The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of
rallying
Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...
, owned and governed by the
FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and teams. The series currently consists of 13 three to four-day rally events driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice. Each rally is usually split into 15–25
special stages which are run against the clock on up to 350 kilometres of closed roads.
Drivers
Sébastien Loeb,
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' Champions ...
,
Juha Kankkunen
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...
,
Tommi Mäkinen and
Colin McRae all became WRC champions. Other drivers who became well known primarily through their WRC careers include
Michèle Mouton
Michèle Mouton (born 23 June 1951) is a French former rally driver. Competing in the World Rally Championship for the Audi factory team, she took four victories and finished runner-up in the drivers' world championship in 1982.
Mouton debuted ...
,
Henri Toivonen
Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finland, Finnish rallying, rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Championship, European Rally C ...
,
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
Mikko Hirvonen. Rallies that have frequently appeared in the championship have included
Monte Carlo Rally
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 ...
,
Tour de Corse,
Sanremo,
Acropolis
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...
,
Safari Rally
The Safari Rally is a rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically r ...
, and national rallies of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
,
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 ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai ...
,
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
and
M-Sport Ford are the current competing manufacturers. Amongst their leading drivers are Loeb, Ogier,
Thierry Neuville,
Ott Tänak,
Dani Sordo,
Elfyn Evans and
Kalle Rovanperä.
The WRC also features two support championships, the
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 ...
and the
World Rally Championship-3 which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower performance and running costs of the cars permitted.
History
Early
The World Rally Championship was formed from well-known international rallies, nine of which were previously part of the
International Championship for Manufacturers (IMC), which was contested from 1970 to 1972. The
1973 World Rally Championship
The 1973 World Rally Championship was the inaugural season for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC) format. It consisted of 13 events, each held in a different country of the world. Many of the even ...
was the inaugural season of the WRC and began with the
Monte Carlo Rally
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 ...
on January 19.
Alpine-Renault
The Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS, commonly known as Alpine (), is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars established in 1955. The Alpine car marque was created in 1954.
Jean Rédélé, the founder of Alpine, was originally a ...
won the first
manufacturer's world championship with its
Alpine A110
The Alpine A110 is a sports car produced by French automobile manufacturer Alpine from 1963 to 1977. The car was styled as a " berlinette", which in the post-WWII era refers to a small enclosed two-door berline, better-known as a coupé. The ...
, after which
Lancia
Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...
took the title three years in a row with the
Ferrari V6-powered
Lancia Stratos HF, the first car designed and manufactured specifically for rallying. The first
drivers' world championship was not awarded until
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, although
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
and
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
seasons included an ''FIA Cup for Drivers'', won by
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
's
Sandro Munari
Sandro Munari (born 27 March 1940), also nicknamed 'Il Drago' (The Dragon) is a former motor racing and rally driver from Italy.
Career
Sandro Munari was born in Cavarzere, in the Veneto region. He began rallying in 1965 and won the Italian Ral ...
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 ...
's
Markku Alén
Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finland, Finnish former Rallying, rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru and Toyota Team Europe, Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the ...
respectively.
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
's
Björn Waldegård became the first official world champion, edging out Finland's
Hannu Mikkola
Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.
Career
Mikkola's rally career s ...
by one point.
Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
took the manufacturers' title with the
Fiat 131 Abarth
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiar ...
in 1977, 1978 and
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
,
Ford with its
Escort RS1800 in 1979 and
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...
with its
Sunbeam Lotus in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
. Waldegård was followed by
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Walter Röhrl and Finn
Ari Vatanen as drivers' world champions.
Group B era
The 1980s saw the
rear-wheel-drive Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to:
* Alkaline earth metal, a chemical element classification
* Astronaut Group 2, also known as The New Nine, the second group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1962
* Group 2 (racing), an FIA classification for cars in a ...
and the more popular
Group 4 cars be replaced by more powerful
four-wheel-drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
Group B cars.
FISA
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign pow ...
legalized all-wheel-drive in 1979, but most manufacturers believed it was too complex to be successful. However, after
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
started entering Mikkola and the new four-wheel-drive
Quattro in rallies for testing purposes with immediate success, other manufacturers started their all-wheel-drive projects. Group B regulations were introduced in the
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
, and with only a few restrictions allowed almost unlimited power. Audi took the manufacturers' title in 1982 and
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
and drivers' title in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
(Mikkola) and 1984 (
Stig Blomqvist). Audi's
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
female driver
Michèle Mouton
Michèle Mouton (born 23 June 1951) is a French former rally driver. Competing in the World Rally Championship for the Audi factory team, she took four victories and finished runner-up in the drivers' world championship in 1982.
Mouton debuted ...
came close to winning the title in 1982, but had to settle for second place after
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
rival Röhrl. The
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
title seemed set to go to Vatanen and his
Peugeot 205 T16
The Peugeot 205 is a supermini (B-segment) car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot from 1983 to 1999.
It was declared "car of the decade" by ''CAR Magazine'' in 1990. It also won ''What Car?s Car of the Year for 1984.
