View source for World Rally Championship

{{X}}
[[Image:Subaru_Monte-Carlo_2005.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Stephane Sarrazin]] driving a [[Subaru Impreza WRC]] on the [[Monte Carlo Rally]]]]

[[Image:Wrc-monte-carlo-99.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|[[Carlos Sainz]] driving a [[Toyota Corolla WRC]] on the [[Monte Carlo Rally]]]]

The '''World Rally Championship''' (WRC) is a [[rally racing]] series across the world (although the main focus is in Europe, due to the sport's roots), culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's championship and manufacturer's championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. This means that [[Petter Solberg]] driving for [[Subaru]] can win the driver's championship but [[Citroën]] can win the manufacturer's championship, which is what happened in [[2003]]. The competition first received the designation of WRC in [[1973]]. 

== World Rally Cars ==

The Championship currently features 16 rallies and production-based 2.0&nbsp;L [[Turbocharged]] [[4WD]] cars built to [[World Rally Car]] regulations racing across tarmac, gravel and snow. The power output has been limited to around 300bhp. Current cars in the championship include the [[Citroën Xsara#Citroën Xsara WRC|Citroën Xsara]], [[Ford Focus|Ford Focus RS]], [[Peugeot 307]], [[Skoda Fabia]], [[Subaru Impreza]], and [[Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution]]. Citroën, Peugeot, Skoda and Mitsubishi have pulled out of the championship for 2006 and those cars, although in use by privateers, are not in further development. Citroën will be returning to WRC in 2007 using the [[Citroën C4|C4]].

The WRC was formerly held for [[Group A]] and [[Group B]] rallycars. However, due to the increasing power, lack of reliability and the fatal accidents on the 1986 season, [[Group B]] was permanently banned. Later, in 1997, the [[Group A]] cars evolved into the WRC car spec, to ease the development of new cars and bring new makes to the competition.

The World Rally Championship also features classes called the [[Production World Rally Championship]] and the [[Junior World Rally Championship]].

== World Rally Calendar ==

For 2004 through 2005, the championship rallies included [[Monte Carlo]], [[Sweden]], [[Mexico]], [[New Zealand]], [[Cyprus]], [[Greece]], [[Turkey]],  [[Argentina]], [[Finland]],  [[Germany]], [[Japan]], [[Great Britain]], [[Italy]], [[France]], [[Spain]], and [[Australia]].  [[Japan]] and [[Mexico]] debuted in [[2004]]. 

The 2006 rallies will be, in order, [[Monte Carlo]], [[Sweden]], [[Mexico]], [[Spain]], [[France]], [[Argentina]], [[Italy]], [[Greece]], [[Germany]], [[Finland]], [[Japan]], [[Cyprus]], [[Turkey]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]] and [[Great Britain]]. 

==World Rally Results==
See current (i.e. 2006) [[World Rally Championship 2006 results|World Rally Championship race results]].

The current Championship table looks like this [after Rally Argentina 28-30 April, 2006]:

'''Drivers''''
{| table BORDER=5 CELLSPACING=4 CELLPADDING=5 style="font-size: 95%"
|- tr BGCOLOR="darkred"
!  Place 
!  Driver
!  Car
!  Points
|- 
| 1. || S.Loeb||Citroën || 56pts
|- 
| 2. || M.Gronholm||Ford || 35pts
|- 
| 3. || D.Sordo||Citroën || 24pts
|- 
| 4. || P.Solberg||Subaru || 18pts
|- 
| 5. || M.Stohl||Peugeot || 18pts
|- 
| 6. || G.Galli||Peugeot || 11pts
|- 
| 7. || A.Bengue||Peugeot || 9pts
|- 
| 8. || C.Atkinson||Subaru || 8pts
|- 
| 9. || M.Hirvonen||Ford || 7pts
|- 
| 10 || H.Solberg||Peugeot || 7pts
|}

'''Manufacturers' / Team'''

{| table BORDER=5 CELLSPACING=4 CELLPADDING=5 style="font-size: 95%"
|- tr BGCOLOR="darkred"
!  Place 
!  Team
!  Points
|- 
| 1. || Kronos Total Citroen || 69pts
|- 
| 2. || BP-Ford WRT || 57pts
|- 
| 3. || Subaru WRT || 51pts
|- 
| 4. || OMV-Peugeot Norway || 31pts
|- 
| 5. || Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT || 15pts
|- 
| 6. || Red Bull Skoda || 11pts
|}

