The 2005 Wales Rally GB (formally known as 61st Wales Rally GB) was the 12th round of the

2005 World Rally Championship The 2005 World Rally Championship was the 33rd season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on January 21 with the Monte-Carlo Rally and ended on November 13 with the Rally Australia. In the drivers' world championship, Citroë ...

. The race was held over four days between 15 and 18 September 2005, and operated out of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

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This rally saw the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

Markko Märtin Markko Märtin (born 10 November 1975 in Tartu) is a retired rally driver from Estonia, who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2000 until 2005. Career Märtin, as understudy to then-team mates Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, rose to pr ...

's co-driver Michael Park of Peugeot after Märtin's 307 lost control and traction, causing it to go off-road and crash into a tree at Stage 15 of the rally. Peugeot decided to withdraw Marcus Grönholm from the event due to the accident. Race organizers cancelled the rally's final two stages, when Sébastien Loeb, who was in the lead, decided to take a time penalty that gave Petter Solberg the victory in the race. Loeb’s victory would have earned him the 2005 world championship, but he decided he did not want to win the title in such tragic circumstances. As a result, Loeb deliberately opted to check in to the final time control late to incur a two-minute penalty which dropped him to third overall. Competitors returned to Cardiff to a subdued victory ceremony, where the traditional champagne-spraying ceremony was cancelled and a minute's silence was held.

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