	25th Rally Australia	Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	Gravel

Notes

• ^1  – The Rally Sweden was shortened due to warm weather conditions turning frozen roads into soft, muddy gravel and making the studded tyres unsafe to use.^[4]

Calendar changes

• Rally Australia was moved from its September date to November to become the final round of the championship.^[3]
• The calendar expanded to fourteen rounds in 2016,^[5] with the inclusion of the Rally of China, seventeen years after its only appearance as a round of the WRC.^[6][7]
• The Tour de Corse will relocate its headquarters from Ajaccio to Bastia, and will feature a brand-new route.^[8]

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers are scheduled to compete in the World Rally Championship during the 2016 season:

World Rally Car entries eligible to score manufacturer points
Constructor	Team	Tyre	No.	Drivers	Co-drivers	Rounds
Volkswagen (Volkswagen Polo R WRC)	Volkswagen Motorsport[9]	M	1	Sébastien Ogier[10]	Julien Ingrassia[11]	1–5
			2	Jari-Matti Latvala[12]	Miikka Anttila[11]	1–5
	Volkswagen Motorsport II[13]	M	9	Andreas Mikkelsen[13]	Anders Jæger[14]	1–5
Hyundai (Hyundai i20 WRC)	Hyundai Motorsport[15]	M	3	Thierry Neuville[16]	Nicolas Gilsoul[11]	1–4
				Hayden Paddon[17]	John Kennard[17]	5
			4	Dani Sordo[16]	Marc Martí[11]	1, 3–5
				Hayden Paddon[18]	John Kennard[19]	2
	Hyundai Motorsport N	M	10	Hayden Paddon[20]	John Kennard[20]	1
				Kevin Abbring[17]	Sebastian Marshall[17]	5
			20	Dani Sordo[20]	Marc Martí[20]	2
				Hayden Paddon[21]	John Kennard[21]	3–4
				Thierry Neuville[17]	Nicolas Gilsoul[17]	5
M-Sport (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)	M-Sport World Rally Team[22]	M	5	Mads Østberg[23]	Ola Fløene[24]	1–5
			6	Eric Camilli[23]	Nicolas Klinger[11]	1–2
					Benjamin Veillas[25]	3–5
	DMACK World Rally Team[26]	D	12	Ott Tänak[26]	Raigo Mõlder[26]	1–5
	Jipocar Czech National Team[27]	P	21	Martin Prokop[27]	Jan Tománek[27]	3, 5
	Yazeed Racing[28]	P	30	Yazeed Al Rajhi[28]	Michael Orr[28]	2, 5

Major entries ineligible to score manufacturer points
Constructor	Team	Tyre	No.	Drivers	Co-drivers	Rounds
Citroën (Citroën DS3 WRC)	Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team[29]	M	7	Kris Meeke[29]	Paul Nagle[30]	1–2, 5
			8	Stéphane Lefebvre[29]	Gabin Moreau[30]	1, 5
			14	Khalid Al-Qassimi[29]	Chris Patterson[20]	2, 5
			15	Craig Breen[29]	Scott Martin[30]	2
	Felice Re[31]	P	18	Felice Re[31]	Mara Bariani[31]	1
	Marcos Ligato[32]	M	81	Marcos Ligato[32]	Rubén García[32]	4
M-Sport (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)	Robert Kubica[31][33]	P	16	Robert Kubica[34]	Maciek Szczepaniak[31]	1
	Adapta Motorsport[20]	M	16	Henning Solberg[20]	Ilka Minor[20]	2, 4–5
	Benito Guerra	P	16	Benito Guerra[21]	Borja Rozada[21]	3
	M-Sport World Rally Team	M	17	Bryan Bouffier[31]	Victor Bellotto[31]	1
	Jaroslav Melichárek[17]	P	22	Jaroslav Melichárek[17]	Erik Melichárek[17]	5
	FWRT s.r.l.	P	37	Lorenzo Bertelli[35]	Simone Scattolin[35]	1–5
Mini (Mini John Cooper Works WRC)	Eurolamp World Rally Team[20]	P	18	Valeriy Gorban[20]	Volodymyr Korsia[20]	4–5
			81			2–3
			95	Mait Maarend[20]	Mihkel Kapp[20]	2

Constructor changes

Citroën formally withdrew manufacturer support for the DS3 WRC at the end of the 2015 season.

• Citroën will withdraw their works team from the 2016 season in order to focus on development of their 2017 car ahead of major regulation changes for the 2017 season.^[36] However, the manufacturer remained open to contesting selected events and the Citroën DS3 WRC was still made available to privateer teams.^[37] Citroën previously withdrew formal works support for a team in 2006 when the Xsara WRC reached the end of its working life in order to focus on developing the Xsara's replacement, the C4 WRC.
• After contesting selected World Rally Championship and WRC-2 events between 2013 and 2015, Anglo-Chinese tyre manufacturer DMACK will expand to contest the full 2016 season as a manufacturer team.^[26] The team will compete with Ford Fiesta RS WRCs built and prepared by M-Sport.

Driver changes

• Elfyn Evans was dropped by M-Sport World Rally Team in favour of Mads Østberg and Eric Camilli. However he would remain with the team next season, competing in WRC-2 with all-new Ford Fiesta R5.^[23][38]
• Mads Østberg left Citroën to and returned to M-Sport World Rally Team, the team he competed for in 2013. He is partnered by Toyota test driver Eric Camilli,^[39] who made his World Rally Championship début after competing part-time in the WRC-2 championship throughout 2015.^[23][37]
• After competing part-time with Hyundai in 2015, Hayden Paddon was promoted to a full-time seat for the 2016 season.^[16][18] Hyundai's development driver Kevin Abbring took Paddon's place making regular appearances for the team, expanding on his four-round campaign in 2015.^[40]
• Ott Tänak left the M-Sport World Rally Team and returned to the DMACK World Rally Team,^[26] the team he drove for at selected events in 2014.

Rally summaries

Round 1 — 84ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo

Defending World Champion Sébastien Ogier started the season with a win in Monte Carlo, his third consecutive in the principality. Ogier and Kris Meeke fought for the rally lead until Meeke hit a rock on SS12. He managed to return to the stage finish but was forced to withdraw due to damage sustained to his gearbox. Jari-Matti Latvala retired from third after losing control of his car and running off the road, hitting a spectator, though no-one was seriously injured. Andreas Mikkelsen finished second after resisting Thierry Neuville. Only seven WRC cars reached the end of the rally after six retirements.^[41]

Round 2 — 64th Rally Sweden

The Rally Sweden was marked by the lack of snow, which forced the organization to change the rally route and cancel some of the stages that had started to thaw out, making the studded snow tyres unsafe to use. Ogier protested the event going ahead, but with the changes to the route approved by the FIA, he took to the start and went on to claim the win.

Jari-Matti Latvala was delayed by mechanical issues, suffering a broken drive shaft early in the second stage. Andreas Mikkelsen in the third Polo R WRC was Ogier's early challenger, but as the temperature started to drop and the roads started to freeze over, Hayden Paddon emerged as his biggest rival. By the third day, the roads had completely set, allowing Ogier to maintain his lead. Mads Østberg completed the podium, having taken advantage of his rivals' ongoing battles to build and sustain a margin big enough to maintain third overall.

Round 3 — 30º Rally Guanajuato México

Having scored no points in the opening rounds while Ogier took a full 58, Jari-Matti Latvala started the Rally Mexico needing to secure a strong result if he was to have any hope of mounting a bid for the World Drivers' Championship. With the running order set based on championship positions, Ogier was forced to sweep the roads clear of loose gravel, while Latvala enjoyed comparatively clean roads. He took advantage of this from the first stage, establishing an early lead that he consistently built upon throughout the first two days of the event. With the running order for the final day—which included the single longest special stage on the calendar, weighing in at eighty kilometres—based on the rally standings, Latvala's advantage was quashed, but his lead strong enough to secure his first win of the season ahead of Ogier. Hyundai's Dani Sordo finished third overall, but a late penalty handed the final podium place to Mads Østberg.

