List of World Rally Championship people

Last updated

The following list of people play, or have played, significant roles in the World Rally Championship (WRC):

Contents

FIA WRC Commission (2022-2023)

FIA WRC Commission (2022-2023) [1]
President Flag of Sweden.svg Roger Engstrom
Vice President Flag of Finland.svg Timo Rautiainen
President of the Rally Commission Flag of Finland.svg Jarmo Mahonen
Representatives of the rally organisers

(approved by the WMSC)

Flag of Spain.svg Aman Barfull
Flag of Greece.svg Anita Passalis
Flag of Italy.svg Antonio Turitto
Flag of Monaco.svg Christian Tornatore
Flag of Kenya.svg Phineas Kimathi
Flag of Estonia.svg Silver Kütt
Manufacturers' representativesM. Ichikawa (Toyota)
M. Norton (Ford)
P. Marcos (Hyundai)
Promoter's representatives Flag of Germany.svg Jona Siebel
Flag of Germany.svg Peter Thul
(non-voting FIA representatives)
FIA technical representative Flag of France.svg Xavier Mestelan-Pinon
FIA safety representative Flag of France.svg Michèle Mouton
FIA Rally Director Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Andrew Wheatley
FIA WRC category manager Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Andrew Wheatley

Administration

Team management

David Richards, founder of Prodrive and team principal of the Subaru World Rally Team. David Richards.jpg
David Richards, founder of Prodrive and team principal of the Subaru World Rally Team.

Engineers

Rally officials

Commentators and journalists

Drivers

Two-time world champion Marcus Gronholm. Marcus Gronholm Rally Japan 2007.jpg
Two-time world champion Marcus Grönholm.

Co-drivers

Daniel Elena with his driver Sebastien Loeb. Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena.jpg
Daniel Elena with his driver Sébastien Loeb.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petter Solberg</span> Norwegian rally driver (born 1974)

Petter Solberg is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Rally Championship</span> Rallying championship series, highest level of rallying competition

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Burns</span> British rally driver (1971–2005)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Sainz Sr.</span> Spanish rally driver (born 1962)

Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën. In the 2018 season, he was one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total. He received the Princess of Asturias Sports Award in 2020. Sainz founded the Acciona | Sainz XE Team to join Extreme E and competed in the first two seasons alongside Laia Sanz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juha Kankkunen</span> Finnish rally driver (born 1959)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ari Vatanen</span> Finnish rally driver and politician (born 1952)

Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times. In addition, he won the 1997 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommi Mäkinen</span> Finnish rally driver (born 1964)

Tommi Antero Mäkinen is a Finnish racing executive and former rally driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Todt</span> French motor racing executive (born 1946)

Jean Henri Todt is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive officer of Ferrari from 2004 to 2008. From 2009 to 2021 he served as the ninth president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

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 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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asia-Pacific Rally Championship</span> FIA regional rally championship

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford World Rally Team</span> 1978-2012 World Rally Championship manufacturer team

The Ford World Rally Team, also known as the Ford Motor Co. Team prior to 2005, is Ford Motor Company's full factory World Rally Championship team. In its current form, it has been a competitor since the 1997 season, when Ford Motor Company's motorsport arm selected the Malcolm Wilson Motorsport company to run its factory team, entering the Ford Escort World Rally Car. The new team took their first victory in the 1997 Acropolis Rally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicky Grist</span> British rally co-driver (born 1961)

Nicholas Mark Grist is a Welsh former rally co-driver, born in Ebbw Vale. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1993 to 2002. He won 21 rallies with more than one driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peugeot 206 WRC</span> Rally car

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 consecutive years. Marcus Grönholm won the drivers' title in 2000 and 2002.

The FIA WRC2 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.

The Hyundai World Rally Team is a rally team competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as the official Hyundai entrant. Its team principal is Cyril Abiteboul, and its drivers in the 2024 season include Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak, Esapekka Lappi, Dani Sordo and Andreas Mikkelsen. The team has entered WRC every year since 2014 by Hyundai Motorsport, a division of Hyundai Motors based in Alzenau, Germany. Between the years of 2000 to 2003, the team was run by Motor Sport Developments of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, on behalf of Hyundai Motor Sport.

Yves Matton is a Belgian Rally Motorsport Car Racing champion and a former FIA Rally Director. He founded his self-named company MY Racing, before being appointed Logistics Manager for Citroën Sport, and later GM for Citroën Racing. He also served as a customer racing manager, and helped track the development of young talented drivers.

François-Xavier Demaison also known as FX Demaison is a French motor racing engineer. Since 2023, he is serving as the technical director of Hyundai Motorsport. From 2021 to 2022 he was the technical director at the Williams Racing Formula One team.

References

  1. "Sporting Commissions Composition". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  2. "World Motor Sport Council – Decisions, Morrie Chandler appointed President of the World Rally Championship Commission, Official FIA Press Release". 5 July 2006.
  3. "Morrie Chandler". 13 March 2015.
  4. "Rally mourns death of president". Archived from the original on April 14, 2006.
  5. "Budar named at Citroën".
  6. "Managers - David Lapworth". Juwra.com. 1956-04-09. Retrieved 2022-09-04.