The 205 was intro ...
but a bad accident at the
Rally Argentina left him to watch compatriot and teammate
Timo Salonen
Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smok ...
take the title instead. Italian
Attilio Bettega
Attilio Bettega (19 February 1953 – 2 May 1985) was an Italian rally driver.''Autosport'' 50th Anniversary Issue Celebrating 50 years of the Best in Motorsport. page 173. 13 July 2000. Haymarket Specialist Magazines
Biography
Bettega was born ...
had an even more severe crash with his
Lancia 037
The Lancia Rally (''Tipo 151'', also known as the Lancia Rally 037, Lancia 037 or Lancia-Abarth #037 from its Abarth project code ''SE037'') was a mid-engine sports car and rally car built by Lancia in the early 1980s to compete in the FIA Group B ...
at the
Tour de Corse and died instantly.
The
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
started with impressive performances by Finns
Henri Toivonen
Henri Pauli Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986) was a Finland, Finnish rallying, rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Championship, European Rally C ...
and Alén in Lancia's new turbo- and supercharged
Delta S4, which could reportedly accelerate from 0–60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.3 seconds, on a gravel road.
However, the season soon took a dramatic turn. At the Rally Portugal, three spectators were killed and over 30 injured after Joaquim Santos lost control of his
Ford RS200. At the Tour de Corse, championship favourite Toivonen and his co-driver
Sergio Cresto
Sergio Cresto (USA) (January 19, 1956 – May 2, 1986) was the co-driver of Henri Toivonen at the Lancia Martini team for the 1986 World Rally Championship season. He was also a former co-driver for fellow Lancia employee Attilio Bettega, who die ...
died in a fireball accident after plunging down a cliff. Only hours after the crash,
Jean-Marie Balestre and the FISA decided to freeze the development of the Group B cars and ban them from competing in 1987. More controversy followed when Peugeot's
Juha Kankkunen
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...
won the title after FIA annulled the results of the
San Remo Rally, taking the title from fellow Finn
Markku Alén
Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finland, Finnish former Rallying, rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru and Toyota Team Europe, Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the ...
.
Group A era
![Lancia Delta Integrale HF 16V Rally Moritz Costa Brava 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Lancia_Delta_Integrale_HF_16V_Rally_Moritz_Costa_Brava_2018.jpg)
As the planned
Group S
Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...
was also cancelled,
Group A regulations became the standard in the WRC until 1997. A separate Group A championship had been organized as part of the WRC already in 1986, with Sweden's
Kenneth Eriksson taking the title with a
Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V.
Lancia was quickest in adapting to the new regulations and controlled the world rally scene with
Lancia Delta HF, winning the manufacturers' title six years in a row from
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
to
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and remains the most successful marque in the history of the WRC. Kankkunen and
Miki Biasion
Massimo "Miki" Biasion (born 7 January 1958) is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion.
Career
Biasion was born in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto.
Biasion came to prominence in the early 1980s, winning both the Italian and Europea ...
both took two drivers' titles with the
Lancia Delta HF.
The 1990s then saw the
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese manufacturers,
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Subaru
( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...
and
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
, become title favourites. Spain's
Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz may refer to:
People
* Carlos Sainz Sr. (born 1962), Spanish rally driver world champion, father of Jr.
* Carlos Sainz Jr. (born 1994), Spanish Formula One driver, son of Sr.
Other uses
* '' Carlos Sainz: World Rally Championship'', 1 ...
driving for
Toyota Team Europe
Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH (TGR-E), formerly Andersson Motorsport GmbH and Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), is a fully-owned and controlled entity of Toyota Motor Corporation, based in Cologne, Germany, which provides motorsport and automotiv ...
took the
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
and 1992 titles with a
Toyota Celica GT-Four. Kankkunen moved to Toyota for the 1993 season and won his record fourth title, with Toyota taking its first manufacturers' crown. Frenchman
Didier Auriol brought the team further success in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
, and soon Subaru and Mitsubishi continued the success of the Japanese manufacturer.
Scotsman
The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...
Colin McRae won the drivers' world championship in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
and
Subaru
( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...
took the manufacturers' title three years in a row. Finland's
Tommi Mäkinen driving a
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution won the drivers' championship four times in a row, from
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
to
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
. Mitsubishi also won the manufacturers' title in
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
. Another notable car was the
Ford Escort RS Cosworth, which was specifically designed for rallying. It was the first production car to produce downforce both at front and rear.
World Rally Car era
![Ss1 5rb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Ss1_5rb.jpg)
For the
1997 World Rally Championship
The 1997 World Rally Championship was the 25th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season saw many changes in the championship. Most notably, Group A was partially replaced by the World Rally Car with manufacturers given the option wh ...
, the
World Rally Car regulations were introduced as an intended replacement for Group A (only successive works Mitsubishis still conforming to the latter formula; until they, too,
homologated
Homologation (Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would normally work f ...
a Lancer Evolution WRC from the 2001 San Remo Rally). After the success of Mäkinen and the Japanese manufacturers, France's Peugeot made a very successful return to the World Rally Championship. Finn
Marcus Grönholm
Marcus Ulf Johan Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Champ ...
took the drivers' title in his first full year in the series and Peugeot won the manufacturers' crown. England's
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 ...
won the
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
title with a
Subaru Impreza WRC, but Grönholm and Peugeot took back both titles in the
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
.
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
saw
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
's
Petter Solberg
Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.
Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...
become drivers' champion for Subaru and
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
continue the success of the French manufacturers. Citroën's
Sébastien Loeb went on to control the following seasons with his
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 upon the Citroën Xsara road car. The car was introduced for the 2001 World Rally Champ ...
. Citroën took the manufacturers' title three times in a row and Loeb surpassed Mäkinen's record of four consecutive drivers' titles, earning his ninth consecutive championship in 2012.
Suzuki
is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...
and
Subaru
( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...
pulled out of the WRC at the end of the
2008 championship, both citing the economic downturn then affecting the automotive industry for their withdrawal.
Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
and
Ford both pulled out of the WRC at the end of the
2012 championship, due to a similar economic downturn affecting the European market, although Ford continued to give technical support to
M-Sport.
Volkswagen Motorsport entered the championship in 2013 and
Sebastien Ogier dominated the series with six consecutive titles. Hyundai also returned to the series in 2014. New World Rally Car rules were introduced for 2017 which generated faster and more aggressive cars.
In 2018,
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT won the
World Rally Championship earning
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
their first manufacturers' title since
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
.
With Tommi Mäkinen heading the team, he became the first person in the history of rally driving to win a Championship both as a driver and as a team principal. At the end of the following year, Citroën withdrew from the championship after Ogier left the team.
Ott Tänak took the driver's title breaking the French Sebastien's (Loeb and Ogier) domination of the sport since 2004. Hyundai meanwhile, took the manufacturers championship title and repeated the success in 2020. Ogier returned to championship winning ways for 2020 and 2021 in a Toyota Yaris, though vowed that the new era of Rally1 would not be fully contested by himself. WRC said goodbye to the World Rally Car in 2021 after 25 years.
The championships
![Volkswagen Motorsport Podium Rally Australia 2014 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Volkswagen_Motorsport_Podium_Rally_Australia_2014_001.jpg)
Any crew entering any WRC rally qualify for eligibility to score points in the overall World Rally Championships for Drivers and Co-Drivers. This is regardless of car technical class, number of rallies entered or if they are also entered into the support championships.
Manufacturers must register to be eligible to score in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers and must compete in
Group Rally1
Within the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally1 is a formula of rally car specifications for use at the highest level of international rallying in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as determined by the FIA. Despite the use of the wo ...
specification cars (
World Rally Car between 1997 and 2021). As the manufacturers use the highest performance car and usually employ the best drivers it is usually the case that these crews and cars take the majority of drivers/co-drivers championship points. Thus, combined with the money invested by the manufacturer teams, promotion of the WRC only tends to include the manufacturer crews and privateers in the Rally1 car or World Rally Car. These crews are given Priority 1 (P1) status on rallies and contest the stages before other crews. However it is not unusual for competitors in lower performance cars to take points in the drivers or co-driver's championships.
The World Rally Championship for Teams is for non-manufacturing entities. They can only enter in Rally1 or World Rally Cars if the corresponding manufacturer team is also running in the manufacturers' championship.
Support championships
The World Rally Championship also features support championships called the
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 ...
and
World Rally Championship-3. These championships are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC calendar and have tighter restrictions on eligible car criteria.
WRC-2
WRC2 is contested using only Rally2 cars with championships for drivers, co-drivers and teams. Drivers and co-drivers can enter a maximum of 7 events and their best 6 results will count towards their championship tally. Teams ''must'' enter two cars into a maximum of 7 events, 1 of which must be outside of Europe and the best 6 results will count towards the championship tally. Power stage points are also awarded. Drivers, co-drivers and teams must all nominate if they wish to be eligible for championship points before a rally and can do so independently. For that reason the same crew pair in the same team may compete in all events in a season yet nominate and score points in different events. Crews competing in WRC2 are given Priority 2 status and run the stages immediately after P1 crews. WRC2 replaced
SWRC
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, 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 ...
when
Group R
In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for rally competition. The Group R regulations were created in 2008 as a gradual ...
was introduced in 2013 and the eligibility rules relaxed.
From 2022, WRC2 Junior Driver and Co-Driver Championships will be run for WRC2 drivers under 30 years old. Masters Cup titles for drivers and co-drivers over 50 in WRC2 will also be awarded.
WRC-3
WRC3 is contested using only
Group Rally3
In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally3 is a formula of rally car specification determined by the FIA for use in its international competitions: the World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying compet ...
cars (Group Rally2 in 2020 and 2021), with championships for drivers, co-drivers and teams. Designed for privateer drivers, WRC3 has lower entry costs than WRC2 and there are restrictions on who can enter, testing and professional support received. Drivers and co-drivers can enter up to 7 rallies with their best 5 scoring championship points, and scoring rounds must also be nominated beforehand. Power stage points are also awarded.
Between 2013 and 2018, the championship was contested using two wheel drive cars from
R1, R2 and R3 classes of Group R. No championship ran in 2019 but was reinstated in its current format in . Crews competing in WRC3 are given Priority 3 status to run after the WRC2 crews.
