Manfred Stohl is an Austrian rally driver who debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1991. Stohl's co-driver is fellow Austrian Ilka Minor.
The 1975 World Rally Championship was the third season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). 10 events were included on the schedule, including the return to the series of the famous Monte Carlo and Swedish rallies after a one season absence of those events. Both North American events were removed from the schedule however. Other returning entries to the schedule included the Acropolis Rally in Greece, which would become a staple of the WRC circuit to this day, and the Rallye du Maroc.
The 1974 World Rally Championship was the second season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). Due to the worldwide oil crisis, it was significantly reduced from its inaugural season, consisting of 8 events versus the previous 13 events. Notably absent were the Monte Carlo and Swedish rallies, though these would return the next year and remain part of the series to this day. However, other rallies such as those in Poland and Austria would never return to the WRC calendar. 1974 was the only year the WRC held two events in North America, though it would mark the last year for both of these events on the world stage.
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 events would be staples of the series through to today, including Monte Carlo, Sweden, Tour de Corse, and the RAC Rally, while others would soon be replaced in the schedule. As with following seasons, gravel events formed the majority of the schedule. Two pure tarmac and one snow and ice rally were also included, as well as three events held on a mixture of soft and hard surface roads.
The 1979 World Rally Championship was the seventh season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies, one more than the previous year. The addition marked the return to New Zealand, an event which would remain on the schedule through today.
Achim Warmbold is a German former rally driver. He won the West German Rally Championship in 1971 and 1980, and scored two outright victories during the inaugural World Rally Championship season in 1973 at the Rally of Poland and Austrian Alpine Rally events.
The 1973 Monte Carlo Rally, run in late January and hosted in the principality of Monaco, was the first rally on the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) new World Rally Championship (WRC) inaugural season, making it the first ever WRC event to be held.
The 1973 Swedish Rally was the second round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-February around Karlstad, Sweden, the rally was the only snow and ice rally of the WRC calendar, a distinction it would keep as it remained a fixture of the WRC through the years. Only in 2007 would it finally be joined on the schedule by a second snow rally in Norway.
The 1973 Rallye de Portugal was the third round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-March in southern Portugal on a mixture of asphalt and gravel, the rally began with a concentration run from a number of European cities, covering about 4,600 km and ending in Estoril, Portugal.
The 1973 Safari Rally was the fourth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-April in central Kenya, the Safari was a markedly different rally from the other dates on the WRC schedule. About 5300 km of gravel roads comprised the course, though there were not distinct special stages as in other rallies, but instead the course was uncontrolled. The rally was considered very punishing, and thus many of the successful teams were specifically focused on it, leading to a different set of front-runners than led most other rallies. The rally was won by a local driver, Shekhar Mehta.
The 1973 Rally of Morocco was the fifth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-May between Morocco's two major cities, Rabat and Casablanca, the Rallye du Maroc was a very long stage rally covering more than 1200 km on both hard and soft surface roads.
The 1973 Acropolis Rally was the sixth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in late-May on the punishing hot gravel roads of central Greece, the Acropolis is a long-standing event on the WRC calendar.
The 1973 Polish Rally was the seventh round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-July in southern Poland, this marked to only year in which Poland was part of the WRC calendar until 36 years later in 2009. This edition was also notable for the fact that of the 62 teams which began the rally, only three completed it, a record that stands today.
The 1973 1000 Lakes Rally was the 23rd running of the 1000 Lakes Rally, and the eighth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season.
The 1973 Sanremo Rally was the tenth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-October around Sanremo, Italy, the rally was a mixed surface rally, with some stages on tarmac and others on gravel. Sanremo would become a staple of the WRC calendar for many years until the Italian portion of the WRC was moved to the gravel stages of Sardinia in 2004.
The 1973 Press-on-Regardless Rally was the eleventh round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run at the outset of November in the State of Michigan in the United States, the rally was run entirely on gravel.
The 1973 RAC Rally was the twelfth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-November in the County of Yorkshire in England, the rally was run primarily on gravel, with some sections of tarmac as well. The rally carried the name of its title sponsor, a popular British newspaper, The Daily Mirror.
Andreas Mikkelsen is a Norwegian rally driver. He drove a factory Volkswagen Polo R WRC in the World Rally Championship from 2013 to 2016. He finished third in the drivers standings in 2014, 2015 and 2016, collecting three wins and 20 podiums. He currently drives for Hyundai.
