World Rally Championship

The World Rally Championship (WRC) is a series of automobile rally races across the world, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's championship and manufacturer's championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. This means that Petter Solberg driving for Subaru can win the driver's championship but Citroën can win the manufacturer's championship, which is what happened in 2003. The first WRC took place in 1973.

Image:Subaru Monte-Carlo 2005.jpg
The Monte Carlo Rally

Contents

World Rally Cars

The Championship currently features 16 rallies and production-based 2.0 L Turbocharged 4WD cars built to World Rally Car regulations racing across tarmac, gravel and snow. Current cars in the championship include the Citroën Xsara, Ford Focus RS, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Peugeot 307, Skoda Fabia, and Subaru Impreza.

The WRC was formerly held for Group A and Group B rallycars.

The World Rally Championship also features classes called the Production World Rally Championship and the Junior World Rally Championship.

World Rally Calendar

For 2004 through 2005, the championship rallies included Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, New Zealand, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, Finland, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain, and Australia. Japan and Mexico debuted in 2004.

The 2006 rallies will be Monte Carlo, Sweden, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Argentina, Finland, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Spain and Great Britain

2005 Rally Winners

Rally Name Start Date Podium Drivers (Nationality) Podium Cars
Rallye Automobile Monte CarloJanuary 21, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Toni Gardemeister (Finland)
  3. Gilles Panizzi (France)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Ford Focus RS
  3. Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Uddeholm Swedish RallyFebruary 11, 2005
  1. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  2. Markko Märtin (Estonia)
  3. Toni Gardemeister (Finland)
  1. Subaru Impreza
  2. Peugeot 307
  3. Ford Focus RS
Corona Rally MexicoMarch 11, 2005
  1. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  2. Marcus Grönholm (Finland)
  3. Markko Märtin (Estonia)
  1. Subaru Impreza
  2. Peugeot 307
  3. Peugeot 307
Propecia Rally of New ZealandApril 8, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Marcus Grönholm (Finland)
  3. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Peugeot 307
  3. Subaru Impreza
Supermag Rally Italia SardiniaApril 29, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  3. Marcus Grönholm (Finland)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Subaru Impreza
  3. Peugeot 307
The Cyprus RallyMay 13, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Manfred Stohl (Austria)
  3. Markko Märtin (Estonia)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Citroën Xsara
  3. Peugeot 307
Rally of TurkeyJune 3, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  3. Marcus Grönholm (Finland)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Subaru Impreza
  3. Peugeot 307
Acropolis Rally GreeceJune 24, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Toni Gardemeister (Finland)
  3. Carlos Sainz (Spain)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Ford Focus RS
  3. Citroën Xsara
Rally ArgentinaJuly 15, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Marcus Gronholm (Finland)
  3. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Peugeot 307
  3. Subaru Impreza
Neste Rally FinlandAugust 5, 2005
  1. Marcus Gronholm (Finland)
  2. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  3. Markko Märtin (Estonia)
  1. Peugeot 307
  2. Citroën Xsara
  3. Peugeot 307
OMV ADAC Rallye DeutschlandAugust 25, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. François Duval (Belgium)
  3. Marcus Gronholm (Finland)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Citroën Xsara
  3. Peugeot 307
Wales Rally Great BritainSeptember 16, 2005
  1. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  2. François Duval (Belgium)
  3. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  1. Subaru Impreza
  2. Citroën Xsara
  3. Citroën Xsara
Rally JapanSeptember 30, 2005
  1. Marcus Gronholm (Finland)
  2. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  3. Chris Atkinson (Australia)
  1. Peugeot 307
  2. Citroën Xsara
  3. Subaru Impreza
Rallye de FranceOctober 21, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. Toni Gardemeister (Finland)
  3. Petter Solberg (Norway)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Ford Focus RS
  3. Subaru Impreza
Rally Catalunya/Rally de EspanaOctober 28, 2005
  1. Sébastien Loeb (France)
  2. François Duval (Belgium)
  3. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland)
  1. Citroën Xsara
  2. Citroën Xsara
  3. Ford Focus RS
Telstra Rally AustraliaNovember 11, 2005

Citroën driver, Sébastien Loeb, has secured the driver's championship title in Japan and the manufacturer's championship in Spain.