From 2022 WRC3 Junior Driver and Co-Driver championships will be contested. Unlike the open format in WRC2 Junior, this will consist of an arrive-and-drive format over 5 events using Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars provided by
M-Sport. Drivers have to be under 29 and must register.
Discontinued support championships
![DennisRådströmRallySweden2020(2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/DennisR%C3%A5dstr%C3%B6mRallySweden2020%282%29.jpg)
*The
Junior World Rally Championship was an open championship for younger drivers in S1600 cars from 2001. In 2011 it became an FIA sanctioned championship run by
M-Sport or Citroën for drivers under 29. Ford Fiesta R2/Rally4 or Citroën DS3 R3 cars were provided, maintained and serviced for each entrant. Championships were awarded to drivers, co-drivers and nations. Only 5 rounds of the WRC calendar were competed with the best 4 results counting towards championship points, although the final round was worth double points. The highest scoring driver from each country registered points for the nations championship. Uniquely for this series, points were also awarded for stage wins.
*The
World Rally Championship Academy (WRC Academy) was an alternative name for J-WRC between 2011 and 2012, the first years the championship became a one-make series before reverting to the JWRC name.
*The World Rally Championship Ladies Cup ran from 1990 to 1995 and could be won by any class of car.
Louise Aitken-Walker
Louise Aitken-Walker MBE (born January 1960 in Duns, Berwickshire) is a British rally and saloon car racing driver. Aitken-Walker entered competition in 1979 and finished 19th in her first Rally GB two years later. She contested the 1989 Britis ...
was the first winner.
*The
Production car World Rally Championship
The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars.
History
The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained the ...
(P-WRC) began in 1987 as the FIA
Group N Cup before being renamed in 2002. Cars in the championship were production-based and homologated under Group N rules. From 2013, the Production WRC was renamed
WRC-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 tha ...
including
Group R
In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for rally competition. The Group R regulations were created in 2008 as a gradual ...
cars with two-wheel drive (R3, R2 and R1).
*The
2-Litre World Rally Cup ran from 1993 to 1999 using front wheel drive cars with engine capacities up to 2000cc. With relaxed rules the cars could often outpace the Group A and World Rally Cars of the main category. The series was abandoned due to high costs and the Super 2000 and Super 1600 specification cars that the series inspired later became the origins for SWRC and JWRC.
*The
Super 2000 World Rally Championship
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 ...
(S-WRC) was started in 2010 using
Super 2000
Super 2000 is an FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car championships. The engines were originally 2 L naturally aspirate ...
category cars. There were competitions for drivers (known as the S-WRC) and another for teams (the World Rally Championship Cup). From 2013,
WRC-2 replaced S-WRC and including cars with four-wheel drive (R5, R4 and S2000).
*The
WRC Trophy was run in 2017 for privateers entering with older World Rally Cars when the new WRC+ was introduced.
*
World Rally Championship-2 Pro
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 ...
(WRC2-Pro) ran only in 2019 and was open to manufacturer-supported teams entering cars complying with
Group R5 regulations. It was replaced in 2020 with the Rally2 based WRC3.
One-make series tournaments have also run on select rounds of the WRC calendar. They were privately administered rally tournaments but permitted to run on the rallies alongside the WRC. Examples include the
Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy (2006, 2007 and 2009) and
DMACK Fiesta Trophy (2014–2016), both ran by M-Sport, and Citroën Top Driver (2013) ran by Citroën. Neither team held these tournaments in the years they had the rights to manage the JWRC on the FIA's behalf.
Format and structure
Calendar
Each WRC season consists of a number of rounds within the same calendar year and should ordinarily include rallies on a minimum of 3 continents. In the past the championship has visited every continent except Antarctica. Most recently there have been about 13 rallies though there have been as few as 7 such as in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
due to COVID-19 pandemic. The rallies are typically driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice.
Rallies
![Ford WRC sur circulation public](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Ford_WRC_sur_circulation_public.JPG)
The competitive special stages are driven on closed roads which are linked by non-competitive road sections known as liaisons. These roads are open to the public and all road laws of that country must be adhered to. The liaison routes are detailed in a ''road book'' given to each crew and must also be adhered to within a specified time limit to arrive at the next stage or ''time control'' point or else they face penalties. To help organise this, crews carry a ''timecard'' which is filled in at each time control or special stage by an official. An average day consists of a total of of driving.
![GB Rally December 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/GB_Rally_December_2006.jpg)
In the current era each rally usually consists of between fifteen and thirty
special stages of distances ranging from under to over , not totalling more than .
Any stage which deviates from the character of the rally or ordinary running of a special stage is known as a
super special stage
A special stage (SS) is a section of closed road at a stage rallying event used for timed speed tests. Racers attempt to complete the stage in the shortest time. A race on a special stage is coordinated such that each competing racer begins after ...
. These are often short and for spectators or promotional purposes and may be on a different surface such as asphalt on a gravel character rally, or they may be a head-to-head running where two cars start at the same time at different points in a loop format.
Since 2021 rallies must consist of only one surface type except where short super special stages are permitted that do not require a change in the car's setup. In the past some rallies such as
Sanremo or
Rally Spain have had one day of gravel followed by another day of asphalt stages, requiring substantial changes in the setup of the car. Asphalt setups have 18" wheels compared to 13" on gravel or snow, combined with changes needed to the differentials, suspension travel and geometry. Historically, multiple brands have provided tyres to competitors, though in recent years
Pirelli
Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...
have become a control tyre for all four wheel drive cars in the championship. They offer different tyres for dry and wet asphalt, gravel, snow and ice with studs or no studs, with different compound hardness also available. Hand cutting a tread pattern is not permitted.
A WRC event begins with reconnaissance (''recce'') on Tuesday and Wednesday, allowing crews to drive through the stages and create or update their
pace notes
In rallying, pacenotes are a commonly used method of accurately describing a rallying route to be driven in extreme detail. As well as dictating the general route to be taken, in terms of turnings, junctions, etc., all notable features of the rou ...
. On Thursday, teams can run through the
shakedown
Shakedown may refer to:
* Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation
* Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational
* Extortion, ...
stage to practice and test their set-ups. The competition typically begins on either Thursday evening or Friday morning and ends on Sunday with the Power Stage. Cars start the stages at two-minute intervals in clear weather, or three-minute intervals if it is decided that visibility may be a problem for competitors.
![Mitsubishi WRT - 2005 Cyprus Rally](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Mitsubishi_WRT_-_2005_Cyprus_Rally.jpg)
Each rally has one central service park where the cars are prepared and repaired if needed at the end of each loop and
leg, however some rallies may organise a remote service and/or tyre fitting zone nearer to the stages during a leg. How much time can be spent working on the car once the rally has started is outlined in the rally's itinerary. Between the days, after a final end of day service, cars are locked away in
parc fermé,
a quarantine environment where teams are not permitted to access or work on their cars.
Championship points
Points are awarded and contribute towards the world championships, and those with the most points at the end of the season are given the championship title. Points can be awarded derived from the overall final classification or from the Power Stage (below). The driver's championship and manufacturer's championship are separate but based on a similar point system. This means a driver can win the driver's championship driving one car yet a different manufacturer can win the manufacturer's championship which has occurred on several occasions, most recently in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Points are awarded at the end of each rally to the top ten overall finishers under the following points structure for drivers and co-drivers:
Manufacturers must nominate up to three crews to be eligible for manufacturer championship points before an event. The two fastest nominated crews from each manufacturer form a new classification for the purpose of awarding manufacturer points in the same structure as above. Retired crews cannot score points and it is not unusual for a crew to finish way down the overall order, possibly after restarting, yet still score manufacturers points.
Power Stage
First introduced in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, the "Power Stage" is the final stage of the rally and is typically televised live and immediately followed by the rally's podium celebrations. Additional World Championship points are available to the five fastest drivers and co-drivers through the stage regardless of where they actually finish in the rally. The fastest team receiving five points, the second-fastest receiving four points, etc. and the fifth-fastest receiving one. In 2021 manufacturers began scoring power stage points following a similar system to the classification points, where only the top two nominated from each team can be eligible. Ordinary Special Stages are timed with an accuracy to the tenth of a second, the "Power Stage" timing is to the thousandth of a second.
Restarting after retirement
Crews are permitted to restart the following day if they are forced to retire. For each stage not completed however, a ten-minute penalty plus the winning stage time in the same priority group is added to the overall time. Originally known as ''SuperRally'' when introduced and later renamed ''Rally 2'', the rules allow for a better return on investment for competitors and more action for spectators. The ''Rally 2'' name was dropped in 2019 as restarting became the norm, indeed crews are expected and assumed to be restarting unless they register a permanent retirement with the clerk of the course. The name was also dropped to avoid confusion with the new
Rally2
In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally2 is a formula of rally car specification determined by the FIA for use in its international competitions: the World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying compet ...
group of car. Restarting is still at the discretion of the organisers, such as meeting safety standards after a heavy accident.
Cars
![Tour de Corsica 2018 Thierry Neuville 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Tour_de_Corsica_2018_Thierry_Neuville_2.jpg)
The rules surrounding which cars are used in WRC are governed and approved by the
FIA. From the WRC's inception, cars had always followed a basic rule of being Category I, 'Series Production Cars' with a minimum production requirement to achieve
homologation
Homologation (Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would normally work fr ...
by the FIA. This ceased to be the case when
Group Rally1
Within the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally1 is a formula of rally car specifications for use at the highest level of international rallying in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as determined by the FIA. Despite the use of the wo ...
cars were introduced for the 2022 season. Rally1 regulations placed them in Category II as 'Competition Cars', which are built as single examples for exclusive use in competition.
The rules have changed over time to suit economic conditions, for safety reasons, to advance technology, to attract more manufacturer entrants or to better promote the series. Specifications of cars used can be for just one type, such as the World Rally Car, or a Group of similar specifications that differ in performance such as Group R. In 2014, the FIA introduced the current sporting classes to help further categorise the different classes and groups based on performance. RC1 has the highest performance cars whilst RC5 has the lowest permitted at WRC level.
