Monte Carlo Rally scored a podium on their return to the WRC in
Monte Carlo.
Rallye Monte Carlo saw Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia start their title defence with a win, recording their fourth victory in the event and
M-Sport's first win since the
68th Wales Rally GB in
2012. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished second on Toyota's return to the sport, with Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja completing the podium. Thierry Neuville established an early lead as the opening stages were marked by attrition; Ogier lost forty seconds when he slid into a ditch, Kris Meeke and Juho Hänninen crashed out and restarted the next day with a penalty, Stéphane Lefebvre suffered a gearbox failure, and Elfyn Evans struggled for grip on the icy surface. Neuville carried the overnight lead from Ogier, who had recovered from ninth after his off, and Tänak. Neuville extended his lead to over a minute on the second leg of the rally as Ogier took a conservative approach to the icy roads. He gradually started to recover during the second pass over the day's stages, and inherited the lead when Neuville crashed on the final stage of the day, breaking his suspension and losing half an hour. Neuville's accident also handed Jari-Matti Latvala a provisional podium position. Dani Sordo encountered problems in the sister Hyundai, struggling with a loss of power steering, while Meeke was forced to retire after a collision on the road section between stages. Meanwhile, Evans regained his confidence on the dry tarmac and won three of the day's five stages to secure sixth place going into the final day of competition. The final leg of the rally saw Tänak develop a misfire that allowed Latvala to pass him for second and left him vulnerable to Sordo. A late change in the weather on the final stage left the field contending with difficult conditions; while Ogier and Latvala drove conservatively to secure first and second, Tänak withstood pressure from Sordo to finish third. Sordo and co-driver Marc Martí finished the event fourth ahead of Craig Breen and Scott Martin who were the leading Citroën crew despite driving a year-old DS3 WRC. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt finished sixth, while seventh and eighth place went to WRC2 entries; driving a Škoda Fabia R5 in a guest appearance, Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger finished ahead of
Škoda Motorsport teammates
Jan Kopecký and
Pavel Dresler. Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau overcame their penalty for restarting under Rally-2 regulations to finish ninth, while WRC-2 entrants
Bryan Bouffier and
Denis Giraudet completed the top ten in a
Ford Fiesta R5. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul scored an additional five points for winning the Power Stage. The rally was overshadowed by a fatal accident involving a spectator on the opening stage when Hayden Paddon lost control on a patch of
black ice and hit the spectator as he rolled into an embankment, blocking the roadway. The result marked Toyota's first World Rally Championship victory since
Didier Auriol and Denis Giraudet won the
3rd China Rally in 1999. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished second, while Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia completed the podium and allowed
M-Sport to retain the manufacturers' championship lead. The first day of competition saw Thierry Neuville and Latvala emerged as the early contenders for the rally lead as drivers reported that the rough surface and frequent jumps interrupted the airflow over the cars and making the level of aerodynamic grip available inconsistent. As the crews began their second pass over the day's stages, the icy road surface began to break up enabling Neuville—whose road position meant that he had experience with the degrading road surface during the first pass—to break free, building up a twenty-second lead over Latvala at the end of the day, with Ott Tänak a further thirty seconds behind. Further down the order, Craig Breen struggled with snow drifts on his début in the C3 WRC; Juho Hänninen retired after damaging his radiator when he hit a tree; and Mads Østberg was forced out when the rear wing of his Fiesta WRC fell off. The second leg of the rally saw Neuville build his overnight lead to forty-three seconds, only crash out for the second event in a row. Tänak won every stage of the morning loop to put pressure on Latvala in second, closing to within five seconds when Latvala was forced to slow to avoid Kris Meeke as Meeke attempted to return to the stage after an off. Sébastien Ogier, running ahead of Meeke and therefore unimpeded, started to catch Tänak and was thirteen seconds behind the Estonian as the crews started the final stage of the day, a short super-special stage. Neuville hit a tire stack and broke his steering, forcing him out of the event and handing the provisional podium positions to Latvala, Tänak and Ogier; Neuville ultimately salvaged three points on the Power Stage. The third day started with Ogier spinning on the opening stage and losing ground to the leaders; meanwhile, Latvala won the opening stages to consolidate his lead over Tänak. Tänak was unable to respond on the Power Stage, handing Latvala his fourth victory in Sweden. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí finished fourth ahead of Breen and Scott Martin. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt survived a late push from Hayden Paddon and John Kennard to secure sixth. Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau finished eighth, having reverted to a year-old DS3 for the event. WRC-2 entrants
Pontus Tidemand and
Jonas Andersson finished ninth in a Škoda Fabia R5, while
Teemu Suninen and
Mikko Markkula completed the points-scoring positions in a Ford Fiesta R5.
