The event has been based in the forests of Wales since the turn of the century and has a firmly established reputation as one of the most demanding challenges on the calendar. This is essentially due to the unpredictable weather conditions, which can make the fast gravel roads extremely muddy and slippery, with grip levels changing from one corner to the next.

Just three rounds remain in the fight for the championship, with Sébastien Ogier back into title contention after claiming a priceless victory on the last event in Turkey. The Citroën driver managed to cut the gap to leader Ott Tänak (Toyota) to 17 points, while Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is within 30 points of the lead.

Wales Rally GB will see the return to action of its local hero, Elfyn Evans. The M-Sport driver, who missed the last three rounds due to a back injury, has recovered in time to take the start of the event where he achieved his maiden WRC victory in 2017. He is joined by Teemu Suninen and Pontus Tidemand in the M-Sport line-up, while Irishman Craig Breen makes his second outing for Hyundai alongside Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen.

Prevented from starting Rally Finland following a crash during testing, Hayden Paddon enters the British round in the FIA WRC 2 Pro class with M-Sport, as a team-mate to British driver Gus Greensmith. They will face strong competition from championship leader Kalle Rovanperä and Jan Kopecký at Škoda, as well as Mads Østberg at Citroën.

A special entry in FIA WRC 2 will be the father-and-son duo of Petter and Oliver Solberg in a pair of Volkswagen Polos. The 2003 World Champion Petter will make his final WRC start on an event he and his Welsh co-driver Phil Mills won four times in a row between 2002 and 2005. Oliver, meanwhile, will be enjoying his first WRC outing. The young Swedish-Norwegian talent, who made history as the  youngest winner of an FIA European Rally Championship round by winning Rally Liepāja on his ERC1 Junior debut in May, just turned 18 and passed his driving test earlier this week.

Rally GB will also be the final round and championship decider of this year’s FIA Junior WRC. Swedish driver Tom Kristensson is just one point ahead of Spaniard Jan Solans at the top of the standings.

THE 2019 ROUTE

Rally GB has a new base this year at the seafront of Llandudno, which has already hosted the ceremonial finish in recent years. Thursday also has a new look, as the rally will kick off in the city of Liverpool for the first time, before the opening stage at the Oulton Park race circuit, which last welcomed the rally in 1993. After that, the crews will move to a more familiar environment in the Welsh forests. Friday features a total of nine stages in North Wales, with the last one run in darkness. On Saturday, there will be nearly 14 hours between cars leaving service in the morning and returning in the evening, with two loops of three stages in mid-Wales, followed by a new test for spectators on asphalt at the seafront in Colwyn Bay. Sunday is made up of two passes of the Alwen and Brenig stages, split by the notorious Great Orme asphalt test.
 

RALLY DATA
 

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

The Accreditation Desk is located in the Rally Headquarters, also home to the Media Center, at the seafront Venue Cymru, Llandudno LL30 1BB  (GPS coordinates: 53.3219° N, 3.8163° W).

The opening hours are: 

2019 WALES RALLY GB TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA
 

FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
 

2019 RALLY TURKEY, MANUFACTURER ENTRIES
 

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings