The Olympus Rally is an event in the motorsport of rallying. While it has usually been run as a national rally, in 1986–1988, it was a round in the

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

World 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 ...

, the most recent time a WRC rally has been run in the United States and the last in North America until Rally Mexico in 2004.

TSD Rally

The first Olympus Rally was held as a Time Speed Distance rally in 1968. It continued as a TSD rally until 1973 when

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

started the SCCA Pro Rally Championship with the Olympus Rally as its second event.

World Rally Championship

After being observed by the

for WRC status in 1985, from 1986–1988, the Olympus was a round of the World Rally Championship. From 1985–1987, the rally was sponsored by

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 ...

. The 1985 Olympus “World Championship Prototype” event was won by Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz in a

Group B 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 ...

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 ...

S1.

Markku Alen Markku is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Markku Alén (born 1951), Finnish former rally and race car driver *Markku Aro (born 1950), Finnish singer who performed on Eurovision contest in 1971 * Markku Huhtamo (born 1946), Fin ...

emerged on top of the results as the 1986 Olympus first gained full World Championship status, taking a Lancia Delta S4 and co-driver Ilkka Kivimäki to victory. In 1987, the Olympus was attended by a number of top international teams, including Nissan, Toyota, and Suzuki.

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 overall, as his and other Lancia Delta HF 4WD’s dominated the podium. Massimo “Miki” Biasion won the fourth and final Olympus World Championship Rally in 1988 – his fourth of the season for Lancia, on his way to being the first Italian FIA World Rally Champion.

Winners

National Rally

The Olympus Rally was first held as a stage rally in 1973. It was headquartered in Shelton, WA and was part of the SCCA Pro Rally Championship. It continued to be part of that championship through 1975. In 1976, it became part of the NARA (North American Rally Association) championship (which later changed its name to NARRA (North American Rally Racing Association)). It was part of that championship through 1979. In 1980, it switched back to the SCCA ProRally Championship and remained in that championship through 1987. While the name was used for a regional rally supporting the 2001 Wild West SCCA Pro Rally, the Olympus Rally was not held from 1989 through 2005. The Olympus Rally returned as national rally in 2006 and was part of the United States Rally Championship. In 2007, it switched to the Rally America National Championship and was part of that championship through 2012. After a dispute with Rally America, the rally was cancelled in 2013. It was originally scheduled to return as a NASA Rally Sport National qualifier round in 2014, however the issues with Rally America were resolved and the rally ran as a Rally America regional rally. In 2015, it will return to the Rally America National Championship. In 2017 it became sanctioned by the

American Rally Association The American Rally Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit stage rallying sanctioning body in the United States. The organization sanctions the American Rally Association Presented by DirtFish National Championship. It is currently managed by th ...

Winners

External links

Olympus Rally
{{World rallies Rally competitions in the United States Sports in Olympia, Washington Motorsport in Washington (state) Rally America Recurring sporting events established in 1973 World Rally Championship rallies