Rally Mexico Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle won the
Rally of Mexico, marking the pair's first victory of the season, and the first for the Citroën C3 WRC. Sébastien Ogier led into Friday after two runs of the New Mexico City street stage, but an accident involving civilian vehicles lead to heavy traffic on the road to León and subsequently caused the first two special stages of Friday to be cancelled as the cars arrived late. Meeke won the first gravel stage as
Hyundai, M-Sport and
Toyota all suffered issues blamed on the heat and altitude of the Mexican stages. Despite a threat from Ogier and Neuville in third, Meeke maintained his lead through Saturday. A spin on a hairpin for Ogier stretched Meeke's lead to over thirty seconds by the end of the day. Stéphane Lefebvre and Lorenzo Bertelli crashed on Saturday, but both resumed on Sunday with only cosmetic damage. By Sunday morning, Ott Tänak was fourth, followed by Hayden Paddon, who reported technical issues. They would hold their positions until the end of the rally. Jari-Matti Latvala, plagued by engine issues and a poor road position on Friday, won a battle for sixth with his teammate Juho Hänninen who was suffering from illness. Further back, Elfyn Evans won three stages but had been issued a five-minute time penalty following an engine change before the first stage. Similarly, Dani Sordo had been given a ten-minute penalty for an incomplete performance at Saturday evening's super-special stage, but this was successfully appealed by his team, meaning he finished eighth. The power stage was won by Neuville, with Ogier, Tänak, Latvala and Sordo also scoring. In the final few corners of the power stage, Meeke lost control over a bump in a fast right turn, left the road and hit a spectator's parked car. After spending twenty seconds in a field doubling as a car park, he returned to the road, to win the rally with a margin of fourteen seconds. He moved to sixth in the championship standings, while Ogier took the lead from Latvala. Ogier's podium finish and championship lead were briefly threatened after his car failed scrutineering due to a technical infringement with his gearbox, but were subsequently upheld after closer examination of the car.
Tour de Corse and
Sweden,
Thierry Neuville and
Nicolas Gilsoul won their first event of the season in
Corsica. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul won the
Tour de Corse, making Hyundai the fourth different manufacturer to win in as many rallies. Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle established themselves as the early leaders, with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia emerged as their closest challengers as Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja had an early off that they could not recover from. Neuville and Gilsoul made a slow start, but recovered well to take advantage of setup and hydraulics problems that stymied Ogier's progress, and by the end of the first day were in a position to challenge the reigning World Champions for second place. Meeke and Nagle continued to build their lead until their engine let go, forcing them to retire on the spot and handing the lead of the rally to Neuville and Gilsoul. With Ogier and Ingrassia struggling with an engine misfire, the Hyundai crew were able to establish a lead of over thirty seconds, and they remained unchallenged for the rest of the event. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí briefly held second place—despite struggling with setup problems and being unable to find a rhythm—before Ogier and Ingrassia reclaimed the position in the final stage. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila finished fourth, edging out Craig Breen and Scott Martin by a tenth of a second, while Hayden Paddon and John Kennard finished sixth. Seventh place was taken by WRC-2 entrants Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger, with the fellow WRC-2 crew of Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula eighth.
Stéphane Sarrazin and
Jacques-Julien Renucci finished ninth in an independent entry, with former French junior champions
Yohan Rossel and
Benoît Fulcrand completing the top ten. The result saw Ogier and Ingrassia extend their championship lead by five points, while Neuville and Gilsoul took third place in the drivers' and co-drivers' championships from Tänak and Järveoja. Neuville's win and Sordo's podium saw Hyundai pass Toyota for second place in the manufacturers' standings.
