Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish

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

driver, and the winner of the World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle".

Career

Waldegård, who came from Rimbo, had a career that spanned four decades; he made his debut in 1962 and, after winning the Swedish Rally Championship in 1967 and '68, continued to compete at the top level until 1992 when a broken arm suffered during a crash in the 1992

Safari Rally The Safari Rally is an automobile 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 h ...

forced his retirement. His first international victory, at the wheel of a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...

, came on the 1969

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...

, while his last came for

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

on the 1990 Safari. It made him the oldest driver to win a World Rally Championship event, a record he retained until the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally. In the mid-1970s Waldegård took part in the newborn European Championship for

Rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

Drivers with a privately entered Porsche Carrera RSR. His best overall result was to become the Runner-up to Austrian Franz Wurz, father of Alexander Wurz, of the 1974 Embassy European Rallycross Championship. The

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. ...

-backed

Lancia Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...

team of the 1970s frequently choose between star drivers Waldegård and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

frontrunner Sandro Munari. Waldegård and Munari came head to head in the 1976 Rallye Sanremo. Waldegård had a four-second lead over Munari entering the final stage, only to be forced to squander that advantage in keeping with the team's hopes for an 'equal' shootout. Waldegård, however, emerged as victor by four seconds, having disobeyed team orders and overtaken Munari – as a result, Waldegård left Lancia and joined Ford in late 1976. Driving Ford Escort RS1800 models, Waldegård won three of the world's most punishing rallies in 1977; the East African

, the

Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece () is a Rallying, rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually dur ...

, and the

RAC Rally 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) cal ...

. He was later victor in the inaugural

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

series in 1979 for Ford and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

, beating

Hannu Mikkola Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finns, Finnish champion world rallying, 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 ...

in the final round at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

, by finishing second behind his rival. In September 2008, Waldegård took part in the ''

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007), was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title. At 27, ...

Forest Stages Rally'', a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in Scotland. He was one of a number of ex-world champions to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007. On the event he drove a

. In addition to his rallying career, Waldegård also took part in the 1970 Targa Florio sports car endurance race on the Italian island of Sicily, the oldest motor race in the world at the time. He drove a factory supported, John Wyer-entered Porsche 908/3. The Targa Florio was more or less a rally-type race on a closed circuit made up of public roads, hence the reason for Waldegård's one-off drive with Porsche. Sharing driving duties with Briton Richard Attwood, he finished fifth. Björn Waldegård died on 29 August 2014 of cancer at the age of 70.

International victories

WRC victories

Racing record

Complete IMC results

Complete WRC results

Complete FIA European Rallycross Cup results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Publications

''Björn Waldegård – Rally blev mitt liv'', by Waldegård, Björn & Karlsson, Gerhard, Årets Bilsport 1994, 212 pages, Swedish language,

References

External links

Björn Waldegård RallyBase profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldegard, Bjorn 1943 births 2014 deaths World Rally Champions Swedish rally drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Rally Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Sportspeople from Solna Municipality Racing drivers from Stockholm County Porsche Motorsports drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers