Rally drivers give us an excuse to look into the thrills of rally driving. Usually it is something we are interested in but not that we would participate in it.
Still a rally is very exciting to watch and we can appreciate the skill of the mechanics, the car itself and of course the drivers.
List of Rally Winners Championships
Below is a list of all rally winners since 1977. As you can see by far the most Sebastian Loeb has the most wins. The names in bold are the drivers highlighted in this article.
| Season | Country | Driver | Vehicle | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Italy | Munari, Sandro | Lancia Stratos HF | 3 |
| 1978 | Finland | Alén, Markku | Fiat 131 Abarth | 4 |
| 1979 | Sweden | Waldegård, BjörnBjörn | Ford Escort RS1800 | 2 |
| 1980 | West Germany | Röhrl, Walter | Fiat 131 Abarth | 4 |
| 1981 | Finland | Vatanen, Ari | Ford Escort RS1800 | 3 |
| 1982 | West Germany | Röhrl, Walter | Opel Ascona 400 | 2 |
| 1983 | Finland | Mikkola, Hannu | Audi Quattro A1/A2 | 4 |
| 1984 | Sweden | Blomqvist, Stig | Audi Quattro A2/Sport Quattro | 5 |
| 1985 | Finland | Salonen, Timo | Peugeot 205 T16/E2 | 5 |
| 1986 | Finland | Kankkunen, Juha | Peugeot 205 T16 E2 | 3 |
| 1987 | Finland | Kankkunen, Juha | Lancia Delta HF 4WD | 2 |
| 1988 | Italy | Biasion, Miki | Lancia Delta HF 4WD Lancia Delta HF integrale | 5 |
| 1989 | Italy | Biasion, Miki | Lancia Delta HF integrale Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v | 5 |
| 1990 | Spain | Sainz, Carlos | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 | 4 |
| 1991 | Finland | Kankkunen, Juha | Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v | 5 |
| 1992 | Spain | Sainz, Carlos | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD | 4 |
| 1993 | Finland | Kankkunen, Juha | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD | 5 |
| 1994 | France | Auriol, Didier | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD | 3 |
| 1995 | United Kingdom | McRae, Colin | Subaru Impreza 555 | 2 |
| 1996 | Finland | Mäkinen, Tommi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III | 5 |
| 1997 | Finland | Mäkinen, Tommi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV | 4 |
| 1998 | Finland | Mäkinen, Tommi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V | 5 |
| 1999 | Finland | Mäkinen, Tommi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI | 4 |
| 2000 | Finland | Grönholm, Marcus | Peugeot 206 WRC | 4 |
| 2001 | United Kingdom | Burns, Richard | Subaru Impreza WRC 2001 | 1 |
| 2002 | Finland | Grönholm, Marcus | Peugeot 206 WRC | 5 |
| 2003 | Norway | Solberg, Petter | Subaru Impreza WRC 2003 | 4 |
| 2004 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën Xsara WRC | 6 |
| 2005 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën Xsara WRC | 10 |
| 2006 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën Xsara WRC | 8 |
| 2007 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën C4 WRC | 8 |
| 2008 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën C4 WRC | 11 |
| 2009 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën C4 WRC | 7 |
| 2010 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën C4 WRC | 8 |
| 2011 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën DS3 WRC | 5 |
| 2012 | France | Loeb, Sébastien | Citroën DS3 WRC | 9 |
| 2013 | France | Ogier, Sébastien | Volkswagen Polo R WRC | 9 |
| 2014 | France | Ogier, Sébastien | Volkswagen Polo R WRC | 8 |
| 2015 | France | Ogier, Sébastien | Volkswagen Polo R WRC | 8 |
| 2016 | France | Ogier, Sébastien | Volkswagen Polo R WRC | 6 |
Here is a list of the top five rally drivers of all time.
Please enjoy finding out facts and interesting anecdotes about these very skilled individuals.
