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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, which lasts one calendar year, 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.
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles were limited in terms of power, weight, allowed technology and overall cost. Group A was aimed at ensuring numerous entries in races of privately owned vehicles.
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 Championship alongside the more popular racing prototypes of Group C, Group B are commonly associated with the international rallying scene during 1982 to 1986 in popular culture, when they were the highest class used across rallying, including the World Rally Championship, regional and national championships.
In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing "standard" large-scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specification by the manufacturer making them a cost effective method of production vehicle motorsport. Often referred to as the "showroom class", Group N contrasts with Group A which has greater freedom to modify and tune the cars to be more suitable to racing. Both groups may have the same or similar models homologated by a manufacturer.
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 2008 World Rally Championship was the 36th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 15 rallies and began on 24 January, with the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally. Frenchman Sébastien Loeb successfully retained the Drivers' World Championship, his and co-driver Daniel Elena's record-breaking fifth consecutive title, all of them attained driving Citroëns. In addition, Citroën secured their fourth Manufacturers' title, and their first since 2005, from 2006 and 2007 victors, Ford.
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.
The 2010 World Rally Championship was the 38th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 11 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 14 November.
The FIA WRC2 Championship is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews. WRC2 is limited to production-based cars homologated under Group Rally2 rules. There are separate specific championship titles awarded to Teams, Drivers and Co-Drivers.
In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for rally competition. The Group R regulations were gradually introduced from 2008 as a replacement for Group A and Group N rally cars.
In international rallying, Group R-GT, is a formula of rally car defined by the FIA for GT cars introduced in 2011. Between 2014 and 2019 technical passports were issued for individual vehicles built by tuners. Since 2020 R-GT cars are required to be homologated by the manufacturer in common with other rally car formulae.
In international rallying, R5 refers to a class of cars competing under Group R regulations. R5 regulations were introduced by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 2012 as a replacement for the Super 2000 class. In 2019 the FIA renamed the R5 specification ruleset to Group Rally2 as part of a wider plan to reorganise FIA championships and replace Group R with new Groups Rally. Existing FIA homologated R5 cars remain eligible for any FIA Rally2 level competition, and non-homologated R5 or Rally2 cars should be accepted equally at national level where approved. R5/Rally2 cars are based on production cars and feature a 1600cc turbocharged petrol engine.
The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the World Rally Championship. The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after WRC2 entrants. Entry into WRC3 is limited to cars that are based on production models and homologated under Group Rally3 rules, although prior to 2022 Group Rally2 cars were used. There are championship titles awarded to drivers and co-drivers. The series began in 2013 and was limited to production-based cars homologated under the R1, R2 and R3 rules, until its cancellation at the end of 2018. The current format of the series began in 2020.
The FIA Rally Pyramid is the collective description and organisation of championships, car performance classes and driver aptitude in international rallying. In 2019 the FIA rally commission presented a radical overhaul to the rally pyramid to introduce common nomenclature and structure of the international championships and car classes used across the sport in a similar way to terminology used in formula racing. At the top of the pyramid, Rally1 describes elite level of driver aptitude and car performance in the World Rally Championship (WRC). At the foot of the pyramid is Rally5, designed for cost effective introductory rallying competition.
Group Rally1 is a technical specification of rally car for use at the highest level of international rallying in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as determined by the FIA. Despite the use of the word 'Group' in the name, there are not multiple classes or subclasses of car and so 'Rally1' may be used alone with the same definition. Rally1 cars were used for the first time in the 2022 WRC season and replaced the outgoing World Rally Car used in the manufacturer's championship. Though they may run on any individual rally as permitted by the organiser, they are not be used in any other championship.
Group Rally2 is a technical specification of rally car determined by the FIA. It features 1.6L turbo engines, four-wheel drive and a maximum power-to-weight ratio of 4.2kg/hp. Rally2 cars are used in the World Rally Championship and continental championships; a few national rallying competitions also allow Group Rally2 cars to compete. The group was launched in 2019 with other similarly named groups after the introduction of the Rally Pyramid initiative to reorganise the classes of car and championships in international rallying was approved in June 2018.
Group Rally3 is a technical specification of rally car determined by the FIA. It features four-wheel drive and a maximum power-to-weight ratio of 5.6kg/hp. The class is used in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying competitions also allow Group Rally3 cars to compete. There are three technical subclasses of Group Rally3 however these do not affect competitive eligibility so 'Rally3' may be used alone with the same definition. The group was launched in 2021 with the homologation of the first car after the introduction of the Rally Pyramid initiative to reorganise the classes of car and championships in international rallying was approved in June 2018.
Group Rally4 is a technical specification of rally car determined by the FIA for use in its international competitions: World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying competitions also allow Group Rally4 cars to compete. There are two technical subclasses of Group Rally4 however these do not affect competitive eligibility. 'Rally4' may be used alone with the same definition. The group was launched in 2019 after the introduction of the Rally Pyramid initiative to reorganise the classes of car and championships in international rallying was approved in June 2018.
Group Rally5 is a technical specification of rally car determined by the FIA for use in its international rallying competitions: World Rally Championship (WRC) and regional championships. National rallying competitions also allow Group Rally5 cars to compete. There are no subclasses of the group therefore all Group Rally5 cars can compete in the same category. 'Rally5' may be used alone with the same definition. The group was launched in 2019 after the introduction of the Rally Pyramid initiative to reorganise the classes of car and championships in international rallying was approved in June 2018.
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- ↑ "FIA Historic Database". historicdb.fia.com. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
- ↑ Shacki. "Entry list Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo 1973". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
- ↑ de, Publicat; rei.mra. "World Rally Championship History" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2022-08-16.
- ↑ Hope-Frost, Henry; Davenport, John (2004). The Complete Book of the World Rally Championship. Motorbooks International. ISBN 978-0-7603-1954-3.
- ↑ "FIA - FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers". 1997-05-10. Archived from the original on 1997-05-10. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
- ↑ "FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers". 1999-04-29. Archived from the original on 1999-04-29. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
- ↑ "2007 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers" (PDF).
- ↑ "2010 WRC Sporting Regulations" (PDF).
- 1 2 "2013 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MANUFACTURERS".