1973 World Rally Championship

Inaugural season of the World Rally Championship 1973 World Rally Championship World Manufacturers' Champion Alpine-Renault none 1974 The 1973 World Rally Championship was the inaugural season for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC) format. It consisted of 13 events, each held in a different country of the world. Many of the events would be staples of the series through to today, including Monte Carlo, Sweden, Tour de Corse, and the RAC Rally, while others would soon be replaced in the schedule. As with following seasons, gravel events formed the majority of the schedule. Two pure tarmac and one snow and ice rally were also included, as well as three events held on a mixture of soft and hard surface roads. The first award of the Championship for Manufacturers was firmly won by Alpine-Renault, which had already gained fame competing for the earlier International Championship for Manufacturers. Fiat successfully placed second ahead of challenger Ford, but could not seriously challenge the winning Alpine. However, this would also prove to be the last award for the Alpine, as it gave way in subsequent years to Italian firms Lancia and Fiat. A French manufacturer would not regain the Championship again until Peugeot successfully captured the 1985 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. From 1973 to 1978, the WRC only awarded a season championship for the winning manufacturer. Scoring was given for the highest placing entry for each manufacturer. Thus if a particular manufacturer was to place 2nd, 4th, and 10th, they would receive points for 2nd place only. However, the manufacturer would still gain an advantage in scoring from its other entries, as the points for the 4th and 10th place entries would be denied to other manufacturers. __TOC__ Calendar thumb|Alpine-Renault won the championship with the A110 For the first ever World Rally Championship, there were fourteen rallies. Round Rally name Surface Dates 1 MON Rallye Monte-Carlo Mixed (Tarmac - Snow) 19–26 January 2 SWE Swedish Rally Snow 15–18 February 3 POR Rallye de Portugal Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel) 13–18 March 4 KEN Safari Rally Gravel 19–23 April 5 MAR Rallye du Maroc Gravel 8–13 May 6 GRE 1970 Acropolis Rally Gravel 23–28 May 7 POL 1928 Rajd Polski Gravel 12–15 July 8 FIN 1000 Lakes Rally Gravel 3–5 August 9 AUT Österreichische Alpenfahrt Gravel 12–14 September 10 ITA Rallye Sanremo Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel) 10–13 October 11 USA Press-on-Regardless Rally Gravel 31 October–4 November 12 GBR RAC Rally Gravel 17–21 November 13 FRA Tour de Corse Tarmac 1–2 DecemberSources:WRC 1973 https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1973/ eWRC-results.com 15 January 20241973 WRC calendar https://www.juwra.com/calendar_1973.html Jonkka's World Rally Archive 15 January 2024 Events 1973 World Rally Championship event map 800px Black = Tarmac Brown = Gravel Blue = Snow/Ice Red = Mixed Surface Colour Rally Surface Gold Gravel Silver Tarmac Blue Snow/Ice Bronze Mixed Surface Round Rally name Podium finishers Statistics Rank Driver Car Time Stages Length Starters Finishers 1 MON Rallye Monte-Carlo(19–26 January) — Results and report 1 FRA Jean-Claude Andruet Alpine Renault A110 1800 5:42:04 18 456,50 km 278 51 2 SWE Ove Andersson Alpine Renault A110 1800 5:42:30 3 FRA Jean-Pierre Nicolas Alpine Renault A110 1800 5:43:39 2 SWE Swedish Rally(15–18 February) — Results and report 1 SWE Stig Blomqvist Saab 96 V4 9:18:31 36 760,00 km 73 42 2 SWE Per Eklund Saab 96 V4 9:20:53 3 FRA Jean-Luc Thérier Alpine Renault A110 1800 9:34:12 3 POR Rallye de Portugal(13–18 March) — Results and report 1 FRA Jean-Luc Thérier Alpine Renault A110 1800 5:42:16 32 397,50 km 79 23 2 FRA Jean-Pierre Nicolas Alpine Renault A110 1800 5:48:57 3 POR Francisco Romãozinho Citroën DS21 6:07:48 4 KEN Safari Rally(19–23 April) — Results and report 1 KEN Shekhar Mehta Datsun 240Z + 6:46 pen 56 5300.00 km 89 