The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of thirty-one entries were received, with ten crews entered with World Rally Cars and sixteen entered the World Rally Championship-2. Three crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class.
The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin had been due to return, having missed the Rallies of Finland and Germany when Evans injured himself in a pre-event testing accident while preparing for Rally Finland. However, Evans' recovery necessitated further delays, with Wales Rally GB earmarked for their return.[11]
Several drivers suffered punctures, including three Toyota drivers and Dani Sordo. Esapekka Lappi led into the second leg, following by champion teammate Sébastien Ogier. Thierry Neuville was in the eighth spot after the morning loop, but a masterful drive in the afternoon loop promoted the Belgian to third.[12]
Saturday was full of dramas. At the opening stage of the leg, championship contender Neuville went off the road and lost approximately four minutes, which dropped him down to ninth.[13] Moments later, championship leader Ott Tänak was out as well. His Yaris broke down at the road section and was unable to move further, which means his day was over.[14] Following Ogier's major rivals in troubles, the defending world champion put himself on the top of the leaderboard as of Friday, just 0.2 second ahead of teammate Lappi.[15] Eventually, they both safely completed the rally to bring Citroën their first 1-2 finish since 2015 Rally Argentina.[5]
Jan Kopecký survived a day of "rockstorm" after two punctures, while his teammate Kalle Rovanperä retired form the day as he rolled his Fabia in the morning's opening test.[16] However, Kopecký suffered yet another puncture, which lost his lead to Gus Greensmith.[17] However, Greensmith rolled his Fiesta R5 after the flying finish at the second to last stage. He was able to complete the final test to take his second Pro victory.[6]
Local driver Bugra Banaz's rally was over as his Fiesta R5 burnt out on the liaison section to the final stage.[16]Kajetan Kajetanowicz held a three-minute lead after Saturday after two drama-free days.[17] However, he broke a driveshaft on Sunday, but managed to bring his wounded Fabia home to take his first victory of season in the category.[6]
.jpg)
