Reigning World Drivers' and World Co-Drivers Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending rally winners. M-Sport Ford WRT, the team they drove for in 2018, were the defending manufacturers' winners.[3] The Finnish crew of Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were the defending rally winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were scheduled to be promoted to the newly-created WRC-2 Pro class.[4]
In the Junior-World Rally Championship standings, Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog led Jan Solans and Mauro Barreiro by just a point in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Dennis Rådström and Johan Johansson thirty-three points further behind in third in their own standings. In the Nations' standings, Sweden were first, thirteen points cleared of Spain, with Germany forty points further behind in third.[10]
Entry list
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 fifty-nine entries were received, with eleven crews entered with World Rally Cars and twenty-one entered the World Rally Championship-2. Five crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class. A further eleven entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship.
The heart of Llandudno on the coast of north Wales served as the rally base for Wales Rally GB this year, with a purpose-built special stage at the Oulton Park circuit as the opening stage of the rally on Thursday evening.[12]
The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin returned to the championship after Evans injured his back during Rally Estonia.[13]Ott Tänak started his rally with a near-10-second time loss because of an engine issue in the slippery opening stage, but he grabbed a narrow lead from teammate Kris Meeke going into Saturday after a day's effort.[14][15]Esapekka Lappi retired from Friday after went off the road, while Jari-Matti Latvala retired from the rally after a heavy crash.[16]Craig Breen rolled his i20 on Saturday morning, but it only cost cosmetic damage.[17] Tänak won in style eventually.[5]
Kalle Rovanperä, who just celebrated his 19th birthday, led comfortably in the front until a puncture made his lead lost to his teammate Jan Kopecký. Mads Østberg and Hayden Paddon retired from Friday due to oil leak and car beached.[18] In the second leg, Rovanperä regained the top spot from his teammate as Kopecký firstly punctured and then rolled his car. Hayden Paddon restarted on Saturday, but retired from the day again after he suffered two punctures. Gus Greensmith also retired from the day after hitting a bank and damaged his rear-right suspension.[19] Rovanperä took the rally in the end to win the 2019 WRC-2 Pro championship.[6]
Jan Solans fended off championship leader Tom Kristensson, while Dennis Rådström went off the road and retired from Friday despite holding an early lead.[21] On Saturday, Kristensson suffered a puncture and dropping over three minutes.[22] Following title rival Kristensson's problem, Solans was clear in front. The Spaniard successfully sealed the win to snatch the junior title.[7]