The 2014 World Rally Championship was the 42nd season of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

, an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

championship recognised by the

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...

as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers contested thirteen rallies across four continents, competing for the FIA World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers. The

WRC-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

, WRC-3 and Junior WRC championships all ran in support of the premier championship. The 2014 season saw Hyundai return to the championship as a manufacturer for the first time since the 2003 season. The Rally of Poland returned to the calendar after a five-year absence, replacing the

Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece ( el, Ράλλυ Ακρόπολις) is a rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually duri ...

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champion ...

and his team,

Volkswagen Motorsport The Volkswagen Motorsport was a works rally team of the German car manufacturer Volkswagen, who competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and Dakar Rally. The team started competing in WRC in 1978 and used different specs of Volkswagen Gol ...

, secured both Drivers and Manufacturers title for a second consecutive time. Ogier secured the title with a round to spare by winning in

Rally de Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya) is a rally competition held in Catalonia region of Spain, on the World Rally Championship schedule. Now held on the wide, smooth and sweeping asphalt roads around the town of Salou, Costa Daurad ...

, Ogier's teammate

Jari-Matti Latvala Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985) is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 ...

and

Volkswagen Motorsport II Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

Andreas Mikkelsen Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship-2 for Toksport World Rally Team. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen, Citroën and Hyundai in the Wo ...

finished the championship in second and third. The

Citroën World Rally Team The Citroën Total World Rally Team was the Citroën factory backed entry into the World Rally Championship, run by Citroën Racing. History 1990–1998 seasons The Citroën ZX Rally raid won the Rally raid Constructors' Championship in 1993, 1 ...

was second at the Manufacturers' Championship.

Calendar

The 2014 calendar was announced at a meeting of the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

World Motor Sport Council in Croatia on 27 September 2013. The 2014 championship was contested over thirteen rounds in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, North America,

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

Calendar changes

Rally Australia Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in Coffs Harbour as the final leg of the World Rally Championship (WRC) until 2018. First run in 1988, the rally was held in and around Perth, Western Australia until 2006. It was par ...

and

Rally New Zealand The Rally New Zealand is an annual rally race in New Zealand. It was first included as a round of the World Rally Championship in 1977. The race is famous for its fast flowing gravel roads which carry the competitors through forests and alongside ...

abandoned the event-sharing arrangement established in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

that saw each event host a round of the championship every other year. After hosting an event in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, Rally Australia remains on the calendar throughout 2014 and 2015 before the arrangement is due to be renegotiated. * The

Rallye Monte Carlo The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...

relocated its base from Valence in the French province of

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône ...

to the town of Gap in the neighbouring province of

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,220 ...

. * The 2014 calendar saw the Rally of Poland return to the championship for the first time since 2009. The event also crossed the border into Lithuania for one day of competition. Its inclusion came at the expense of the

, which was removed after struggling with its financial obligations to the championship. The Acropolis Rally later moved to the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship has b ...

for the 2014 season. The rallies of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and China had also been considered for inclusion on the WRC calendar before the FIA approved of the Rally of Poland.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers are scheduled to compete in the World Rally Championship during the 2014 season:

Team changes

* Citroën will scale back its involvement in the championship, limiting its programme to two full-time works-supported cars, with a third car entered in selected events. As a result, its customer car programme will be brought to an end. The decision to reduce its commitment to the WRC stemmed from Citroën's expansion into the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

and the logistical challenges of establishing itself in a new series. *

Martin Prokop Martin Prokop (born 4 October 1982) is a Czech rally driver. He won the Junior World Rally Championship in the 2009 season. Career After competing in the Czech Rally Championship for four years, Prokop debuted in the World Rally Champions ...

M-Sport M-Sport is an auto racing team and motorsport engineering company headquartered at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1979 by the World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson, and originally known as ...

-supported Czech National Team will expand to enter a second Ford Fiesta RS WRC at selected events throughout the season. The second car will compete under the name "Slovakia World Rally Team". * Korean car manufacturer Hyundai will return to the championship as a manufacturer team, competing with the i20 WRC. The

Hyundai World Rally Team The Hyundai World Rally Team is a rally team competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as the official Hyundai entrant. Its team principal is Sean Kim, deputised by Julien Moncet and its drivers in 2022 include Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak ...

had originally planned to compete with two full-time entries, but later expanded to include two part-time entries as well. Hyundai had previously competed in the WRC with the Hyundai Accent WRC from

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

to 2003. * The Qatar World Rally Team and Lotos Team WRC will not start the season.