18 2 SWE Harry Källström Datsun 1800 SSS + 6:46 pen 3 SWE Ove Andersson Peugeot 504 + 8:47 pen 5 MAR Rallye du Maroc(8–13 May) — Results and report 1 FRA Bernard Darniche Alpine Renault A110 15:01:22 11 1258.00 km 66 12 2 FRA Bob Neyret Citroën DS23 15:20:04 3 AUT Richard Bochnicek Citroën DS23 15:34:37 6 GRE 1970 Acropolis Rally(23–28 May) — Results and report 1 FRA Jean-Luc Thérier Alpine Renault A110 7:37:58 47 556.35 km 83 11 2 FIN Rauno Aaltonen Fiat Abarth 124 7:44:59 3 FRA Jean-Pierre Nicolas Alpine Renault A110 7:45:56 7 POL 1928 Rajd Polski(12–15 July) — Results and report 1 FRG Achim Warmbold Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye 8:28:14 55 742.30 km 62 3 2 GDR Egon Culmbacher Wartburg 353 11:15:16 3 POL 1928 Maciej Stawowiak Polski Fiat 125p 12:08:31 8 FIN 1000 Lakes Rally(3–5 August) — Results and report 1 FIN Timo Mäkinen Ford Escort RS1600 4:53:50 43 517.20 km 109 55 2 FIN Markku Alén Volvo 142 4:55:59 3 FIN Leo Kinnunen Porsche 911 4:57:12 9 AUT Österreichische Alpenfahrt(12–14 September) — Results and report 1 FRG Achim Warmbold BMW 2002Tii 3:58:55 30 324.50 km 74 25 2 FRA Bernard Darniche Alpine Renault A110 4:00:10 3 SWE Per Eklund Saab 96 V4 4:00:11 10 ITA Rallye Sanremo(10–13 October) — Results and report 1 FRA Jean-Luc Thérier Alpine Renault A110 8:01:32 37 369.30 km 107 54 2 ITA Maurizio Verini Fiat Abarth 124 Rally 8:07:34 3 FRA Jean-Pierre Nicolas Alpine Renault A110 8:21:37 11 USA Press-on-Regardless Rally(31 October–4 November) — Results and report 1 CAN Walter Boyce Toyota Corolla 6:58:28 85 552.61 km 58 23 2 USA Jim Walker Volvo 142S 7:22:43 3 USA John Smiskol Datsun 240Z 7:33:36 12 GBR RAC Rally(17–21 November) — Results and report 1 FIN Timo Mäkinen Ford Escort RS1600 6:47:08 80 540.02 km 198 91 2 GBR Roger Clark Ford Escort RS1600 6:52:23 3 FIN Markku Alén Ford Escort RS1600 6:55:26 13 FRA Tour de Corse(1–2 December) — Results and report 1 FRA Jean-Pierre Nicolas Alpine Renault A110 5:06:31 21 511.70 km 50 22 2 FRA Jean-François Piot Alpine Renault A110 5:14:37 3 FRA Jean-Luc Thérier Alpine Renault A110 5:18:46Sources: Season 1973 – Season statistics – Event statistics https://www.juwra.com/season_1973_event_stats.html Jonkka's World Rally Archive 15 January 2024 Championship Points were awarded to the best placed vehicle of each manufacturer.Rule changes for 1973 https://www.juwra.com/rules_1973.html Jonkka's World Rally Archive 15 January 2024 Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th  Points 20 15 12 10 8 6 4 3 2 1 Manufacturers' championship Pos. Position Manufacturer MONMonaco SWESweden PORPortugal KENKenya MARMorocco GRCGreece 1970 POLPoland FINFinland AUTAustria ITAItaly USAUSA GBRUnited Kingdom FRAFrance Points 1 France Alpine-Renault 1 3 1 1 1 Ret 2 1 Ret (5) 1 147 2 Italy Fiat 7 5 4 (8) 6 2 1 (8) 6 2 (10) 84 3 USA Ford 4 9 14 7 Ret 1 4 1 4 76 4 Sweden Volvo 9 9 2 2 4 44 5 Sweden Saab 37 1 4 3 Ret 42 6 Japan Datsun 9 19 11 1 11 Ret 3 14 22 34 7 France Citroën 3 2 6 Ret 33 8 Germany BMW 17 7 13 Ret Ret 17 1 51 7 28 9 Germany Porsche 46 5 Ret Ret 3 7 22 8 27 10 Japan Toyota 23 Ret 9 Ret 8 1 12 25 11 Germany Opel 12 10 7 DSQ 11 5 13 9 Ret 6 7 25 12 Poland Polski Fiat 35 3 6 18 13 Italy Lancia 8 4 7 Ret 17 14 East Germany Wartburg 38 2 39 15 15 Germany Volkswagen 6 19 12 5 10 15 16 France Peugeot Ret 3 10 22 13 17 Japan Mitsubishi 7 4 18 Czechoslovakia Škoda 8 15 3 19 Italy Alfa Romeo 19 17 Ret 13 9 2 20 Germany Audi 51 10 10 2 Pos. Position Manufacturer MONMonaco SWESweden PORPortugal KENKenya MARMorocco GRCGreece 1970 POLPoland FINFinland AUTAustria ITAItaly USAUSA GBRUnited Kingdom FRAFrance PointsSources:Season 1973 – Championship standings https://www.juwra.com/season_1973_points.html Jonkka's World Rally Archive 15 January 2024 Positions in parentheses did not count towards championship totals See also 1973 in sports References External links FIA World Rally Championship 1973 at ewrc-results.com Category:World Rally Championship seasons World Rally Championship Season, 1973