The World Rally Championship (WRC) is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver, co-driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 14 three-day events driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice. Each rally is usually split into 15–25 special stages which are run against the clock on closed roads.
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 has so far been able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers, but Ogier has managed to match his feat of winning consecutive titles with different manufacturers.
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times. Since 2013 Vatanen has been the President of the Estonian Autosport Union.
Jean Todt is a French former rally driver who went on to become Peugeot Talbot Sport's Director and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed Chief Executive Officer of Ferrari from 2004 to 2008.
The Acropolis Rally of Greece is a rally competition which used to be part of the European Rally Championship (ERC) schedule, and was formerly a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough and rocky mountain roads around Athens during the Greek hot summer period. The rally is known for being extremely tough on the competing cars and drivers.
Timo Salonen is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smoked heavily, but still remained one of the fastest and most competitive drivers in the sport. He was also known for his relaxed attitude and for his habit of steering his rally car with one hand only. These factors led to the nickname Löysä ("Slack"). With his 7 rally wins he remained the most successful driver of Group B era (1983–1986) of WRC.
The 1983 World Rally Championship was the 11th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies. By this time, the schedule format had become generally stable, with only one or two changes to venues year to year. 1983 brought the return of Argentina to the schedule in place of Brazil. Audi's Hannu Mikkola beat the defending world champion Walter Röhrl and his Lancia teammate Markku Alén to the drivers' title. Lancia captured the manufacturers' title from Audi by just two points.
The Scottish Rally Championship is a rallying series run throughout Scotland over the course of a year, that comprises seven gravel rallies.
The 1985 World Rally Championship was the 13th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies following the same schedule as the previous season. Peugeot Sport's Timo Salonen beat Audi Sport's Stig Blomqvist and Walter Röhrl to the drivers' title. Peugeot won their first manufacturers' title, ahead of Audi and Lancia.
The 1981 World Rally Championship was the ninth season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies. While this number was the same as the previous year, one change was made to the schedule, replacing New Zealand with the Brazil.
Bruno Thiry is a Belgian rally driver. He was born in St. Vith, Province of Liège.
The Belgium Ypres Westhoek Rally (BYWR) founded by Frans Thévelin in 1965 is one of the most famous rallies in the European Rally Championship, the Belgian Rally Championship, the British Rally Championship, and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
The Subaru Impreza WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Subaru Impreza road car. It was used by Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru's factory team, and replaced Subaru Legacy RS from in 1993. The car was debuted at 1993 Rally Finland and won a total of five world rally titles, including three consecutive manufacturers' titles in and two drivers' titles.
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.
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, the team, in its current form, has existed since 1989, when the British firm Prodrive took over its operations, and its base moved from Japan to Banbury, England.
Fred Gallagher is a World Rally Championship winning co-driver and motorsport personality.
The Brazil World Rally Team is a Brazilian World Rally Championship team, based in Salvador, Brazil and Groß-Enzersdorf, Austria, that made their début in the 2011 season at the Rally de Portugal, round three of the 2011 season. They started with a Super 2000-spec Mini before switching to the Mini John Cooper Works WRC for their next round, the Rally d'Italia Sardegna. In 2012, at the Rally de Portugal, they switched to the Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The team has been registered as a WRC Team entry, and plans to add a second car to the lineup by 2013.
Chris Ingram is a British rally driver. In 2019, Ingram became the first British driver to win the European Rally Championship (2019) in 52 years since Vic Elford.
The 1998 Safari Rally was held between 28 February and 2 March 1998. It was the first World Rally Championship victory for Richard Burns and his co-driver Robert Reid after his teammate Tommi Mäkinen and fellow Briton Colin McRae both retired.