Driver changes

Nasser Al-Attiyah Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah ( ar, ناصر صالح ناصر عبدالله العطية : nāṣir ṣāliḥ nāṣir ʿabdullāh al-ʿaṭṭīyah; born 21 December 1970 in Doha) is a Qatari rally driver and sport shooter. He wa ...

will not start the season after the Qatar World Rally Team did not submit an entry and the Qatari government ended its sponsorship of

. *

Chris Atkinson Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an indi ...

will join Hyundai on a part-time basis, competing in selected events including

. Atkinson will share the team's second entry with Dani Sordo and Juho Hänninen. *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Super 2000 World Rally Champion

Craig Breen Craig Breen (born 2 February 1990) is an Irish rally driver, who competes part time in the Hyundai team in the WRC (World Rally Championship). He was the 2012 WRC Super 2000 world rally champion, scoring class wins in the Monte Carlo Rally, ...

will make his debut in a

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

-specification car at the Rally of Sweden *

Elfyn Evans Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh rally driver. He is currently teamed with Scott Martin and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the World Rally Championship. Career The son of 1996 British Rally Championship Champion ...

, who won the

Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior WRC, also known as JWRC and previously known as Junior World Rally Championship, is an international rallying competition restricted to drivers under 29 years old. The championship currently consists of five select rallies of th ...

and placed seventh overall in the 2013 World Rally Championship-2 season will join

. *

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a works ...

, who contested three events in

with Qatar World Rally Team, will compete at selected events in 2014 with Hyundai. Hänninen will share the car with Dani Sordo and Chris Atkinson. Hänninen will make his first appearance for the team at the Rally of Sweden. *

Mikko Hirvonen Mikko Hirvonen (born 31 July 1980) is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 2 ...

lost his seat at Citroën after two seasons with the team. He will return to M-Sport, the team he competed with from 2006 to 2011, when it was known as the Ford World Rally Team. * Former

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver and reigning

World Rally Championship-2 The FIA WRC2 (previously also known as World Rally Championship 2 and WRC 2), is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main class and crews usually compete immediately ...

champion

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...

will join the sport's top tier of competition in 2014, driving an M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta RS WRC as a satellite team of M-Sport. * After taking part in selected events during the 2013 season, nine-time World Drivers' Champion

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rallying, rally, auto racing, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nin ...

will leave the World Rally Championship, moving to the

with Citroën Racing. *

Kris Meeke Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...

will return to full-time competition, joining Citroën after making guest appearances in the team's third car in 2013. * Slovakian driver Jaroslav Melichárek will make his WRC debut, driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC run by the Jipocar Czech National Team under the name "Slovakia World Rally Team". Melichárek had previously campaigned a Citroën C4 WRC in the Czech and Slovakian national championships before joining the team. *

Thierry Neuville Thierry Jean Neuville (born 16 June 1988) is a Belgian rally driver who is competing in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. During his career, he has finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2013, 2016–2 ...

will leave the Qatar World Rally Team to join Hyundai's works team. *

Evgeny Novikov Evgeny Maksimovich Novikov (russian: Евгений Максимович Новиков, translit=Yevgeniy Maksimovich Novikov; born 19 September 1990) is a former Russian rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2007 to ...

lost his seat with M-Sport. He ruled out contesting the full 2014 season as he focused on securing funds for a drive in 2015, but expressed a willingness to make guest appearances at selected events. *

Mads Østberg Mads Østberg (born 11 October 1987) is a Norwegian rally driver. His co-driver is Torstein Eriksen. Career Østberg competed in his first rally in 2004. His first World Rally Championship event was the 2006 Swedish Rally, in which he finishe ...

will leave

after two seasons competing for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

-backed teams M-Sport and Adapta. He will be driving for Citroën alongside Kris Meeke. * 2011 Production Car World Rally Champion

Hayden Paddon Hayden Paddon (born 20 April 1987) is a New Zealand rally driver. He was PWRC world champion in 2011 and won the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018 and 2021. Career Paddon was introduced into motorsport at an early age, h ...

will compete part-time throughout the 2014 season, driving an i20 WRC. *

Dani Sordo Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo (born 2 May 1983) is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland. Career Sordo began in motocross wh ...

will leave Citroën for Hyundai, sharing the team's second entry with Chris Atkinson and Juho Hänninen. Sordo will be the first of the three to drive the i20 WRC, starting the

. *

Ott Tänak Ott Tänak (; born 15 October 1987) is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is competing for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT. Tänak achieved his maiden drivers' world title in ...

will return to the World Rally Championship, contesting selected events in a privately entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC whilst campaigning in the WRC-2 series with a Fiesta R5.

Changes

* Pirelli will return to the World Rally Championship as a tyre supplier in 2014, joining existing suppliers Michelin,

DMACK DMACK, the parent company of DMACK Holdings Ltd., is a Rovereto, Italy, based tyre manufacturer which started as a company based in Carlisle, United Kingdom. History DMACK was founded in 2008 by Dick Cormack to deliver smaller tyre sizes t ...

and

Hankook Hankook Tire & Technology (; , also known simply as Hankook and stylised ), is a South Korean tire company. Based in Seoul, Hankook is the seventh largest tire company in the world. History Hankook Tire was established by Jae Hun Chung's grandf ...

