Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen are the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions, having secured their second championship titles at the 2023 Central European Rally. However, they would only contest at selected events. Toyota are the defending manufacturers' champions.
The championship was expected to be expanded to fourteen rounds,[16] however WRC Promoter GmbH retained the existing total of thirteen events with the reasoning that it would aid participation of more Rally1 cars.[17]
Rally Mexico dropped off the calendar, but the organisers are seeking an opportunity for a 2025 return.[23]
Rally Estonia was also not featured in 2024, but the event is set to return in 2025.[24]
The WRC Promoter GmbH is also working on the two key calendar expansions for the future.[25]
Progress has been made for the candidate event in the United States, a location that was also aiming to join the championship in 2024.[26]
The other key expansion is Rally China, which was last featured in 1999. The rally was also scheduled to be held in 2016, but it was ultimately cancelled due to the damage caused by the 2016 China floods.[27]
In addition, the candidate list also include the event in Saudi Arabia,[28] where it aims at a 2025 calendar slot.[29] The rally is a part of WRC Promoter GmbH's plan to deliver a desert event.[30]Rally Argentina is also bidding to return to the championship.[31]
The organizers of the Monte Carlo Rally are set to relocate its headquarters back to Gap in France.[32] The rally was previously based in Monaco.[33]
The Kenyan Rally, which took place in June in the previous three seasons, will move ahead to March at the weekend of Easter as the third round of the season.[34]
Toyota kept the lineup from 2023, with the crews led by Elfyn Evans and by Takamoto Katsuta became the two full-time competitors for the team.[60] Reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä signed a multi-year contract with the team, but he only contested a partial program this season.[61] Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier continued his approach to the championship, competing at selected events.[62] They did not share a third car.[63]Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen made their top class debut at the 2024 Rally Finland.[64]
Points system is confirmed to have a major revision to prevent saving tyres for the Power Stage.[65] The top ten competitors in the overall classification by the end of Saturday are subject to score 18–15–13–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 points respectively as long as they complete a classified rally finish, otherwise these points would be pass to the next eligible competitor.[66] Top seven runners who record least time in an accumulated leader board of Sunday to receive 7–6–5–4–3–2–1 points respectively.[67]
A shorter itinerary of 48 hours would be featured at the Rally Italia Sardegna, which would be a trial run of the compact weekend format that was proposed by the FIA.[68]
Neuville and Wydaeghe won the season opener, where the implementation of the new points system saw them grabbing a maximum thirty points after leading by the end of Saturday, recording the shortest time on Sunday and winning the Power Stage.[69] As championship leaders, Neuville and Wydaeghe were supposed to be first on road at the first leg of the next round, but their i20 was unable to fire up because of a fuel pressure issue before the first stage of the afternoon, leaving title rivals Evans and Martin to sweep the road.[70] This led to controversy as Evans and Martin lost time due to the conditions being first on road.[71] Nevertheless, Evans and Martin still outscored Neuville and Wydaeghe at the conclusion of the event, closing the gap to only three points in the championships.[72]Lappi and Ferm took the victory, ending their winning drought stretching six-and-a-half years, with Fourmaux and Coria achieved their first podium finish.[73]
Toyota responded with a 1–2 finish to Hyundai's back-to-back victories at Safari, extending their championship lead to four points.[74] Neuville and Wydaeghe had a troublesome weekend, but a successful run on Sunday saw the Belgian crew rebuilt their championship leads back to six points.[75] Toyota's championship lead was further extended to seven points with the victory in Croatia by Ogier and Landais,[76] who snatched the lead after the mistakes by rally leaders.[77]
Heading into the first gravel rally of the season, Ogier and Landais continued their success run, taking back-to-back victories.[78] They could've further made it to a hat-trick at Sardegna, but a puncture at the Power Stage meant Tänak and Järveoja stole the win.[79] The winning margin was only 0.2 second, marking the event joining the 2011 Jordan Rally as the closest win in the WRC history.[80] Ogier and Landais were nominated by Toyota at the Polish Rally, but they were forced to withdraw from the rally after involving in a road accident in recce.[81]Rovanperä and Halttunen stood in as replacements.[82] They somehow managed to win the rally despite having made very limited preparation.[83] They also won the following round, leading the rally from start to finish.[84] The event also saw them clinch their 200th stage victory.[85] Having debuted in Poland, local heros Sesks and Francis had a decent run in Latvia, taking their first stage win at the early stage of the rally.[86] They were on course to achieve a maiden podium finish, but a differential issue on the final day ultimately dropped them out of contention.[87]
Rovanperä and Halttunen looked good to extend their winning strike at their home event, but they rolled on the event's penultimate stage.[88] Tänak and Järveoja were involved in a violent crash at the rally,[89] which hospitalized Järveoja as a result, and they had to retire from the weekend.[90] Evans and Martin suffered a transmission issue, dropping out of top ten as a consequence.[91] Situation went from bad to worse as they crashed out during the penultimate stage.[92] Benified from main rivals' no scoring, championship leaders Neuville and Wydaeghe extended their championship leads to twenty-seven points over Ogier and Vincent, who were the rally winners.[93] The event also saw Pajari and Mälkönen's top-tier debut, and they recorded a stage win just ninth stage in their Rally1 career.[94]
"With great speed from second on the road, we took 45 seconds to the championship leader, so maybe he [Neuville] should learn to open the road because he's not really fast from first on the road, he just cries all the time."
Toyota had a nightmare rally at Acropolis, as the crew of Ogier and Landais and of Evans and Martin both suffered turbo issues.[96] This plus the third crew Katsuta and Johnston crashed out whist competiting for the rally lead led to Hyundai occupying 1–2–3 at the end of first day.[97] Ogier was not impressed, especially he was leading the rally with a forty-five-second lead over the championship leader Neuville, but ended up with nearly two minutes off his title rival, suggesting the Belgian should "stop crying" and "learn to drive first on the road".[98] Ironically, Neuville and Wydaeghe ultimately won the rally, repeating a Hyundai podium lockout two years ago of the same event with the same teammates, while Ogier and Landais rolled their Yaris at the Power Stage despite having recovered to second.[99] Hyundai's dominance meant they built a thirty-five-point lead in the constructor's championship, but their lead was halved after Toyota bagged a maximum point haul in the following round,[100] which was won by Rovanperä and Halttunen.[101]
Tänak and Järveoja won the penultimate round following Ogier and Landais crashed out from the lead at the penultimate stage of the rally.[102] The victory helped them to reduce the gap to the championship leaders to twenty-five points, meaning the title would go down to the wire, though Neuville and Wydaeghe would only require to score just six more points to secure their first world title.[103]
Points are awarded to the top ten crews in the overall classification by the end of Saturday, and top seven crews in an accumulated overall classification of Sunday in each event.[128] In the manufacturers' championship, teams are eligible to nominate three crews to score points, but these points are only awarded to the top two classified finishers representing a manufacturer and driving a 2022-specification Rally1 car. There are also five bonus points awarded to the winners of the Power Stage, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. Power Stage points are awarded in the drivers', co-drivers' and manufacturers' championships.[129]
Only the best two results of each manufacturer in the respective overall classification by the end of Saturday, accumulated position of Sunday and Power Stage at each rally would be taken into account for the championship.