| World Rally Championship |
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The 1996 World Rally Championship was the 24th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 9 rallies. As a result of their 1995 disqualification, Toyota Team Europe were not allowed to compete in this year's championship, so only three works teams contested the championship. The drivers' world championship was won by Tommi Mäkinen in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3, ahead of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Subaru.
| Round | Dates | Race |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9–11 February |  Swedish Rally |
| 2 | 5–7 April |  Safari Rally |
| 3 | 10–12 May |  Rally Indonesia |
| 4 | 2–4 June |  Acropolis Rally |
| 5 | 4–6 July |  Rally Argentina |
| 6 | 23–26 August |  1000 Lakes Rally |
| 7 | 13–16 September |  Rally Australia |
| 8 | 13–16 October |  Rallye Sanremo |
| 9 | 4–6 November |  Rally Catalunya |
| Sources: [1] [2] | ||
| Registered works teams | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Manufacturer | Car | Tyre | No | Drivers | Rounds |
 555 Subaru World Rally Team | Subaru | Impreza 555 | P | 1 |  Colin McRae | All |
| 2 | Kenneth Eriksson | All | ||||
| 3 |  Didier Auriol | 1 | ||||
| Piero Liatti | 2–9 | |||||
| 10 | Piero Liatti | 1 | ||||
| Ford Motor Co Ltd | Ford | Escort RS Cosworth | M | 4 | Carlos Sainz | All |
| 5 | François Delecour | 1 | ||||
| Stig Blomqvist | 2 | |||||
| Gwyndaf Evans | 3 | |||||
 Bruno Thiry | 4–9 | |||||
| 6 | Stig Blomqvist | 1 | ||||
| Dandy Rukmana | 3 | |||||
| 14 | Ari Vatanen | 1 | ||||
| 16 | Ari Mökkonen | 4 | ||||
| 28 | Per Svan | 1 | ||||
| Mitsubishi Ralliart Petronas/Winfield Mitsubishi Ralliart | Mitsubishi | Lancer Evo III | M | 7 | Tommi Mäkinen | All |
| 8 | Kenneth Bäcklund | 1 | ||||
| Kenjiro Shinozuka | 2 | |||||
| Richard Burns | 3, 5, 7, 9 | |||||
 Uwe Nittel | 4 | |||||
| Lasse Lampi | 6 | |||||
| Didier Auriol | 8 | |||||
| 9 | Uwe Nittel | 1, 5, 8 | ||||
| Yoshihiro Kataoka | 3 | |||||
| Pascal Smets | 4 | |||||
| Jouko Puhakka | 6 | |||||
| Ed Ordynski | 7 | |||||
| 18 | Uwe Nittel | 6–7, 9 | ||||
| 29 | Yoshihiro Kataoka | 7 | ||||
| 41 | Pascal Smets | 8 | ||||
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Each works team had to nominate up to three drivers 30 days before each event; only two best placed nominated drivers were eligible to score points for the manufacturers' championship.
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| Black = Tarmac | Brown = Gravel | Blue = Snow/Ice | Red = Mixed Surface |
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| Rally Name | Start-End Date | Podium Drivers (Finishing Time) | Podium Cars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish Rally | 9–11 February |
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| Safari Rally | 5–7 April |
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| Rally Indonesia | 10–12 May |
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| Acropolis Rally | 2–4 June |
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| Rally Argentina | 4–6 July |
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| 1000 Lakes Rally | 23–26 August |
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| Rally Australia | 13–16 September |
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| Rallye Sanremo | 13–16 October |
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| Rally Catalunya | 4–6 November |
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| Pos | Manufacturer | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SEAT | (25) | 60 | (13) | 36 | 46 | 47 | 46 | 39 | 274 |
| 2 | Renault | 36 | 39 | 53 | 64 | - | - | 48 | 25 | 265 |
| 3 | Skoda | 39 | 44 | - | 46 | 35 | 60 | (16) | 40 | 264 |
| 4 | Peugeot | 46 | 9 | 54 | - | 9 | - | 40 | 10 | 168 |
| 5 | General Motors Europe | 43 | 31 | 11 | - | - | - | 18 | - | 103 |
| 6 | Suzuki | - | - | - | 16 | 36 | - | - | - | 52 |
| = | Hyundai | - | - | - | - | 21 | 31 | - | - | 52 |
| 8 | Daihatsu | - | - | - | - | 15 | 35 | - | - | 50 |
| 9 | Honda | 9 | 6 | - | - | 8 | - | - | 20 | 43 |
| 10 | Nissan | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 42 | 42 |
| 11 | Kia | - | - | - | - | - | 32 | - | - | 32 |
| = | Toyota | - | 1 | - | - | 31 | - | - | - | 32 |
| 13 | Renault Argentina | - | - | - | 28 | - | - | - | - | 28 |
| 14 | Citroën | 20 | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | - | 27 |
| 15 | Daewoo | - | - | - | 26 | - | - | - | - | 26 |
| 16 | Toyota Australia | - | - | - | - | - | 21 | - | - | 21 |
| 17 | Volkswagen | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | 15 | 18 |
| 18 | Ford | - | - | - | - | - | - | 15 | - | 15 |
| 19 | Mitsubishi | - | - | - | - | 14 | - | - | - | 14 |
| 20 | Fiat | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 |
() Denotes dropped score
The World Rally Championship is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA's world championships after Formula One. Each season lasts one calendar year, and separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers. There are also two support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower maximum performance and running costs of the cars permitted. Junior WRC is also contested on five events of the World Rally Championship calendar.
