2017 World Rally Championship

[30] This was achieved by installing artificial chicanes into all but two of the stages, which proved to be controversial as drivers complained that they were too narrow and thus had the potential to damage cars, and were poorly-positioned with little regulatory oversight from rally organisers.

[59] Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt returned to the premier class after contesting the 2016 season in the WRC-2 category, swapping places Eric Camilli and Benjamin Veillas, who stayed with M-Sport and were entered in the WRC-2.

[79] Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila left Volkswagen Motorsport following the team's withdrawal from the sport to join Toyota,[80] where they are partnered with Juho Hänninen—who returned to the championship for the first time since 2014—and Kaj Lindström.

Volkswagen scaled back their involvement in the sport, withdrawing their entry as a manufacturer at the end of the 2016 season and cancelling the Polo R WRC programme in light of the emissions scandal that broke in 2015.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[107] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.