To enter a WRC rally in 2022, cars must be homologated in one of the following groups or classes: World Rally Car 1.6L, any of the Groups Rally and R3 or R-GT of Group R
World Rally Car 1.6L
Eligible cars with 1.6L
direct injection turbo engine
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
s and
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
built to
World Rally Car regulations. The power output is limited to around . The 'WRC+' cars including the
Ford Fiesta WRC,
Toyota Yaris WRC and the
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC cannot be driven by those who had scored manufacturer points between 2017 and 2021. Earlier WRC cars since 2011, such as the
Volkswagen Polo R WRC are permitted without such restrictions. 2021 was the final season of this specification at the top of the sport, being replaced by Rally1 in the manufacturer's championship in 2022.
Groups Rally
![OliverSolbergRallySweden2020(3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/OliverSolbergRallySweden2020%283%29.jpg)
The
Groups Rally In international rallying, the Groups Rally are the collective name given to formulae of rally car as defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for use in the World Rally Championship and the FIA's regional championships. The names ...
consists of six rally car specifications eligible for WRC.
*
Rally1 cars were introduced in 2022 and replaced the
World Rally Car as the car permitted in the manufacturer's championship. Hybrid powertrains were introduced for the first time in rallying amongst cost-cutting initiatives such as centrally developed tubular safety structures and simpler suspension and transmissions.
*
Rally2 cars, formerly
R5 of
Group R
In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for rally competition. The Group R regulations were created in 2008 as a gradual ...
, are the second highest performance cars and are the sole cars eligible for WRC-2.
*Rally2-Kit cars, previously known as R4-kit in Group R, are also eligible for overall entry. Rally2 and Rally2-Kit are within the same sporting category — RC2.
*
Rally3 cars
In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally3 is a formula of rally car specification determined by the FIA for use in its international competitions: the World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying compet ...
were introduced in 2021 and will be used in WRC-3 from 2022.
*
Rally4 cars
In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally4 is a formula of rally car specifications determined by the FIA for use in its international competitions: World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying competit ...
, formerly R2 of Group R, do not have a specific support championship.
*
Rally5 cars, formerly R1 of Group R, do not have a specific support championship.
Group R
Starting in 2008, a category of rally cars known as
Group R
In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for rally competition. The Group R regulations were created in 2008 as a gradual ...
were introduced as a rally only replacement to the Group A and Group N categories which were slowly phased out of eligibility. Cars were classified under one of six categories based on their engine capacity and type, wheelbase, and drivetrain. Group R cars still had to be homologated in Group A or N but have the relevant Group R extension approved in common with other rally formulae. As a result, older cars could reclassify under Group R subject to meeting criteria.
With R5, R4, R2 and R1 of Group R being renamed and absorbed by the new Groups Rally, as of the 2021 season R3 and R-GT cars are still currently eligible for overall entry. R3 cars however have been downgraded to RC4 sporting class from RC3, in line with Rally4 cars rather than superseding them.
Neither R3 or R-GT have specific WRC support championships.
Historically eligible cars
When the WRC began in 1973, FISA allowed cars from its Group 1 (series-production touring cars), Group 2 (touring cars), Group 3 (series-production grand touring cars) and Group 4 (modified grand touring cars) amongst national classes. These FISA classes were also used in circuit racing and other motorsport championships. The groups formed the basis of new groups in 1982,
Group N replaced Group 1,
Group A replaced Group 2, and
Group B replaced Group 4. Due to the increasing power, lack of reliability and a series of fatal accidents during the
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
season,
Group B was permanently banned. In 1987 Group A became the highest performance car and the choice for manufacturers whilst privateers opted for the budget friendly Group N for use in the newly created
Production Car World Rally Championship
The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars.
History
The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained the ...
. A Group N car has won a WRC rally only once - a Renault 5 driven by Alain Oreille won the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire in 1989. Despite the PWRC ending in 2012, Group N cars were allowed to enter WRC2 until 2016 and overall rallies until the end of 2018.
In
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, the
World Rally Car specification was introduced to ease the development of new cars and bring new makes to the competition. An extension of Group A, the WRC cars were used in the manufacturer's championship, although Mitsubishi received special dispensation to run their Group A models into 1999, and won three drivers and one manufacturers championships whilst doing so. In 2011 changes were made to the World Rally Car, the engine capacity was restricted to 1.6L and the minimum length requirement removed to allow for smaller and cost-effective models. Further changes in 2017 allowed for more aero-dynamics, increased safety requirements and a larger air intake restrictor, which increased the effective power from 300 to 380 hp.
Super 2000
Super 2000 is an FIA powertrain specification used in the World Rally Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the World Touring Car Championship, and other touring car championships. The engines were originally 2 L naturally aspirate ...
cars were allowed to enter the overall rallies from 2007 to 2018. They were eligible in the PWRC from 2007 to 2009 before the
Super 2000 World Rally Championship
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 ...
was run between 2010 and 2012. They were also accepted in WRC2 from 2013 to 2016.
Super 1600 cars were only allowed to enter in JWRC and on events that the championship was held on up to 2010 before the R2 became the sole championship car.