Results and standings

Season summary

Round	Event name	Winning driver	Winning co-driver	Winning manufacturer	Winning time	Report
1	84ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Volkswagen Motorsport	3:49:53.1	Report
2	61st Rally Sweden	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Volkswagen Motorsport	1:59:47.4	Report
3	30º Rally Guanajuato México	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Volkswagen Motorsport	4:25:57.4	Report
4	36º Rally Argentina	Hayden Paddon	John Kennard	Hyundai Motorsport N	3:40:52.9	Report

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. There are also three bonus points awarded to the winner of the Power stage, two points for second place and one for third.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN DEU CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS Points 1 Sébastien Ogier 1^1 1^1 2^1 2^3 96 2 Hayden Paddon 25 2 5^3 1^1 57 3 Mads Østberg 4 3 3 5 52 4 Andreas Mikkelsen 2^3 4^2 Ret 3 48 5 Dani Sordo 6^2 6 4 4^2 44 6 Jari-Matti Latvala Ret 26 1^2 16 27 7 Ott Tänak 7 5 6 15 24 8 Thierry Neuville 3 14 Ret 6 23 9 Stéphane Lefebvre 5 10 10 Henning Solberg 7 9 8 11 Martin Prokop 7 6 12 Marcos Ligato 7 6 13 Elfyn Evans 8 9 17 6 14 Lorenzo Bertelli Ret Ret 8 13 4 15 Eric Camilli Ret Ret 16 8 4 16 Craig Breen 8 4 17 Teemu Suninen 12 10 9 3 18 Esapekka Lappi 9 12 2 19 Armin Kremer 10 19 1 20 Valeriy Gorban 24 10 Ret 1 21 Nicolás Fuchs 14 10 1 22 Kris Meeke Ret 23^3 1 Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN DEU CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD) Notes: ^1 2 3 – Indicate position on Power stage

FIA World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. There are also three bonus points awarded to the winner of the Power stage, two points for second place and one for third.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Pos. Co-driver MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN DEU CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS Points 1 Julien Ingrassia 1^1 1^1 2^1 2^3 96 2 John Kennard 25 2 5^3 1^1 57 3 Ola Fløene 4 3 3 5 52 4 Anders Jæger 2^3 4^2 Ret 3 48 5 Marc Martí 6^2 6 4 4^2 44 6 Miikka Anttila Ret 26 1^2 16 27 7 Raigo Mõlder 7 5 6 15 24 8 Nicolas Gilsoul 3 14 Ret 6 23 9 Gabin Moreau 5 10 10 Ilka Minor 7 9 8 11 Jan Tomanek 7 6 12 Rubén Garcia 7 6 13 Craig Parry 8 9 17 6 14 Simone Scattolin Ret Ret 8 13 4 15 Benjamin Veillas 16 8 4 16 Scott Martin 8 4 17 Mikko Markkula 12 10 9 3 18 Janne Ferm 9 12 2 19 Pirmin Winklhofer 10 19 1 20 Volodymyr Korsia 24 10 Ret 1 21 Fernando Mussano 14 10 1 22 Paul Nagle Ret 23^3 1 Pos. Co-driver MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN DEU CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD) Notes: ^1 2 3 – Indicate position on Power stage

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Points	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN DEU CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS Points 1 Volkswagen Motorsport 1 1 1 2 2 117 2 Ret 8 1 9 2 Hyundai Motorsport 3 3 7 Ret 6 81 4 5 2 4 4 3 M-Sport World Rally Team 5 4 3 3 5 62 6 Ret Ret 8 7 4 Hyundai Motorsport N 10 7 49 20 6 5 1 5 Volkswagen Motorsport II 9 2 4 Ret 3 45 6 DMACK World Rally Team 12 6 5 6 8 30 7 Jipocar Czech National Team 21 7 6 8 Yazeed Racing 30 Ret 0 Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN DEU CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

