In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held a twenty-point lead over Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by fourteen points. Pontus Tidemand and Jonas Andersson were in second place, but they did not contest the rally. Tidemand was forty-one points ahead of privateers Gus Greensmith in the drivers' standings, while Andersson held a forty-six points lead over Jonne Halttunen in the co-drivers' standings. Škoda Motorsport II held a forty-twenty-point lead over sister team Škoda Motorsport in the teams' championship. Junior World Rally Champion Emil Bergkvist led the World Rally Championship-3 drivers' standings, three points cleared of Taisko Lario. Denis Rådström was another three points behind in third. In the World Rally Championship-3 co-drivers' standings, Tatu Hämäläinen led Johan Johansson by three points, while Romain Courbon was slender one point further behind. In the teams' championship, ACI Team Italia led Castrol Ford Team Turkiye by sixteen points. Entry list The following crews were entered into the rally. The entry list consisted of seventy-six crews, including thirteen World Rally Car entries, twenty-one entries in the World Rally Championship-2 and four in the World Rally Championship-3. Itinerary Report Pre-event The rally marked Volkswagen's return to the World Championship with a factory-supported team after the company withdrew from the category in 2016. Volkswagen Motorsport will enter two Volkswagen Polo GTIs built to Group R5 specifications in the World Rally Championship-2 support series. They will be driven by 2003 World Drivers' Champion Petter Solberg and M-Sport regular Eric Camilli. Leg 1 Ott Tänak showed his speed once again in Spain. He pulled away from everyone except his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, who set three fastest stage times during the day. However, an unexpected puncture cost the Finn around fifty seconds, leaving him fifth at the end of day 1. Local hero Dani Sordo led Hyundai in second, followed by Elfyn Evans in third in a Ford Fiesta WRC. Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb stalled his C3 at the opening stage in Barcelona, but he managed to recover to fourth place overall, just half a second off the podium. Sixth-place Andreas Mikkelsen was unable to find his form in the morning loop, but a setting adjustment put him on a charge and allowed him to end the day ahead of defending world champion Sébastien Ogier, who was