Rally Argentina Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul took their second consecutive victory in
Rally Argentina to close within two points of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in the drivers' and co-drivers' championships. The rough roads of Argentina quickly proved to be difficult for the crews. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia slid wide into a ditch; Latvala and Miikka Anttila struggled with an overheating engine; Dani Sordo and Marc Martí broke a steering arm and lost eleven minutes repairing it after striking a rock; Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, and Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle both rolled; while Craig Breen and Scott Martin damaged their gearbox after hitting the same rock as Meeke. With the high rate of attrition, Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt emerged as the early leaders, attributing their success to the durability of the soft compound
DMACK tyres compared to the soft compound
Michelins used by the other crews. However, two punctures, a spin and the loss of the rear diffuser on the second day saw Neuville and Gilsoul cut Evans' and Barritt's lead from one minute to eleven seconds. Neuville continued to apply pressure during the final day, cutting the deficit to less than a second going into the final stage. Neuville forced an error from Evans who struck a bridge and lost a second and a half. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished third after a strategic drive to avoid damage, with Ogier and Ingrassia beating Latvala and Anttila to fourth. Paddon and Kennard recovered from their roll to finish sixth, while Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström finished seventh. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí successfully defended eighth from Mads Østberg and Ola Fløene, who had run as high as second before damaging their suspension. WRC2 points leaders Pontus Tidemand and Jonas Andersson completed the points-scoring positions in tenth.
Rally de Portugal and
Julien Ingrassia won their second event of the season in
Portugal. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took their second victory of the season at the
Rally of Portugal, matching
Markku Alén and
Ilkka Kivimäki's record of five wins in Portugal. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul finished second, scoring enough points to take second place from Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in the championship. The opening leg of the rally saw the lead change five times in seven stages, with Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja emerging at the eventual leaders. Both Latvala and Anttila and Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle briefly held the lead before crashing out of contention; Latvala, battling a fever and back injury suffered a low-speed roll-over and was able to continue, while Meeke broke his suspension after sliding off the road and he retired from the leg. The second day saw the lead between Tänak and second-placed Ogier fluctuate until Tänak ran wide and damaged his car. Ogier inherited a twenty-second lead over Neuville and started pulling away until the Hyundai driver made set-up changes for the afternoon stages and started closing the deficit. However, Ogier was able to maintain his pace and went on to win by fifteen seconds. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí completed the podium in third, while Tänak and Järveoja recovered to fourth, picking up an extra five points for winning the Power Stage. Craig Breen and Scott Martin were the leading Citroën in fifth, having won a rally-long fight with Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt. Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindstrom matched their best result of the season with seventh, having driven conservatively to account for their inexperience in Portugal. Mads Østberg and Ola Flœne finished eighth in a privateer Fiesta WRC, beating Latvala and Anttila, while in the third Toyota,
Esapekka Lappi and
Janne Ferm scored points on their début.
Rally Italia Sardegna Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja claimed their maiden World Rally Championship victory in
Sardegna, finishing ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, with Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul in third. The rally was run in difficult conditions, with high temperatures across the weekend while a lack of wind caused further problems as dust from the surface lingered in the forest stages, reducing visibility. Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle took the lead on the first day before suffering a roll-over—their fourth in three rallies—that damaged their rollcage and forced them into retirement. Hayden Paddon and Sebastian Marshall inherited the lead while further down the order Craig Breen and Scott Martin cracked their gearbox casing after landing heavily on a rock, Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt slid into a tree, and Dani Sordo and Marc Martí struggled with an intermittent turbo failure. Neuville and Gilsoul challenged for the lead until their brakes failed and they lost a minute to Paddon and Marshall. The lead changed again when Paddon and Marshall clipped and embankment and tore a suspension upright out of the car. Tänak and Järveoja inherited the lead themselves while Latvala and Anttila recovered from a slow start to be second at the end of the day. Both crews made errors throughout the final day, but Tänak and Järveoja held a twenty-eight second lead ahead of the power stage and held on to secure first place overall. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm finished fourth and scored an extra five points for winning the power stage, while Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were fifth. Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström matched their career-best result with sixth ahead of Mads Østberg and Øla Flœne, who damaged their suspension on the final stage.
Andreas Mikkelsen and
Anders Jæger scored points on début for Citroën. The points-scoring positions were completed by
Eric Camilli and
Benjamin Veillas in a Ford Fiesta R5 in ninth, and WRC2 class winners Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dressler.
