Snow, ice and rain were all present at the Rallye Monte Carlo, which opened this year’s WRC season in the 94th edition of the oldest event on the World Rally Championship calendar. And it was young Oliver Solberg who stunned everyone, including the most experienced drivers, by setting extraordinary stage times in extremely adverse conditions. After first showing his potential at the wheel of a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 with victory at last year’s Rally Estonia, the reigning world champions secured Oliver Solberg, the 2025 WRC2 world champion, placing him among the title contenders alongside reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.
The young Swede, who comes from a renowned rallying family — with father Petter Solberg, as well as his mother and even his grandfather all connected to motorsport — continues a lineage deeply rooted in passion for the sport. Even the reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier tipped his hat to Solberg, praising both his pace and his composure. In a podium lock-out for Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally1, Elfyn Evans finished second, 51.8 seconds behind Solberg, while Ogier secured third place more than two minutes adrift of the winner, recording his 15th podium in 17 Monte Carlo starts.
Following yet another strong showing from Toyota, Hyundai could do no better than fourth place with Adrien Fourmaux, who finished a distant 5m59.3s behind the winner, while Thierry Neuville was fifth, a substantial 10m29.8s adrift of Oliver Solberg. It was an extremely demanding rally, constantly slippery and treacherous, with large gaps between the leading contenders. Less powerful cars from the Rally2 and Rally3 categories achieved notable results, in some cases outperforming Rally1 cars thanks to their road position and more favourable surface conditions.
Lancia made history by returning to the World Rally Championship with the Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale. However, the Italian marque was unable to achieve a strong overall result, largely due to Nikolay Gryazin’s crash on the 13th special stage. This was partially offset by Yohan Rossel’s victory on Super Sunday and his fifth-place finish on the Power Stage.
It was the WRC2 category that truly impressed, delivering excellent performances and a class victory for Léo Rossel, who finished sixth overall in a Citroën C3 Rally2. Rossel, the brother of Yohan Rossel — who this year joined the Lancia project — led a highly competitive field. Strong performances were also recorded by Italy’s Roberto Daprà in a Škoda Fabia RS (eighth overall), along with Arthur Pelamourgues (Hyundai) and Eric Camilli (Škoda), who completed the final three positions in the Monte Carlo top ten.
After the opening round of the 2026 WRC season, Oliver Solberg leads the championship with 32 points, followed by Elfyn Evans with 27 and Sébastien Ogier with 20. In the manufacturers’ standings, Toyota leads with 59 points, while Hyundai has 35. M-Sport Ford failed to score any points in the season opener. The next challenge of the 2026 WRC takes place in Sweden from 12 to 15 February.