2004 Rally Winners

Citroën driver, Sébastien Loeb, secured both the driver's and manufacturer's championship titles in France.

Rally Winning Driver (car) Driver Nationality
Monte CarloSébastien Loeb (Citroën)France
SwedenSébastien Loeb (Citroën)France
MexicoMarkko Märtin (Ford)Estonia
New ZealandPetter Solberg (Subaru)Norway
CyprusSébastien Loeb (Citroën)France
GreecePetter Solberg (Subaru)Norway
TurkeySébastien Loeb (Citroën)France
ArgentinaCarlos Sainz (Citroën)Spain
FinlandMarcus Grönholm (Peugeot)Finland
GermanySébastien Loeb (Citroën)France
JapanPetter Solberg (Subaru)Norway
Great BritainPetter Solberg (Subaru)Norway
ItalyPetter Solberg (Subaru)Norway
FranceMarkko Märtin (Ford)Estonia
SpainMarkko Märtin (Ford)Estonia
AustraliaSébastien Loeb (Citroën)France

World Rally Champions List

YEAR DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP(car) MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP

2005

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën)

Citroën

2004

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën)

Citroën

2003

Petter Solberg (Subaru)

Citroën

2002

Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot)

Peugeot

2001

Richard Burns (Subaru)

Peugeot

2000

Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot)

Peugeot

1999

Tommi Mäkinen (Mitsubishi)

Toyota

1998

Tommi Mäkinen (Mitsubishi)

Mitsubishi

1997

Tommi Mäkinen (Mitsubishi)

Subaru

1996

Tommi Mäkinen (Mitsubishi)

Subaru

1995

Colin McRae (Subaru)

Subaru

1994

Didier Auriol (Toyota)

Toyota

1993

Juha Kankkunen (Toyota)

Toyota

1992

Carlos Sainz (Toyota)

Lancia

1991

Juha Kankkunen (Lancia)

Lancia

1990

Carlos Sainz (Toyota)

Lancia

1989

Massimo 'Miki' Biasion (Lancia)

Lancia

1988

Massimo 'Miki' Biasion (Lancia)

Lancia

1987

Juha Kankkunen (Lancia)

Lancia

1986

Juha Kankkunen (Peugeot)

Peugeot

1985

Timo Salonen (Peugeot)

Peugeot

1984

Stig Blomqvist (Audi)

Audi

1983

Hannu Mikkola (Audi)

Lancia

1982

Walter Röhrl (Opel)

Audi

1981

Ari Vatanen (Ford)

Talbot

1980

Walter Röhrl (Fiat)

Fiat

1979

Björn Waldegård (Ford/Mercedes-Benz)

Ford

1978

Markku Alén (Fiat/Lancia)

Fiat

1977

Sandro Munari (Lancia)

Fiat

1976

Lancia

1975

Lancia

1974

Lancia

1973

Alpine-Renault

World Rally Championship event wins

  1. 26 – Carlos Sainz (Spain)
  2. 25 – Colin McRae (Scotland)
  3. 24 – Tommi Mäkinen (Finland)
  4. 23 – Juha Kankkunen (Finland)
  5. 20 – Didier Auriol (France) / Sébastien Loeb (France)
  6. 19 – Markku Alén (Finland)
  7. 18 – Hannu Mikkola (Finland) / Marcus Grönholm (Finland)
  8. 17 – Massimo Biasion
  9. 16 – Björn Waldegård

External links

it:Campionato Mondiale Rally ja:世界ラリー選手権 nl:World Rally Championship no:World Rally Championship pl:World Rally Championship