Tommi Mäkinen
Tommi is from Finland and although he is now retired, he was an ace on the track. In fact, between 1996 and 1999 he won every driver title possible in the rally world.
His is a four-time world rally champion. He was, of course, extraordinary talented in his field but he had the right mind set and was always very motivated to win.
Image Credit SnapLap.net
He raced for Mitsubishi and won an amazing twenty-four races whilst he was with them. Later he decided to change to Subaru but he was unable to repeat the success he achieved with Mitsubishi.
He is though, a true hero in the world of rally racing as well as being one of the most successful WRC drivers in history. He devoted sixteen years to the sport and took part in 139 rallies.
Carlos Sainz
Carlos is from Spain and he won the WRC in both 1990 and 1992 while driving for Toyota. He also finished as runner-up four times. He was known in the sport as El Matador.
He was a true sportsman and was interested in the sports of squash and football professionally. He even took trails for the famous Real Madrid team.
Image Credit: WRC.com
Eventually he turned to rally racing and diligently worked his way to becoming one of the best drivers in the world. In fact he was the first driver who was not from Scandinavia to win the Thousand Lakes Rally in Finland and even did that with a broken ankle.
He is well known as one of the sport’s classiest drivers.
Colin McRae
Colin is the most successful rally driver that Britain has produced. He was born in Lanark, Scotland and rally racing was in his blood as his father, Jimmy won the British Rally five times and his brother Alistair was also a rally driver.
Colin won the British Rally Championships in both 1991 and 1992 and he went on to become the first British driver to win the WRC Drivers’ title in 1995 as the youngest to hold the title.
Image Credit: Wikipedia.org
This is a record that he still holds. He drove for four different teams but was most successful with Subaru and Citroen.
He was even awarded the coveted MBE for his services to the sport in 1996. Unfortunately Colin died in a helicopter crash in 2007.
Juha Kankkunen
Juha won a stunning 23 world rallys and was known as the Flying Finn. He won the WRC championship four times and made his country a firm favorite for rallies along with his countryman, Tommi Mäkinen.
Image Credit: WRC.com
He had a long career spanning thirty years and during that time raced for Lancia, Peugeot and Toyota, and became world champion with all three car manufacturers and to this day is the only driver to do this.
He retired in 2002 but he still loves speed and in 2007 he drove a Bentley Continental on ice to set the world speed record in this discipline!
Sebastian Loeb
Sebastian was born in France and is a famous rally and racing driver. He is the most successful driver in the history of WRC, winning the World Championships an amazing nine times in a row.
Image Credit: AutoSport.com
He actually has won a rally 78 times. True to his country, he has only ever driven for the Citroen team. He is a true legend of the sport.
List of Top Racing Schools in the United States
Below is a list of 10 racing schools to learn how to drive a car like a professional. Not in any particular order.
| Rank | School | Location | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team O'Neil Rally | Dalton, NH | teamoneil.com |
| 2 | Porsche Driving Experience | Los Angeles and Atlanta | porschedriving.com |
| 3 | Bridgestone Winter Driving School | Steamboat Springs, Colo. | winterdrive.com |
| 4 | Exotics Racing | Las Vegas and Fontana, Calif. | exoticsracing.com |
| 5 | Frank Hawley Drag Racing School | Gainesville, FL. | frankhawley.com |
| 6 | Dirtfish Rally School | Snoqualmie, Wash. | dirtfish.com |
| 7 | Cory Kruseman Sprint Car & Midget Driving School | Ventura, Calif. | kruseman.com |
| 8 | BMW Performance School | Thermal, Calif., and Greenville, S.C. | bmwperformancecenter.com |
| 9 | Richard Petty Driving Experience | Daytona, Fla., and other tracks | drivepetty.com |
| 10 | Bondurant Racing School | Chandler, Ariz. | bondurant.com |
| 11 | Skip Barber Racing School | Braselton, Ga., and other tracks | skipbarber.com |