==World Rally Champions List==

{| table BORDER=5 CELLSPACING=4 CELLPADDING=5 style="font-size: 95%"
|- tr BGCOLOR="darkred"
!  Year 
!  Drivers' Championship(car)
!  Manufacturers' Championship 
|- 
|  
[[2005]] 
|  
[[Sébastien Loeb]] ([[Citroën]]) 
|  
[[Citroën]] 
|- 
|  
[[2004]] 
|  
[[Sébastien Loeb]] ([[Citroën]]) 
|  
[[Citroën]] 
|- 
|  
[[2003]] 
|  
[[Petter Solberg]] ([[Subaru]]) 
|  
[[Citroën]] 
|- 
|  
[[2002]] 
|  
[[Marcus Grönholm]] ([[Peugeot]]) 
|  
[[Peugeot]] 
|- 
|  
[[2001]] 
|  
[[Richard Burns]] ([[Subaru]]) 
|  
[[Peugeot]] 
|- 
|  
[[2000]] 
|  
[[Marcus Grönholm]] ([[Peugeot]]) 
|  
[[Peugeot]] 
|- 
|  
[[1999]] 
|  
[[Tommi Mäkinen]] ([[Mitsubishi]]) 
|  
[[Toyota]] 
|- 
|  
[[1998]] 
|  
[[Tommi Mäkinen]] ([[Mitsubishi]]) 
|  
[[Mitsubishi]] 
|- 
|  
[[1997]] 
|  
[[Tommi Mäkinen]] ([[Mitsubishi]]) 
|  
[[Subaru]] 
|- 
|  
[[1996]] 
|  
[[Tommi Mäkinen]] ([[Mitsubishi]]) 
|  
[[Subaru]] 
|- 
|  
[[1995]] 
|  
[[Colin McRae]] ([[Subaru]]) 
|  
[[Subaru]] 
|- 
|  
[[1994]] 
|  
[[Didier Auriol]] ([[Toyota]]) 
|  
[[Toyota]] 
|- 
|  
[[1993]] 
|  
[[Juha Kankkunen]] ([[Toyota]]) 
|  
[[Toyota]] 
|- 
|  
[[1992]] 
|  
[[Carlos Sainz]] ([[Toyota]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1991]] 
|  
[[Juha Kankkunen]] ([[Lancia]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1990]] 
|  
[[Carlos Sainz]] ([[Toyota]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1989]] 
|  
[[Massimo Biasion|Massimo 'Miki' Biasion]] ([[Lancia]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1988]] 
|  
[[Massimo Biasion|Massimo 'Miki' Biasion]] ([[Lancia]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1987]] 
|  
[[Juha Kankkunen]] ([[Lancia]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1986]] 
|  
[[Juha Kankkunen]] ([[Peugeot]]) 
|  
[[Peugeot]] 
|- 
|  
[[1985]] 
|  
[[Timo Salonen]] ([[Peugeot]]) 
|  
[[Peugeot]] 
|- 
|  
[[1984]] 
|  
[[Stig Blomqvist]] ([[Audi]]) 
|  
[[Audi]] 
|- 
|  
[[1983]] 
|  
[[Hannu Mikkola]] ([[Audi]]) 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1982]] 
|  
[[Walter Röhrl]] ([[Opel]]) 
|  
[[Audi]] 
|- 
|  
[[1981]] 
|  
[[Ari Vatanen]] ([[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]) 
|  
[[Talbot]] 
|- 
|  
[[1980]] 
|  
[[Walter Röhrl]] ([[Fiat]]) 
|  
[[Fiat]] 
|- 
|  
[[1979]] 
|  
[[Björn Waldegård]] ([[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]/[[Mercedes-Benz]]) 
|  
[[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] 
|- 
|  
[[1978]] 
| ''FIA Cup for Drivers'': 
[[Markku Alén]] ([[Fiat]]/[[Lancia]]) 
|  
[[Fiat]] 
|- 
|  
[[1977]] 
| ''FIA Cup for Drivers'': 
[[Sandro Munari]] ([[Lancia]]) 
|  
[[Fiat]] 
|- 
|  
[[1976]] 
| 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1975]] 
| 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1974]] 
| 
|  
[[Lancia]] 
|- 
|  
[[1973]] 
| 
|  
[[Alpine (car)|Alpine-Renault]] 
|}

==World Rally Championship event wins==
# 26 &ndash; [[Carlos Sainz]] (Spain)
# 25 &ndash; [[Colin McRae]] (Great Britain)
# 24 &ndash; [[Tommi Mäkinen]] (Finland) / [[Sébastien Loeb]] (France)
# 23 &ndash; [[Juha Kankkunen]] (Finland)
# 20 &ndash; [[Didier Auriol]] (France) / [[Marcus Grönholm]] (Finland)
# 19 &ndash; [[Markku Alén]] (Finland)
# 18 &ndash; [[Hannu Mikkola]] (Finland)
# 17 &ndash; [[Massimo Biasion]]
# 16 &ndash; [[Björn Waldegård]] (Sweden)

==External links==
* [http://www.wrc.com World Rally Championship] (official site)
* [http://www.Rallystuff.net Rallystuff.net] (Unofficial WRC Fan Site)
* [http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php RallyBase]
* [http://www.rallye-info.com Rallye-Info.com] (formerly WRC-Online.net)



[[Category:Auto racing competitions]]
[[Category:Rally competitions]]
[[Category:World Rally Championship]]
[[Category:FIA]]