Michael Steven Park (22 June 1966 – 18 September 2005) was a

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

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 ...

from

Newent Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish about 10½ miles (17 km) north-west of Gloucester, England. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population was 6,777 at the 2021 Census. ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He worked with former world champions

Richard Burns Richard Alexander Burns (17 January 1971 – 25 November 2005) was an English rally driver who won the 2001 World Rally Championship, having previously finished runner-up in the series in 1999 and 2000. He also helped Mitsubishi to the world ...

and

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007) was a Scottish rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver and the youngest person to win the World Rally Championship ...

as a gravel note expert while co-driving for both David Higgins and Mark Higgins in the British national series. His big break, however, came when he teamed up with the emerging

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n talent

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 ...

as a privateer pairing in a

Toyota Corolla WRC The Toyota Corolla WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Toyota Castrol Team by Toyota Motorsport GmbH to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the E110 version of Toyota Corolla road car. The car was debuted at the 1997 ...

for the

2000 World Rally Championship season The 2000 World Rally Championship was the 28th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. The drivers' world championship was won by Marcus Grönholm in a Peugeot 206 WRC, breaking the streak of Tommi Mäkin ...

. After a number of strong performances, the pair were signed up by Subaru for 2001, before moving to

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 ...

, where they evolved into one of the leading driver/co-driver combinations in the WRC. In 2003, they took two rally victories, in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and improved on that figure with three wins in 2004 (

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Corsica and

Catalunya Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

). Park died as a result of injuries sustained in an

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

on the final leg of

Wales Rally Great Britain Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

when his

Peugeot 307 WRC The Peugeot 307 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 307 road car. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, and replaced the championship-winning 206 WRC from 2004 to 2005 in the World Rally Championship. Competition his ...

left the road and struck a tree. Märtin and Park were lying fourth in the 2005 season's title race at the time, after securing four podiums in a season dominated by Citroën's

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 ...

. Their performances had been instrumental in

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

's challenge for the manufacturer's championship, with the team lying six points behind French rivals Citroën. After the crash, Märtin said "Park wasn't my co-driver, I was his pilot." Park's death was the first top-level rallying fatality since

Rodger Freeth Rodger "Roj" Vincent Freeth, Ph.D., (24 December 1953 – 18 September 1993) was a New Zealand motor sport competitor. Career He held a Ph.D. in Physics and had a distinguished academic and motorsport career. His first love was motorcycles and ...

in the 1993 Rally Australia, and brought renewed attention to safety issues in the motorsport world. On 20 June 2006, a memorial for Park was unveiled in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

WRC victories

External links

BBC News report of deathMichael Park Fund (incorporating RB Foundation)Ingrassia wins Michael Park ‘Beef’ trophy
wrc.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Michael 1966 births 2005 deaths People from Newent English rally drivers British rally co-drivers Racing drivers who died while racing World Rally Championship co-drivers Sportspeople from Gloucestershire Sport deaths in Wales