2018 World Rally Championship

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia started the season as the defending drivers' and co-drivers' champions after securing their fifth consecutive World Championship titles at the 2017 Wales Rally GB.

[45] Loeb had previously been enlisted by the team to assist with development of the C3 WRC, particularly on loose surfaces, after Citroën endured a difficult championship campaign in 2017.

[46] He retained ownership of the Ford Fiesta WRC that he competed with in 2017 through the Adapta World Rally Team, entering it separately to his own entry with Citroën.

[47] Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle were dismissed by Citroën after six rounds, with the team citing their disproportionately high number of crashes and a lack of self-control as the reason behind the sacking.

[50][51] Mikkelsen and Jæger, who were left without a seat at the end of 2016 following Volkswagen Motorsport's withdrawal from the sport, contested selected rounds of the 2017 championship for Citroën and Hyundai before joining the team for 2018.

[56] The changes were introduced following the 2017 Rally Finland where event organisers placed chicanes that were criticised by drivers for being too narrow, poorly-positioned and potentially dangerous.

[60] Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja finished second on their Toyota debut, with teammates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila rounding out the podium.

Ott Tänak and Monte-Carlo winner Sébastien Ogier struggled the most with grip all weekend, as they ploughed a path through deep snow, being second and first on the road order.

Elfyn Evans struggled all weekend and finished outside the points in eleventh, whilst Kris Meeke retired with engine issues after hitting a snowbank during Saturday.

[63] With the victory, he recaptured the position of championship leader from Thierry Neuville, who finished sixth overall after faring worst in the conditions and losing more than 20 seconds due to a fuel pressure problem and a power steering issue on his i20 on Friday, by four points.

WRC2 winner Pontus Tidemand finished seventh ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala, who fought back up the leaderboard after retiring his Toyota Yaris on Friday with alternator problems.

[65] Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took their third win of the year in Corsica, ahead of Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville, who suffered multiple issues during the weekend.

Esapekka Lappi thrust himself into the fight for second on Saturday, but his hopes were shattered when he hit a kerb and was forced to stop and change a punctured tyre.

He eventually plummeted to seventh, but salvaged maximum bonus points by winning the final power Stage in his Yaris, as well as overhauling Andreas Mikkelsen to climb to sixth.

WRC2 winner Jan Kopecký finished eighth ahead of Kris Meeke, who restarted under Rally2 regulations after going off the road when co-driver Paul Nagle read the wrong pace notes.

[68] Thierry Neuville and teammate Dani Sordo finished second and third overall, which allowed their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, to move further ahead at the top of the manufacturers' championship.

Jari-Matti Latvala was forced to retire from the rally after his Yaris' front right suspension and engine lubrication system sustained significant damage on Friday.

[70] Ogier's Ford teammate's Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen both finished on the podium to help the team narrow the gap to Hyundai to thirteen points.

Argentina winner Ott Tänak retired from the rally on the first gravel stage due to damaging his engine's cooling system after hitting a large rock, while Kris Meeke crashed his Citroën C3 during SS12 on Saturday.

[71][72] Esapekka Lappi took another Power Stage win but received a ten-second penalty for displacing dividing bales on SS9's third roundabout, which meant he lost his fourth place to Dani Sordo.

The two Citroën drivers Mads Østberg and Craig Breen finished fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala, who was running under Rally2 regulations because of an alternator problem on Saturday.

Ott Tänak achieved back-to-back victories for the first time in his career and claimed his second consecutive win in Germany, to rekindle both his and Toyota's championship hopes.

During the first half of the rally his main challenger was Sébastien Ogier, but that ended when the Frenchman clipped a boulder on the second run through Panzerplatte and was forced to stop and change a damaged wheel, plummeting to eighth in the process.

Ogier claimed fourth after a final day charge up the leaderboard which culminated with a victory in the powerstage, followed by Teemu Suninen, Andreas Mikkelsen and Craig Breen.

[80] Tänak's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala finished in a season-high second place to also put Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT into the lead of the manufacturers championship, and Hyundai's Hayden Paddon completed the podium.

The Estonian crew led the rally with a comfortable lead until they damaged the radiator after a landing off a jump during the second pass through Sweet Lamb Hafren.

Mads Østberg lost two places to Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon in eighth, followed by eighteen year-old WRC2 driver Kalle Rovanperä.

Before going to Coffs Harbour, Sébastien Ogier, who was the defending world champion, Thierry Neuville, who led the championship for most of the year, and Ott Tänak, who got the most stage victories of the season, were in contention of the drivers' title.

Elfyn Evans completed the event in sixth after teammate Ogier, while Craig Breen gained one place from Teemu Suninen, who retired his Fiesta before the final test following an impact in the previous stage.

WRC2 category winner Alberto Heller, local driver Steve Glenney and rally veteran Jourdan Serderidis covered out of the top ten finishers.