THE 10 OF THE BEST
While some World Rally Championship title deciders have failed to deliver over the years, plenty did as the following proves
1 1998: Makinen’s agony – and then the ecstasy
Carlos Sainz was seemingly on course to win the 1998 World Rally Championship on the RAC Rally. Tommi Makinen had crashed his Mitsubishi on day one – on a patch of oil dropped by another car – and Sainz was 300 metres from the finish of the final stage in Margam
Park when his Toyota’s engine failed, handing the title to Makinen. Sainz’s co-driver Luis Moya responded by throwing his crash helmet through the rear windscreen of the stricken Corolla.
2 1995: McRae beats Sainz for home glory
Colin McRae not only beat Subaru team-mate Sainz to victory on the
RAC Rally, he also scored his first World title to deny the Spaniard his third after an arduous final round. The celebrations at Chester Racecourse remain the stuff of legend.
3 1997: One point denies McRae the crown…
McRae couldn’t have done more on the 1997 RAC Rally in his pursuit of World championship number two. He won the event – this third in succession that season – but Tommi Makinen, who finished sixth, pipped him to top honours by a single point.
4 2001: … So does Rally GB crash
The battle of the Brits – and the 2001 WRC title – went to Richard Burns by two points ahead of McRae after the Scot crashed out leaving his Subarudriving rival to prosper in the best way possible.
5 2011: Every stage best counts for Breen
With Gareth Roberts co-driving, Craig Breen not only had to top the WRC Academy order on Rally GB in 2011 to take the title, he also had to score as many point-paying stage wins as possible and hope his rival Egon
Kaur was slower than he. They tied on points but Breen became champion courtesy of stages won.
6 2003: The World title Loeb didn’t win
After Carlos Sainz crashed out, Petter Solberg held on to beat Sebastien Loeb to the 2003 honours, albeit by a single point. While it was the then Subaru driver’s first and only World crown, Loeb would go on to claim the World Rally Championship for the next nine seasons consecutively.
7 2018: Ogier champion as rivals falter
Ogier came out on top of a three-way fight for the WRC’s top award in 2018 after Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak both retired.
8 1981: Privateer Vatanen victorious
Once Guy Frequelin had stopped, Ari Vatanen took the 1981 World Rally Championship in a Ford Escort Mk2 run by David Sutton’s privateer team. The next private outfit to land rallying’s top prize was Kronos Racing, the outfit behind Sebastien Loeb’s 2006 title win.
9 1992: It all comes good for King Carlos Sainz
Having lost out on the 1991 title to Juha Kankkunen by seven points on the RAC Rally, Carlos Sainz went one better in 1992 for his second World crown. The Spaniard’s triumph owed plenty to rivals Kankkunen and Didier Auriol hitting trouble.
10 1979: Waldegard’s unnecessary stress
Bjorn Waldegard won the first WRC drivers’ crown in 1979 by a single point ahead of Hannu Mikkola. However, Swede Waldegard was adamant that the battle should never have been as close, had it not been for spectators blocking his path on the final night of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally by placing objects in the road, to deny him victory and hand first place to Bernard Darniche instead.