Promotion and coverage
![Photographe du WRC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Photographe_du_WRC.JPG)
WRC Promoter GmbH owns the commercial rights to the WRC championships, responsible for all media coverage, sponsorship operations and encouraging of participants. WRC Promoter GmbH is jointly owned by
Red Bull Media House
Red Bull GmbH () is an Austrian private company known for its range of energy drinks of the same name. It is also known for its sponsorship of a range of sporting events and teams. The headquarters of Red Bull GmbH are located in Fuschl am S ...
and KW25 Beteiligungs GmbH.
Through the Red Bull Content Pool, WRC provides news, articles and images for professional news and media outlets free of charge. The WRC.com website and mobile apps provides news, live rally times and results, championship standings and information about the rallies and championships.
Commercial rights to the championship were first sold in 1996 to
International Sportsworld Communicators
North One Sports, formally known as International Sportsworld Communicators, is a United Kingdom based company which owned the commercial rights to the World Rally Championship between 1996 and 2012.
History
Bernie Ecclestone founded ISC in Jul ...
(ISC), a company owned by
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns ...
who also held an FIA presidential position at the time. ISC was sold in 2000 to a group led by the then Subaru team boss
David Richards, who later sold the company to
North One Television in 2007. In 2009, ISC was awarded a 10-year contract to act as the first promoter for the championship from 2010. This new relationship included the FIA handing over responsibilities such as proposing new events and recruiting new sponsors. The contract with North One Sports (renamed from ISC) was cancelled by the FIA ahead of the 2012 season after the company entered into
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
the previous year. The current promoter, WRC Promoter GmbH, was announced as the new promoter from the 2013 season.
Internet video
Video coverage is provided in various forms at WRC.com, mobile or smart TV apps. Brief highlights, clips on technology and documentary videos are free to watch, whilst a paid-for subscription is required to watch premium content via
WRC+. This service features the same highlights and review videos as produced for TV, as well as onboard footage, live map tracking, and since 2018 ''WRC+ All Live'', live coverage and commentary from every stage during each rally event.
Brief and free video footage is also provided via social media platforms. In addition, the first running of Shakedown is often shown live on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
though is not shown via WRC+.
Red Bull also produce feature-length programmes for
Red Bull TV
Red Bull TV is a global multi-platform channel owned by Red Bull GmbH, distributed digitally on connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, and on its website. The channel is available globally. Programming is in English (with optional subtitles and clos ...
using stage footage from WRC TV combined with their own presenting team and insight from guest pundits. Dirtfish.com also provide some video content in a similar way, though usually not as long.
WRC TV
WRC TV produces previews, daily highlights and event reviews for each rally, as well as other magazine shows such as season reviews for broadcast television. Some TV stations also broadcast the power stage and select other stages live, usually two stages on a Saturday and the first run of what will be the power stage. Further, TV stations may broadcast the entire All Live live stream, typically via an interactive channel.
The make up and format for these programmes can vary from country to country depending on the local broadcaster and prominence of local drivers. In 2016, the cumulative worldwide TV audience for WRC TV's programmes was more than 700 million, growing to 836 million in 2019. The programming is available in over 150 markets and more than 12,000 hours were screened globally in 2016, reducing to under 10,000 hours in 2019.
Radio
Live radio coverage was provided in English by WRC Live via the Internet, featuring end of stage reports direct from the drivers and teams plus service park news. They also produced podcasts. It also featured contemporary music during breaks in rally coverage. World Rally Radio ceased in 2018 when WRC+ All Live began.
Podcasts
An official podcast is frequently produced. The latest version ''Backstories'' has interviewed drivers and co-drivers since 2020.
Records and statistics
Manufacturers
21 different manufacturers have won a World Rally Championship event:
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
,
Ford,
Lancia
Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...
,
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
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 ...
,
Subaru
( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...
,
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, 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 ...
,
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
,
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
,
Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
,
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai ...
,
Datsun/
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
,
Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
-
Alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
,
Saab,
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
,
BMW,
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
,
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
and
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...
. With a further 11 having finished on the podium:
Seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
,
Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
,
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
,
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
,
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
,
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
,
MG,
Polski Fiat,
Škoda
Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to:
Czech brands and enterprises
* Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav
** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...
,
Triumph and
Wartburg
The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the p ...
. Lancia, with ten Manufacturers' Championships, has won more championships than any other marque.
Champions
Event wins
''Updated after
2022 Rally Japan
The 2022 Rally Japan (also known as the FORUM8 Rally Japan 2022) was a motor racing event for rally cars held over four days between 10 and 13 November 2022. It would mark the seventh running of the Rally Japan. The event would be the final round ...
.'' Drivers and manufacturers who have participated in the
2022 World Rally Championship
The 2022 FIA World Rally Championship is the fiftieth season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams ...
are in bold.
Video games and esports
There have been many
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s based on the World Rally Championship, and due to lack of licenses, many more based on only certain cars, drivers or events. ''
Sega Rally
''Sega Rally'' is a series of racing video games published by Sega and developed by several studios including Sega AM3, Sega and Sega Racing Studio.
The series released its first title, ''Sega Rally Championship'' in 1994. Initially, ''Sega Rall ...
'', released in 1995, as well as ''
V-Rally
''V-Rally'' is a racing video game series originally developed and published by Infogrames. It debuted in 1997 with the release of V-Rally (video game), the eponymous game for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation console.
History
''V-Rally'' ...
'' and ''
Top Gear Rally
''Top Gear Rally'' is a 1997 racing video game developed by Boss Game Studios and released for the Nintendo 64. A follow-up to Kemcos original ''Top Gear'' game, it features a championship mode where a single player must complete six seasons o ...
'' in 1997 were primarily 'arcade' racing games with little emphasis on realistic damage or physics. The ''
Colin McRae Rally'' series introduced in 1998 was the first to incorporate a more realistic 'simulation' feel to the genre. ''
Rally Trophy
''Rally Trophy'' is a 2001 historic PC rally simulation, developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by JoWooD Productions for the Microsoft Windows operating system in 2001.
Reception
''Rally Trophy'' received "favorable" reviews accordi ...
'', released in 2001 for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
by
Bugbear, concentrated on historic cars such as
Alpine A110
The Alpine A110 is a sports car produced by French automobile manufacturer Alpine from 1963 to 1977. The car was styled as a " berlinette", which in the post-WWII era refers to a small enclosed two-door berline, better-known as a coupé. The ...
and
Lancia Stratos. ''
RalliSport Challenge
''RalliSport Challenge'' is a 2002 rally racing video game for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox. It allows a career with up to 29 cars including the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 and the Suzuki Grand Vitara. Four race types that are included in the game ...
'', released in 2002 for Windows and
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
by
Digital Illusions CE
EA Digital Illusions CE AB (trade name: DICE) is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The company was founded in 1992 and has been a subsidiary of Electronic Arts since 2006. Its releases include the ''Battlefield'', ''Mirror's E ...
, featured classic
Group B cars and
hillclimb models along with modern WRC cars.
The first fully FIA licensed ''
WRC: World Rally Championship'' was released in 2001 for
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
by
Evolution Studios. The video game series had its fifth game, ''
WRC: Rally Evolved'', in 2005.
Racing simulator
Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire ...
''
Richard Burns Rally
''Richard Burns Rally'' is a sim racing game, published by SCi and developed by Warthog with advice of WRC champion Richard Burns (1971–2005).
It was released in July 2004 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, and in July 2005 for Gizmo ...
'', released in 2004 for several platforms, has gathered recognition for its realism. Recent top-selling games include ''
Colin McRae: DiRT 2'', ''
Sega Rally Revo
''Sega Rally Revo'' (known in Europe as ''Sega Rally'') is an offroad racing video game, the fourth installment of the ''Sega Rally'' series. The game was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows in 2007. ...
'' and ''
Dirt 3
''Dirt 3'' (stylised as ''DiRT 3'') is a simcade racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was the first game in the series without the ''Colin McRae'' moniker. A sequel, DiRT 4 ...
''. ''
Gran Turismo 5'' includes WRC licensed cars from manufacturers such as Subaru and Ford. In October 2010,
Black Bean Games released ''
WRC: FIA World Rally Championship'' which features the cars, drivers and events of the
2010 World Rally Championship
The 2010 World Rally Championship was the 38th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 11 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 14 November.
France's Sébastien Loeb wo ...
, including those from the three support categories. A downloadable patch was produced allowing players to drive in Group B cars such as the Audi Quattro. Various cars whose participated in the WRC such as
Mitsubishi Lancer WRC and
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
The Ford Fiesta RS WRC is the World Rally Car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport for use in the World Rally Championship 2011–2016. It is based upon the Ford Fiesta road car, and replaced the Ford Focus RS WRC, whi ...
have also appeared in the
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
game ''
Car Town
''Car Town'' was a social network game developed by Cie Games (now Glu Mobile). It allowed users to collect and modify virtual vehicles. The main objective of the game was to win races and build a collection of vehicles. ''Car Town'' had many lic ...
''. The WRC video game license was acquired by French game development studio
Kylotonn from
Milestone srl after the release of ''
WRC 4: FIA World Rally Championship'' in 2013. The first WRC game by Kylotonn was ''
WRC 5
''WRC 5'' is a racing video game based on the 2015 World Rally Championship season. The game was developed by French developer Kylotonn and published by Bigben Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, a ...
'', released in 2015, with successive releases on a near-annual basis with
WRC Generations
''WRC Generations'' is a racing video game developed by Kylotonn and published by Nacon. It is the seventh entry in the ''World Rally Championship (video game series), World Rally Championship'' series by the French developer and holds the offici ...
due in 2022. The WRC license will pass to
Codemasters for the period of 2023 to 2027.
eSports WRC is an online championship run via the latest official video game. Beginning in 2016, the championship is free and open to anybody with a copy of the game. Each esports season ends with a Grand Finale with competitors gathering for an on-site event to race each other, usually in the service park of an actual rally event. Previous eSports WRC champion Jon Armstrong is also a physical rally driver, and racehouse
Williams run a team.
Footnotes
References
External links
*
Rally databaseat
eWRC-results.com
{{Authority control
Recurring sporting events established in 1973
Rally racing series
World auto racing series