Rally Poland finished on the podium for the first time of the season in
Poland. It was the first podium for his co-driver,
Sebastian Marshall. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul took their third win of the season in
Poland to further close in on the championship lead. Hayden Paddon and Sebastian Marshall finished second in their best result of the season, with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia completing the podium in third. Heavy rains in the region the week before the rally meant that the normally loose, sandy surface became very slippery, with deep ruts being carved into the surface for the second pass over the stages. The four crews leading the championship—Ogier and Ingrassia, Neuville and Gilsoul, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja, and Jari-Matti Latvala and Miika Anttila—set the early pace, with the lead changing hands several times on the first morning of competition. Ogier and Ingrassia struggled to stay with the leaders during the afternoon's running as their road position meant that they were the first to encounter the ruts, while Latvala and Anttila later retired with a terminal engine fault. Neuville and Gilsoul lead the rally at the end of the first day. Tänak and Järveoja reclaimed the lead on the second day, only to lose their rear wing late in the afternoon; however, Neuville and Gilsoul were unable to build on their newfound lead as they suffered a puncture shortly thereafter. Tänak and Järveoja pushed early on the final day and briefly took the lead again, but clipped a tree stump on the next stage that spun them into an embankment, crushing their intercooler and radiator. Their retirement handed the lead to Neuville and Gilsoul, who won the rally by over a minute. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí were fourth, putting all three Hyundais in the top four, while Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau were fifth after missing the Rally of Italy. Partnered with
Mikko Markkula,
Teemu Suninen scored points on his World Rally Championship début in sixth. Mads Østberg and Ola Flœne were seventh ahead of Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt. Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger—substituting for Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle—were ninth in an upgraded C3 WRC, with Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström completing the points in tenth. Re-entering the event under Rally-2 regulations, Latvala and Anttila won the Power Stage to take third position in the drivers' and co-drivers' championships from Tänak and Järveoja.
Rally Finland winners
Kris Meeke and
Paul Nagle returned for the
2017 event having been dropped for the previous round in Poland. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm won
Rally Finland in their fourth start in the sport's premier class. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt finished second, claiming the position from Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström on the final stage. The rally saw a change in the championship lead as Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul secured enough points to match Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia; having won three rallies compared to Ogier's two, Neuville was considered the championship leader. Ogier's rally came to an early end when he damaged his suspension after landing heavily off a jump. Distracted by the change in his car's handling, Ogier misheard a pace note and slid into a tree. Although M-Sport were able to repair the car to re-enter the rally, Ingrassia was diagnosed with a concussion and the team elected against continuing on medical advice. The battle for the rally lead was waged between the three Toyotas—the Yaris WRC having been extensively tested on the roads around Jyväskylä during its initial development phase—and the privately entered Fiesta of Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula. Finnish crews occupied the top four positions until an electrical fault paralysed Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila's Toyota, forcing them to retire and handing a fifty-second lead to Lappi and Ferm. Suninen crashed on the final day and fell from second to fourth, while Craig Breen secured another fifth-place finish for Citroën. Neuville and Gilsoul were sixth after struggling with the undulating roads on the opening day. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja recovered to seventh after suffering a puncture on the opening day, finishing ahead of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle, who finished eighth on their return to the sport. Dani Sordo and Marc Martí finished ninth, with Mads Østberg completing the points in tenth with new co-driver Torstein Eriksen.
Rallye Deutschland and
Martin Järveoja took their second win of the season. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja took their second win of the season in
Germany ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia reclaimed the championship lead in third as Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul failed to score points when they retired with broken suspension. Tänak and Järveoja controlled the rally for most of the event by managing their tyres across the variety of surfaces that made up the route, benefiting from errors made by other drivers. In taking victory Tänak and Järveoja secured M-Sport's first win in Germany, which prior to the rally had been the only calendar event that M-Sport had not won. Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström were the highest-placed Toyota crew in fourth as Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila struggled with mechanical issues and Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm retired after hitting a wall. Craig Breen and Scott Martin finished fifth, taking the place from Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt on the final stage. Latvala and Anttila recovered from their engine problems to finish seventh, while Hayden Paddon and Sebastian Marshall experienced several punctures on their way to eighth. Local privateers
Armin Kremer and
Pirmin Winklhofer finished ninth in a 2017-specification Fiesta WRC, and WRC-2 entrants
Eric Camilli and
Benjamin Veillas completed the points in tenth. Pre-event favourites Dani Sordo and Marc Martí crashed out on the opening day, but re-entered under Rally-2 regulations and went on to score five points for winning the Power Stage. Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle retired on the first stage after Meeke misjudged a corner and hit a barricade the broke his steering arm.
