List of World Rally Championship Drivers' champions

List of World Rally Championship Drivers' champions from 1977 to the 2009 season.

The drivers' championship was first awarded in 1977 and 1978 as an FIA Cup for Drivers title, to Sandro Munari and Markku Alén, respectively. The first official world champion in rallying was Björn Waldegård in 1979.^[1]

Points from rally events are calculated towards the drivers' and manufacturers' world championships. The driver's championship and manufacturer's championship are separate championships, but are based on the same point system. In the current points system, points are awarded at the end of each rally to the top eight WRC (overall), junior and production car drivers that qualify as follows: 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.^[2] Despite how many drivers are in one team, constructors can only nominate two drivers to score points for the team as well as scoring for themselves.^[3]

Sébastien Loeb holds the record for the most drivers' championships, winning six during his career.^[4] He also holds the record for the most championships won in a row; he won six consecutive titles from 2004 to 2009.^[5] Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen are second with four championships each; Mäkinen won four championships in a row 1996 to 1999.^[6] Finland has won the most titles, with 14 championships between 7 drivers. Drivers of Citroën cars have won the most championships with six.

Key

Winners by season

Colin McRae, winner of the 1995 World Rally Championship

Tommi Mäkinen won four World Rally Championships.

Petter Solberg won the World Rally Championship in 2003.

Season	Country	Driver	Car	Wins	Podiums	Points[A]	Margin	Notes
1977	ITA	Munari, SandroSandro Munari	Lancia Stratos HF	3	4	31	1	[7][B]
1978	FIN	Alén, MarkkuMarkku Alén	Fiat 131 Abarth	4	8	52	21	[8][B][C]
1979	SWE	Waldegård, BjörnBjörn Waldegård	Ford Escort RS1800	2	7	112	1	[1][D]
1980	FRG	Röhrl, WalterWalter Röhrl	Fiat 131 Abarth	4	6	118	54	[9]
1981	FIN	Vatanen, AriAri Vatanen	Ford Escort RS1800	3	5	96	7	[8]
1982	FRG	Röhrl, WalterWalter Röhrl	Opel Ascona 400	2	8	109	12	[9]
1983	FIN	Mikkola, HannuHannu Mikkola	Audi Quatrro A1/A2	4	7	125	23	[8]
1984	SWE	Blomqvist, StigStig Blomqvist	Audi Quatrro A2/Sport Quattro	5	6	125	21	[10]
1985	FIN	Salonen, TimoTimo Salonen	Peugeot 205 T16/E2	5	8	127	52	[8]
1986	FIN	Kankkunen, JuhaJuha Kankkunen	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	3	6	118	14	[11]
1987	FIN	Kankkunen, JuhaJuha Kankkunen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	2	5	100	6	[11]
1988	ITA	Biasion, MikiMiki Biasion	Lancia Delta HF 4WD/Integrale	5	6	115	29	[11]
1989	ITA	Biasion, MikiMiki Biasion	Lancia Delta Integrale	5	5	106	41	[11]
1990	ESP	Sainz, CarlosCarlos Sainz	Toyota Celica GT-Four	4	9	140	45	[12]
1991	FIN	Kankkunen, JuhaJuha Kankkunen	Lancia Delta Integrale 16v	5	7	150	7	[11]
1992	ESP	Sainz, CarlosCarlos Sainz	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD	4	8	144	10	[12]
1993	FIN	Kankkunen, JuhaJuha Kankkunen	Toyota Celica 4WD	5	7	135	23	[12]
1994	FRA	Auriol, DidierDidier Auriol	Toyota Celica 4WD	3	6	116	17	[12]
1995	UK	McRae, ColinColin McRae	Subaru Impreza 555	2	5	90	5	[13]
1996	FIN	Mäkinen, TommiTommi Mäkinen	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III	5	6	123	31	[14]
1997	FIN	Mäkinen, TommiTommi Mäkinen	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV	4	9	63	1	[14]
1998	FIN	Mäkinen, TommiTommi Mäkinen	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV/V	5	7	58	2	[14]
1999	FIN	Mäkinen, TommiTommi Mäkinen	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI	4	7	62	7	[14]
2000	FIN	Grönholm, MarcusMarcus Grönholm	Peugeot 206 WRC	4	7	65	5	[15]
2001	UK	Burns, RichardRichard Burns	Subaru Impreza WRC	1	6	44	2	[16]
2002	FIN	Grönholm, MarcusMarcus Grönholm	Peugeot 206 WRC	5	9	77	40	[17]
2003	NOR	Solberg, PetterPetter Solberg	Subaru Impreza WRC	4	7	72	1	[18]
2004	FRA	Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	Citroën Xsara WRC	6	12	118	36	[19]
2005	FRA	Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	Citroën Xsara WRC	10	13	127	56	[20]
2006	FRA	Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	Citroën Xsara WRC	8	12	112	1	[21]
2007	FRA	Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	8	13	116	4	[22]
2008	FRA	Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	11	13	122	19	[5]
2009	FRA	Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	7	9	93	1	[5]

Winners by driver

Six-time champion Sébastien Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena

Driver	Total	Seasons
Loeb, SébastienSébastien Loeb	6	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Kankkunen, JuhaJuha Kankkunen	4	1986, 1987, 1991, 1993
Mäkinen, TommiTommi Mäkinen	4	1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
Röhrl, WalterWalter Röhrl	2	1980, 1982
Biasion, MikiMiki Biasion	2	1988, 1989
Sainz, CarlosCarlos Sainz	2	1990, 1992
Grönholm, MarcusMarcus Grönholm	2	2000, 2002
Munari, SandroSandro Munari	1	1977
Alén, MarkkuMarkku Alén	1	1978
Waldegård, BjörnBjörn Waldegård	1	1979
Vatanen, AriAri Vatanen	1	1981
Mikkola, HannuHannu Mikkola	1	1983
Blomqvist, StigStig Blomqvist	1	1984
Salonen, TimoTimo Salonen	1	1985
Auriol, DidierDidier Auriol	1	1994
McRae, ColinColin McRae	1	1995
Burns, RichardRichard Burns	1	2001
Solberg, PetterPetter Solberg	1	2003

Winners by nationality

Marcus Grönholm, the seventh Finnish world champion

Country	Drivers	Total
Finland	7	14
France	2	7
Italy	2	3
United Kingdom	2	2
Spain	1	2
Germany	1	2
Sweden	2	2
Norway	1	1

Winners by constructor

Markku Alén driving a Lancia Delta HF 4WD in 1987. Rally versions of the Delta brought Lancia four drivers' titles.

Constructor	Total
Citroën	6
Lancia	5
Toyota	4
Mitsubishi	4
Peugeot	4
Subaru	3
Fiat	2
Ford	2
Audi	2
Opel	1

Notes

References

External links

• World Rally Championship official site
• FIA official site