The cars for the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) is launched by the various manufacturers ahead of the season start.
The four main manufacturers in WRC – Hyundai, Citroen, Toyota and M-Sport Ltd (Ford Fiesta) launched their cars for the the 2019 season which kicks off during January 24-27 weekend with Rallye Monte Carlo in Monaco.
M-Sport revealed its Ford Fiesta WRC car earlier in the week with a new livery as Hyundai also showcased a new colour pattern for its 2019 i20 Coupe WRC with the addition of more orangish red colour to its existing scheme.
Even Citroen Racing sported a new livery pattern as it did away with the white it had on its 2018 Citroen C3 WRC car while keeping the red and officially incorporating Red Bull’s blue and yellow on its 2018 machinery.
The move seemingly comes with the signing of reigning champion Sebastien Ogier for the 2019 season. Among the four outfits, Toyota is the only team to not alter its colour pattern as it will sport the same red and white combination on its 2019 Yaris WRC.
Along with the cars, all of the drivers were also present with Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia in the Citroen overalls alongside Esapekka Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm as Hyundai new signing Sebastien Loeb was missing due to Dakar commitments.
Loeb’s teammates were present at the launch though with Thierry Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul, Andreas Mikkelsen and co-driver Anders Jaeger-Synnevaag and Dani Sordo and co-driver Carlos del Barrio.
It was also Kris Meeke and co-driver Sebastian Marshall’s first public appearance in Toyota colours as he stood beside his new teammates Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja and Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila.
Finally, M-Sport were represented by Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin and Teemu Suninen and co-driver Marko Salminen. Apart from regular WRC drivers, some of the WRC2 and Junior WRC category racers were present too.