Toyota retained Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin as full-time competitors, with Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen, and Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston, also kept on. Ogier and Landais continued a partial program covering ten rallies. Kalle Rovanpera departed the championship to contest the Super Formula Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing, and his seat went to Oliver Solberg, who took on his first full-time season in the top tier after previous part-time stints with Hyundai.
Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT kept Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe and Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria for all rounds. A third car was shared across the season by Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo, and Hayden Paddon. Paddon's inclusion marked his first appearance at the premium level since the 2018 Rally Australia.
M-Sport retained Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy, while Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne stepped up from the European Rally Championship to complete a full Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy lineup, replacing Gregoire Munster and Louis Louka in the second full-time seat. Martiņs Sesks contested seven selected events with the team.
Ott Tanak announced an indefinite break from the championship after the 2025 season.
Two notable regulation adjustments were introduced for 2026. A mandatory minimum of ten rest hours per event was added in response to widespread criticism of lengthy itineraries in previous seasons. Separately, crews are now permitted to change engines after a rally has started, though doing so incurs a 60-minute time penalty.
The Croatia Rally returned to the championship after being absent in 2025, replacing the Central European Rally. The event moved its headquarters from Zagreb to Rijeka and introduced a new set of mixed tarmac stages. The Italian Rally and Rally Japan swapped calendar positions. The new Rally di Roma Capitale was confirmed to replace Rally Italia Sardegna from 2027 onwards. The Acropolis Rally changed its base from Lamia to Loutraki after five years at the former location.
The Monte Carlo Rally opened the season under complicated weather conditions that caught out several crews. M-Sport's two full-time entries, McErlean and Treacy and Armstrong and Byrne, both failed to score, ending a 24-year consecutive points-scoring run for the team. Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson won on debut in their first rally of their first full-time season.
Toyota locked out the top four positions at the second round, with Evans and Martin winning the rally. The Safari Rally saw all three Toyota nominated-scorers retire on Saturday, allowing Katsuta and Johnston to come from outside the top five to take their maiden victory.
At the Croatia Rally, both championship leaders Solberg and Evans retired early. Neuville and Wydaeghe took the lead and held it until the final Power Stage, where they crashed out. Katsuta and Johnston inherited the win for their second consecutive victory, leading the championship for the first time in their careers. Paddon claimed third for his first podium since the 2018 Rally Australia.
Toyota dominated the rally of Spain, with Ogier and Landais winning the event. Solberg and Edmondson, positioned to challenge for another victory, retired on the penultimate stage after crashing into a barrier. At the Rally de Portugal, Solberg and Edmondson were again on course for victory until a puncture on the penultimate stage dropped them out of the lead. Neuville and Wydaeghe moved to the front and won, delivering Hyundai their first win of the season.
In Japan, Toyota won all twenty stages throughout the event, with Evans and Martin taking their second victory of the season and extending their championship leads.
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin lead the Drivers' and Co-drivers' championships respectively, with a twenty-point advantage over Katsuta and Johnston. Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson sit third, twenty-nine points further behind. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT hold a 93-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT.