Jesús Puras Vidal de la Peña (born March 16 1963), also known as 'Chus Puras', is a Spanish

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver active in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

from 1991 to 2002. Puras was well known for his blistering performances on tarmac rallies.

Career

Puras debuted in rallying in 1982 and captured the Spanish Rally Championship title eight times; in 1990 and 1992 with a Lancia Delta Integrale 16V, in 1995 and 1997 with a

Citroën ZX The Citroën ZX is a Compact car, small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998. At the beginning of the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's entry in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort ( ...

16S, from 1998 to 2000 with a Citroën Xsara Kit Car and in 2002 with a

Citroën Xsara WRC The Citroën Xsara WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based on the Citroën Xsara road car. The car was introduced for the 2001 World Rally Ch ...

. Driving a

Ford Escort RS Cosworth The Ford Escort RS Cosworth is a Homologation (motorsport), homologation special of the fifth generation European Ford Escort (Europe), Ford Escort. It was designed to qualify as a Group A car for the World Rally Championship in which it compete ...

, he also won the 1994 FIA

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing "standard" large-scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

Cup (now as

World Rally Championship-3 The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars that ...

). Along with teammate

Philippe Bugalski Philippe Bugalski (12 June 1963 Cusset – 10 August 2012) was a French rally driver. Bugalski became a works Renault driver in the French Rally Championship in 1994. In 1998, he joined the works Citroën team, with whom he won the French natio ...

, he was chosen by the

Citroën Total World Rally Team Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

to be part of their driver line-up for the first bit-part campaign with the Citroën Xsara Kit Car in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. He secured his only WRC win at the 2001

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...

with

co-driver A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...

Marc Martí Marc Martí Moreno (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish rally co-driver. Biography He debuted in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as a co-driver to Oriol Gómez in 1992. In the 1999 season, he began his partnership with Jesús Puras and th ...

(who then went on to pilot former double world champion Carlos Sainz and in recent years, Dani Sordo) with the

. However, with performances overshadowed by the upcoming

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

, he retired from the Citroën factory team and the WRC in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, ending with a sixth place in his last rally – the 2002

Rallye Sanremo Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of the FIA World Rally Championship schedule from 1973 to the 2003. It was a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and is current ...

WRC victories

WRC results

References

External links

Puras at the World Rally Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puras, Jesus 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Santander, Spain World Rally Championship drivers Rally drivers from Cantabria Spanish rally drivers Dakar Rally drivers Citroën Racing drivers