Richard Alexander Burns 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 manufacturers' title in 1998, and Peugeot in 2002. His co-driver in his whole career was Robert Reid. He is the only Englishman to have won the World Rally Championship as a driver.
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen 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 were both once records in the series. Both Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier have since collected more world titles, but no driver was able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers until Ogier matched this achievement in 2020.
Tommi Antero Mäkinen is a Finnish racing executive and former rally driver.
Kenneth Eriksson is a now retired World Rally Championship rally driver. He drove for several manufacturer teams, including the Subaru World Rally Team, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Škoda. He was the 1986 Group A Champion in the competition's only year, his best performance, overshadowed by the fatalities that occurred in that season.
Ralliart is the high-performance division of Mitsubishi Motors. It was responsible for development and preparation of the company's rally development of high-performance models and parts available to the public. Ralliart scaled down its business activities in April 2010, though the brand will continue to be used by Mitsubishi.
The 2001 World Rally Championship was the 29th season of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). In a tightly contested year, Subaru's Richard Burns took his first and only drivers' world title, beating Ford's Colin McRae, Mitsubishi's Tommi Mäkinen and the defending champion Marcus Grönholm of Peugeot. Peugeot successfully defended their manufacturers' title.
The 2000 World Rally Championship was the 28th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. The drivers' world championship was won by Marcus Grönholm in a Peugeot 206 WRC, breaking the streak of Tommi Mäkinen who had won the previous 4 titles for Mitsubishi, ahead of Richard Burns and Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Peugeot, ahead of Ford and Subaru.
Velappan Rajendran Naren Kumar is a seven-time Indian National Rally Championship Champion and two-time runner-up and Asia Zone Champion from Coimbatore, India.
The 1999 World Rally Championship was the 27th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. Tommi Mäkinen won his fourth drivers' world championship driving for Mitsubishi, ahead of Richard Burns and Didier Auriol. The manufacturers' title was won by Toyota, ahead of Subaru and Mitsubishi.
The 1998 World Rally Championship was the 26th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies. Tommi Mäkinen won his third consecutive drivers' world championship driving for Mitsubishi, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae. The manufacturers' title was won by Mitsubishi, ahead of Toyota and Subaru. This year also marked the Ford Escort's last full-season works outing before being replaced by the Ford Focus WRC in 1999. The season ended in dramatic fashion when Carlos Sainz's Corolla WRC stopped approximately 300 metres from the finishing line in the final stage at Margam due to mechanical failure, thus surrendering his fourth place on the rally and handing the title to Mäkinen.
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 which regulations to construct to. One inherent benefit to manufacturers by adopting WRC regulations was removing the need to mass-produce road-going versions of the cars that they competed with, under the previous rules for homologation. This meant that vehicles such as the Escort RS Cosworth and Subaru Impreza Turbo no longer had to be mass-produced for general sale in order to compete at World Championship level, and thus acting as a means of attracting increased competition and involvement by manufacturers. In the few years that follow, the Championship saw the added presence of WRC cars from companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Seat, Citroën, and Peugeot, who would all compete under WRC regulations without having to manufacture equivalent specialised road cars for public sale. Both Ford and Subaru switched to WRC in 1997, except Mitsubishi who stayed with Group A to maintain the links to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road cars. Subaru's transition was much more gradual for similar reasons with the early Subaru Impreza WRCs still largely Group A in nature.
The 1995 World Rally Championship was the 23rd season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 8 rallies. The drivers' world championship was won by Colin McRae in a Subaru Impreza 555, ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Subaru.
The 1994 World Rally Championship was the 22nd season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 10 rallies. The drivers' world championship was won by Didier Auriol in a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Juha Kankkunen. The manufacturers' title was won by Toyota, ahead of Subaru and Ford.
The 1993 World Rally Championship was the 21st season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies. Juha Kankkunen won his fourth drivers' world championship in a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD, ahead of François Delecour and Didier Auriol. The manufacturers' title was won by Toyota, ahead of Ford and Subaru.
The 2007 World Rally Championship was the 35th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on 19 January, with the Monte Carlo Rally and ended on 2 December, with the Wales Rally GB. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb won his fourth consecutive drivers' world championship ahead of Ford's Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen. Ford took the manufacturers' title.
The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) is an international rally championship organized by the FIA encompassing rounds in Asia and Oceania. Group N cars dominated the championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S2000 regulations have tended to be the frontrunners.
The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three years in a row from 2000 to 2002. Marcus Grönholm won the drivers' title in 2000 and 2002.
The Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) was Subaru's World Rally Championship (WRC) team. It used a distinctive blue with yellow colour scheme that is a throwback to the sponsorship deal with State Express 555, a BAT cigarette brand popular in Asia. 555 logos were found on Subaru cars from 1993 to 2003, although less prevalent since 1999 due to BAT's participation in Formula One with British American Racing. Subaru's WRC efforts date back to 1980, however, in 1989 British firm Prodrive took over its operations, and its base moved from Japan to Banbury, England.
The 2009 World Rally Championship was the 37th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of twelve rallies and began on 30 January, with Rally Ireland and ended with Rally GB on 25 October. Sébastien Loeb won the World Drivers' championship at Rally GB by one point from Mikko Hirvonen, taking his sixth consecutive crown. Citroën secured their fifth Manufacturers' title, Martin Prokop won the JWRC Drivers' championship and Armindo Araujo won the PWRC Drivers' championship.
