The 1981 World Rally Championship was the ninth season of the

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

(FIA)

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

(WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies. While this number was the same as the previous year, one change was made to the schedule, replacing

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 ...

with the

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

. The 1981 World Rally Championship for Drivers was won by

Ari Vatanen Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rall ...

driving a Rothmans Rally Team

Ford Escort RS1800 The Ford Escort is a small family car that was manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 until 2000. In total there were six generations, spread across three basic platforms beginning with the original rear-wheel drive Mk.1/Mk.2 (1968–1980), ...

, the only time a privateer team has won the Drivers' Championship until 2017. The Makes' Championship was won by Talbot with their

Sunbeam Lotus The Chrysler Sunbeam is a small Supermini car, supermini three-door hatchback manufactured by Chrysler Europe at the former Rootes Group factory in Linwood, Renfrewshire, Linwood in Scotland, from 1977-81. The Sunbeam's development was funded b ...

. It also saw the beginning of a new era in the sport with the arrival of the

Audi Quattro The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991. Background The wo ...

, the first four-wheel drive rally car. Initially regarded as too heavy and complex for rally stages, it proved its worth with three wins in its debut season, including a maiden victory for Michèle Mouton at the

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 the 1973 season to the 2003 season. Currently, it is a round of the Intercontinental Rall ...

, the only woman to win a WRC event. __TOC__

Teams and drivers

Championships

Events

External links

FIA World Rally Championship 1981
at ewrc-results.com {{World Rally Championship results

World Rally Championship seasons

Teams and drivers

Championships

Events

See also

External links