Rally Catalunya and
Anders Jæger joined Hyundai Motorsport for the
2017 Rally Catalunya. Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle took the first tarmac win of their career in
Catalunya, while Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia extended their championship lead. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished third, passing Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul in the championship standings after Neuville and Gilsoul retired with damaged suspension. Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger took an early lead on début for Hyundai, but fell behind during the tarmac stages. Mikkelsen acknowledged that his lack of experience with the i20 Coupe WRC on tarmac limited his ability to get the most out of it. They retired and re-entered under Rally 2 regulations when they struck a culvert and damages their suspension, as did Dani Sordo and Marc Martí in the sister Hyundai. Meeke and Nagle assumed the lead as Ogier and Ingrassia became embroiled in a fight with Tänak and Järveoja, who were forced to use a gravel-specification gearbox on tarmac when their tarmac gearbox failed. Juho Hänninen and Kaj Lindström finished fourth, the only Toyota to complete the event after Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm crashed out, and Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikka Anttila retired with an electrical fault. Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen finished fifth, with Østberg attributing the result to the 2017 generation of cars, which he found easier to drive on tarmac. Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau finished sixth on their return to competition, ahead of Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt, who struggled with a lack of grip on tarmac. World Rally Championship entrants Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula finished eighth, with Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dressler in ninth and Ole Christian Veiby and Stig Rune Skjærmoen completing the points in tenth.
Wales Rally GB and
Ingrassia secured the drivers' and co-drivers' titles in
Wales. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt became the seventh different crew to win a rally in 2017 when they won the
Wales Rally GB. The event saw Ogier and Ingrassia secure their fifth consecutive World Championship titles, becoming the first
Ford crew to win the World Championship since
Ari Vatanen and
David Richards in
1981. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul finished the rally second overall despite incurring an early penalty and sliding into a ditch on the opening day. Ogier and Ingrassia finished third after nursing a puncture and broken brake disc during the foggy night stages, while a late push from Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger was enough to secure fourth position. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were fifth, having struggled to match the leaders' pace early in the rally until the night stages where successive stage wins saw them climb several places in the overall standings. Conversely, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja ran as high as second through the opening legs, but struggled with low visibility in the fog and slipped to sixth. Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle struggled with a lack of pace after making several unforced errors to finish seventh ahead of Hayden Paddon and Sebastian Marshall. Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm finished ninth while Dani Sordo and Marc Martí completed the points in tenth position.
Rally Australia podium Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul claimed their fourth win of the year in
Australia, with the result securing second place in the championship. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were second, while Hayden Paddon and Sebastian Marshall finished in third—their first podium finish of the season—when Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttilla crashed out on the final stage. The rally saw variable conditions across the three days of competition, ranging from dry heat to humidity and heavy rain. Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger established an early lead as the front-runners were forced to sweep the loose, heavy gravel from the road surface. They maintained their pace into the second day until they struck an embankment and punctured two tyres, but with only one spare they were not permitted to start the next stage. Neuville and Gilsoul climbed from fourth place to the lead as others suffered their own misfortunes; Craig Breen and Scott Martin damaged a wheel, while Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle damaged their rear suspension on a bridge. Citroën elected to retire the car, concerned that the suspension would fail completely on an upcoming stage, only for the stage to be cancelled. Sitting in second, Latvala and Anttilla began catching Neuville and Gilsoul in the dry, but fell back in the wet before crashing out. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished fourth and won the Power Stage for an additional five championship points. Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt were fifth ahead of Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm, who lost time on the first day with a power steering failure. Having re-entered under Rally-2 regulations, Meeke and Nagle took advantage of attrition on the final day—that saw the sister Citroëns of Breen and Martin and Stéphane Lefebvre and Gabin Moreau retire—to finish seventh ahead of local privateers Nathan Quinn and John Allen. Jourdan Serderidis and
Frédéric Miclotte finished eleventh overall, but were classified ninth in the points standings as the crew the finished ninth were ineligible to score points. Similarly,
Kalle Rovanperä and
Jonne Halttunen finished in twelfth but were classified in tenth. ==Results and standings==