World Rally Championship
From WOI Encyclopedia Italia
The World Rally Championship (WRC) is a rallying series across the world (although the main focus is in Europe, due to the sport's roots), 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, for example, 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 competition first received the designation of WRC in 1973. The sport's commercial rights are administered by International Sportsworld Communicators.
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World Rally Cars
Main article World Rally Car
The Championship currently features 16 rallies and production-based 2.0 L turbocharged four-wheel drive cars built to World Rally Car regulations racing across tarmac, gravel and snow. The power output has been limited to around 300 bhp. Current cars in the championship include the Citroën Xsara, Ford Focus RS, Peugeot 307, Škoda Fabia, Subaru Impreza, and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Citroën, Peugeot, Škoda and Mitsubishi have pulled out of the championship for 2006 and those cars, although in use by privateers, are not in further development. Citroën will be returning to WRC in 2007 using the C4.
The WRC was formerly held for Group A and Group B rallycars. However, due to the increasing power, lack of reliability and the fatal accidents on the 1986 season, Group B was permanently banned. Later, in 1997, the Group A cars evolved into the WRC car spec, to ease the development of new cars and bring new makes to the competition.
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, in order, Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Spain, France, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Germany, Finland, Japan, Cyprus, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.
2007 will see several new rounds introduced to the championship. These will include Norway, Portugal and Ireland. Australia, Cyprus & Turkey are the rounds to be replaced for the 2007 season.
World Rally Results
The current Championship tables look like this [after Rally of Greece 2-4 June, 2006]:
Drivers'
| Place | Driver | Car | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | S. Loeb | Citroën | 74pts |
| 2. | M. Gronholm | Ford | 45pts |
| 3. | D. Sordo | Citroën | 33pts |
| 4. | M. Hirvonen | Ford | 21pts |
| 5. | P. Solberg | Subaru | 20pts |
| 6. | M. Stohl | Peugeot | 20pts |
| 7. | G. Galli | Peugeot | 11pts |
| 8. | T. Gardemeister | Škoda | 11pts |
| 9. | X. Pons | Citroën | 11pts |
| 10. | H. Solberg | Peugeot | 11pts |
Manufacturers' / Team
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kronos Total Citroën | 96pts |
| 2. | BP-Ford WRT | 81pts |
| 3. | Subaru WRT | 63pts |
| 4. | OMV-Peugeot Norway | 41pts |
| 5. | Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT | 17pts |
| 6. | Red Bull Škoda | 11pts |
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 | FIA Cup for Drivers: Markku Alén (Fiat/Lancia) | Fiat |
| 1977 | FIA Cup for Drivers: Sandro Munari (Lancia) | Fiat |
| 1976 | Lancia | |
| 1975 | Lancia | |
| 1974 | Lancia | |
| 1973 | Alpine-Renault |
World Rally Championship event wins
1. – Carlos Sainz (Spain) / Sébastien Loeb (France) 26
3. – Colin McRae (Great Britain) 25
4. – Tommi Mäkinen (Finland) 24
5. – Juha Kankkunen (Finland) 23
6. – Marcus Grönholm (Finland) 22
7. – Didier Auriol (France) 20
8. – Markku Alén (Finland) 19
9. – Hannu Mikkola (Finland) 18
10. – Massimo Biasion (Italy) 17
11. – Björn Waldegård (Sweden) 16
External links
- World Rally Championship (official site)
- Rallystuff.net (Unofficial WRC Fan Site)
- RallyBase
- Rallye-Info.com (formerly WRC-Online.net)