References

1. "2016 FIA World Rally Championship Calendar". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
2. "WRC 2016 dates confirmed". WRC.com. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
3. "WRC 2016 dates & surfaces". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
4. "Weather forces Sweden route revamp". WRC.com. WRC.com. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
5. Lomas, Gordan (14 May 2015). "Rally Australia on preliminary 2016 WRC draft schedule". speedcafe. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
6. "China on provisional WRC calendar". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 5 November 2015.
7. "Rally GB secures WRC future". Autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). 5 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
8. "New look for Corsica encounter". wrc.com (WRC Promoter GmbH). Retrieved 5 May 2016.
9. "Volkswagen's WRC programme secure". WRC.com (WRC Promoter GmbH). 1 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
10. "Ogier Contract: 'A Simple Decision'". WRC.com (World Rally Championship). Retrieved 26 November 2015.
11. "Rally Monte Carlo entry list". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
12. "VW promises Latvala seat is safe". Autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 5 August 2015.
13. "Mikkelsen pens new Volkswagen deal". Autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 5 August 2015.
14. "Jaeger replaces Fløene alongside Mikkelsen". WRC.com (World Rally Championship). Retrieved 8 December 2015.
15. "Hyundai's 2016 car previewed". WRC.com (WRC Promoter GmbH). 16 September 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
16. "Hayden Paddon secures Hyundai WRC future". speedcafe.com. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015. While there has been speculation about whether Neuville will leave the squad, he along with experienced Spaniard Dani Sordo remain under contract with Hyundai next year.
17. "Rally Portugal Entry List" (PDF). rallydeportugal.com. 30 April 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
18. "Paddon gets three-year deal with Hyundai". WRC.com (WRC Promoter GmbH). 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
20. "Rally Sweden Entry List". ewrc-results.com. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
21. "Rally Mexico Entry List". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
22. "Tänak uncertain of 2016 plans". WRC.com (WRC Promoter GmbH). Retrieved 19 October 2015.
23. "Østberg and Camili join M-Sport". WRC.com (World Rally Championship). Retrieved 30 November 2015.
24. "Ola Floene is Mads Ostberg’s new co-driver!". madsostberg.no (Mads Østberg official site). Retrieved 7 December 2015.
25. "Camilli back with co-driver Veillas". WRC.com (World Rally Championship). Retrieved 26 February 2016.
26. "Tänak to DMACK in 2016". wrc.com (WRC Promoter). 27 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
27. "List of Manufacturer Entries Rally Mexico". FIA (FIA). 10 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
28. "List of 2016 World rally Championship entrants". fia.com (FIA). 5 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
29. "Craig Breen added to private-run Citroen 2016 WRC line-up". Autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 18 December 2015.
30. "Meeke, Lefebvre and Breen join DS 3 squad". WRC.com (WRC Promoter GmbH). 18 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
31. "Rallye Montecarlo Entry List". ewrc-results.com (ewrc-results.com). 30 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
32. "Official FIA entry list — Rally Argentina 2016" (PDF). www.rallyargentina.com (rallyargentina.com). 3 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
33. "BRC Racing Team at Rallye Montecarlo". rally.brc.it (brc.it). 7 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
34. "Ex-F1 driver Robert Kubica contest WRC season opener in Monte Carlo". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
35. "Fresh start for Bertelli in 2016". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
36. "Citroën commits to WRC future". 19 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
37. "Citroën elects to sit out 2016 WRC season". speedcafe.com. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
38. "Evans set for WRC2 title assault in M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 - WRC2 - The Checkered Flag". theCheckeredFlag.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
39. "M-Sport reveal shock 2015 driver line-up". speedcafe.com. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
40. "Mixed 2016 Plan for Abbring". WRC.com (World Rally Championship). Retrieved 26 November 2015.
41. "WRC Monte Carlo Rally: Sebastien Ogier wins 2016 season opener". Retrieved 28 January 2016.

External links

• Official website of the World Rally Championship