The Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS, commonly known as Alpine, is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars established in 1955. The Alpine car marque was created in 1954.
The World Rally Championship is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and teams. The series currently consists of 12 two to three-day rally 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.
The Renault Clio is a supermini car (B-segment), produced by French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and entered its fifth generation in 2019. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consistently one of Europe's top-selling cars since its launch, and it is largely credited with restoring Renault's reputation and stature after a difficult second half of the 1980s. The Clio is one of only two cars, the other being the Volkswagen Golf, to have been voted European Car of the Year twice, in 1991 and 2006.
The Renault Mégane is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault for model year 1996, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three and five door hatchback, saloon, coupé, convertible and estate bodystyles at various points in its lifetime, and having been through three generations is now in its fourth incarnation.
Renault Sport or Renaultsport, is the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. It was reorganised in 2002 and 2016. In January 2021, it was announced that all Renault Sport operations would be merged into an Alpine-led business unit.
François Delecour is a French rally driver.
Kevin Abbring is a Dutch rally driver. His father, Edwin Abbring, is also a well-known former rally driver.
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 created in 2008 as a gradual replacement for Group A and Group N rally cars. To comply with Group R regulations, a car must be homologated in Group A and receive one or more VR extensions. Each VR extension is a set of homologated parts and modifications, designed and sold by the manufacturer. As part of its structure, the Group R regulations have a provision for GT cars, known as R-GT.
The Ford Fiesta R5 is a rally car built by M-Sport and based upon the Ford Fiesta ST road car. It was the first car homologated under the R5 regulations that were introduced in 2013. The Fiesta R5 made its competitive début in 2013 and has competed in the World Rally Championship-2, European Rally Championship and various national competitions since then. An updated model known as the Fiesta R5 Mk. II was unveiled in 2019. Starting in 2019, M-Sport Ford WRT will enter factory-supported Fiesta R5s and Fiesta R5 Mk. IIs in the World Rally Championship-2.
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.
Oliver Solberg is a Swedish-Norwegian rally driver. He is the son of the 2003 World Rally Champion, Petter Solberg, and Swedish mother Pernilla Walfridsson, who is also a successful former rally driver. After winning multiple crosskarting championships in his early years, Solberg became the 2018 RallyX Nordic Champion and 2019 FIA ERC1 Junior Champion before following in his father's footsteps and entering the World Rally Championship.
The 2021 European Rally Championship was the 69th season of the FIA European Rally Championship, the European continental championship series in rallying. The season was also the ninth following the merge between the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Alexey Lukyanuk was the reigning champion. Andreas Mikkelsen won the championship after 2021 Rally Hungary, using a Toksport WRT prepared Škoda Fabia R5 Evo. Mikkelsen therefore became the only driver to win the ERC and WRC-2 championship in one year and the first Norwegian to win ERC.
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.
Toksport World Rally Team is a motorsport preparation and race team based at the Nürburgring in Quiddelbach, Germany. The team has prepared cars for, and entered events in 26 motorsports championship around the globe and has won notable FIA championships in European Rally Championship, World Rally Championship and Cross Country Rally World Cup as well as entering WTCC and GT series. The company was founded in 2002.
The Ford Fiesta Rally4 is a rally car developed and built by M-Sport to Group Rally4 regulations and designed for competition in the fourth tier of the Rally Pyramid. It is based upon the Ford Fiesta road car and is the updated version of the Ford Fiesta R2.
The Renault Clio Rally5 is a rally car developed and built by Renault Sport for the Group Rally5 specification of the Rally Pyramid. It is based upon the Renault Clio road car and made its WRC debut at the 2020 Rally Mexico.
The Peugeot 208 Rally4 is a rally car developed and built by Peugeot Sport for the Rally Pyramid regulation of the Rally4 category. It is based upon the Peugeot 208 road car and was launched in 2020 and is a successor to Peugeot 208 R2.
In the motorsport discipline of rallying, Group Rally4 is a formula of rally car specifications 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.
Efrén Llarena is a Spanish rally driver born 25th May 1995 in Espinosa de los Monteros, Burgos, Castilla y León. In 2021 he finished runner up in the European Rally Championship behind Andreas Mikkelsen whilst driving his long term co-driver Sara Fernández to the co-driver's championship title.
The 2022 European Rally Championship will be the 70th season of the FIA European Rally Championship, the European continental championship series in rallying. The season was also the ninth following the merge between the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Andreas Mikkelsen is the reigning champion. Javier Pardo Siota is the reigning champion of ERC 2, now renamed as ERC Open, while Jean-Baptiste Franceschi is the reigning champion of ERC 3 - now renamed as ERC 4.
