From the very first moments, in 1973, a World championship was formalised for rallying, manufacturers knew it would be the ultimate proving ground for their road-going products. The tough tests of endurance and stamina could write their own headlines for firms trying to showcase their machines.
When the World title for drivers came along in 1979 to replace the FIA Cup for Drivers, the set-up was complete. Five decades on from the first manufacturers’ crown, the sport is still thriving and embracing new technology to keep it as relevant as it can be to the road car marketplace.
And it is still writing its own headlines for drivers too, with Kalle Rovanpera being crowned as the youngest-ever WRC title winner this season for Toyota Gazoo Racing in his Yaris. The stories just don’t stop coming.
Here, our reporters Matt James, Graham Keilloh, Paul Lawrence and Graham Lister look back at some of the stand-out moments from that fabulous history.
20 BREEN CLAIMS JWRC TITLE
Craig Breen faced a tall order to land the WRC Academy 2011 title. While winning his class on Rally GB was a must, he also needed to go fastest on 14 of the 17 scheduled stages to bag the bonus points available and edge Egon Kaur.
With an SWRC prize drive on offer, the reward was huge but the pressure on Breen and his Welsh co-driver Gareth Roberts immense.
And that pressure increased when the Irishman went off on the opening Great Orme test, although it wasn’t long before he moved into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.
But stage defeats to Molly Taylor in the fog of Dyfnant and to title rival Kaur on the first run through Hafren on Sunday morning meant he needed to top the WRC Academy order on the rally’s closing five stages.
When he beat Fredrik Ahlin to the fastest time on Myherin, he’d not only taken the WRC Academy victory but his 14th stage win on the event to draw level with Kaur in the final standings, taking the title on countback.
“When [Kaur’s] time came through, I knew we had done it and it was the most incredible feeling,” Breen told WRC.com. GL
19 EVANS PREVAILS IN WALES
Sometimes things just come together. As all headed into 2017’s Rally GB, Elfyn Evans had never won a World Rally Championship event overall. He was almost exactly 10 years on from his first WRC start, yet a year on from worrying he was out of a job and being forced to watch Rally GB from the sidelines.
Plenty else seemed stacked against the Welshman for the 2017 British event. No-one other than his team-mate Sebastien Ogier had led a Rally GB in the previous five years. No British