. Pirelli was previously the exclusive supplier for the championship from

to 2010. * The rules governing the running order for a day's stages will change in 2014, after the FIA expressed dissatisfaction with the qualifying stage format introduced in

, whereby the fastest drivers during the event shakedown were given the opportunity to choose their starting position for the rally as a means of discouraging drivers from stopping on a stage in order to gain a more-favourable starting position the next day. The final format was decided upon at the December 2013 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, with WRC and WRC-2 drivers starting in their provisional championship classification for the first day of the rally, before starting the second and third days in reverse order of the provisional rally classification. Cars that have retired on one day and are restarting the next under Rally-2 regulations will be placed after the WRC and WRC-2 driver groups. * Manufacturers will no longer be required to nominate one permanent driver for the season, but will instead be obliged to nominate one driver for a minimum of ten events, leaving them free to rotate drivers through the remaining events as they so choose. * Rallies must now follow a fixed format. There will be a ceremonial start on Thursday, with the last stage run as the Power Stage. The length of the Power Stage must be at least ten kilometers. * All competitors registered in the Championships–WRC, WRC-2, WRC-3 and the Junior WRC—will be obliged to use a colour-coded windscreen sticker to distinguish its category.

Rally summaries

Round 1 — Monte-Carlo Rally

The first round of the season was run in difficult conditions, with heavy rain making for a slippery surface and low visibility. Former

driver

took an early lead, but fell behind on the first leg when he made the wrong tyre choice. French privateer Bryan Bouffier – who won the event in 2011, when it was a round of the

Intercontinental Rally Challenge The Intercontinental Rally Challenge was an FIA-sanctioned rallying series organised by SRW Events and Eurosport Events, and aimed to "give new opportunities to young or amateur rally drivers competing in recognised regional and international ral ...

– took control and led the field at the end of the first day. Bouffier came under pressure from reigning World Champion

on the second day, and ultimately lost the lead when he spun during the afternoon stages, whilst Kubica crashed out. Ogier's rally was not without incident, with the Volkswagen driver surviving several close encounters with walls as he tried to recover from a poor start. Ogier went on to win the rally by over a minute, with Bouffier second and

finishing third. Hyundai's return to the World Rally Championship started and ended poorly as

crashed heavily on the first stage and teammate

was forced to retire with a suspected electrical fault.

Round 2 — Rally Sweden

Round 3 — Rally Mexico

Round 4 — Rally de Portugal

WRC leader

was the first on the road in the first leg, but his disadvantage was decreased since in the days before the rally it rained, and the Algarve roads were a combination of dry and a little moist tracks, which led to difficulties for drivers to choose the right tire compound. Sébastien Ogier led the rally since Lisbon SSS until the last stage of the first leg (SS7), finishing behind

(1st) and

. In the middle

was in the lead after winning SS2 and SS3 with his

Hyundai i20 WRC The Hyundai i20 WRC is a World Rally Car built by Hyundai for use from the 2014 World Rally Championship. It is based on the Hyundai i20 subcompact car, and was unveiled at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The launch of the i20 marks Hyundai's return ...

. In the 2nd leg Sébastien Ogier imposed a demonic pace retaking the lead and quickly pulled out of Mikko Hirvonen.

finished in the podium last place. Dani Sordo after a promising start, retired at the beginning of the last day (due to mechanical when he was heading do start SS14) when he was in overall fourth place. This rally was marked by the high number of crashes between the top drivers:

and

(who would crash again in 2nd leg).

Round 5 — Rally Argentina

Round 6 — Rally Italia Sardegna

Round 7 — Rally Poland

Round 8 — Rally Finland

Round 9 — Rallye Deutschland

Round 10 — Rally Australia

Round 11 — Rallye de France Alsace

Round 12 — Rally Catalunya

Round 13 — Wales Rally GB

Notes: * – The Monte Carlo Rally was shortened when a competitor stopped on Stage 14, blocking traffic and forcing organisers to abandon the stage. * – The Rally Sweden was shortened when a computer error disabled the timing system, preventing one of the stages from being run.

Results and standings

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. There are also three bonus points awarded to the winner of the

Power Stage The Power Stage (abbreviated as PS) is a special stage that usually runs as the final stage of a rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC). Additional championship points are available to the fastest five crews through the stage regardless of ...

, two points for second place and one for third.

FIA World Rally Championship for Co-Drivers

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

References

External links

Official website of the World Rally Championship

FIA World Rally Championship 2014
at ewrc-results.com {{World championships in 2014 World Rally Championship seasons