WRC Great Britain Historical Stats

Coming up is the 2007 WRC season finale, the 63rd edition of the Wales Rally Great Britain. Sébastien Loeb is coming off a victory two weeks ago in Ireland that vaulted him to a six point lead over his championship rival, Marcus Grönholm. A fifth place finish or better for the Frenchman will result in his fourth consecutive World Title. In the Production Car WRC, championship leader Toshihiro Arai has not nominated this event for points, so he will be watching the progress of his only title rival, Gabriel Pozzo. The Argentine driver trails by 9 points in the standings, so he can take the crown with a class victory in Wales. For complete 2007 points click here.

Rally Great Britain has been included in the WRC 33 times and part of the Drivers’ Championship 27 times, dating back to 1973. It was rotated to 2-Litre status for 1996. The Rally has been known by 5 different names:

Daily Mirror RAC Rally (1973)
Lombard RAC Rally (1974-1992)
Network Q RAC Rally (1993-1997)
Network Q Rally of Great Britain (1998-2001)
Wales Rally of Great Britain (2002-present)

Debut WRC wins in Great Britain:

Roger Clark (GBR) – 1976 in Ford Escort RS1800
Henri Toivonen (FIN) – 1980 in Talbot Sunbeam Lotus
Pentti Airikkala (FIN) – 1989 in Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
Petter Solberg (NOR) – 2002 in Subaru Impreza WRC

Notable WRC debuts in Great Britain:

Louise Aitken-Walker (GBR) – 1979 in Ford Fiesta (retired)
Richard Burns (GBR) – 1990 in Peugeot 309 GTI (finished 28th)
Barry Clark (GBR) – 2003 in Ford Puma Super 1600 (retired)
Justin Dale (GBR) – 2002 in Mitsubishi Lancer WRC (retired)
Gwyndaf Evans (GBR) – 1987 in Ford Sierra RS Cosworth (retired)
David Higgins (GBR) – 1994 in Peugeot 106 Rallye (retired)
Mark Higgins (GBR) – 1990 in Suzuki Swift GTI (retired)
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) – 2002 in Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 (finished 17th)
Alister McRae (GBR) – 1991 in Subaru Legacy RS (retired)
Jimmy McRae (GBR) – 1976 in Vauxhall Magnum Coupe (finished 12th)
Niall McShea (GBR) – 1999 in Citroën Saxo VTS (retired)
Kris Meeke (GBR) – 2002 in Ford Puma Super 1600 (retired)
Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) – 2006 in Ford Focus RS WRC (retired)
Armin Schwarz (GER) – 1988 in Audi 200 Quattro (finished 5th)
Malcolm Wilson (GBR) – 1977 in Ford Escort RS2000 (finished 12th)
Matthew Wilson (GBR) – 2004 in Ford Focus RS WRC (finished 13th)

For complete list of Winners and Historical Stats click here.

Did You Know?

With a victory this weekend Sébastien Loeb will knock off one of the three current WRC events that he has yet to attain victory. The other two are Rally Norway (run only once) and the Scandinavian dominated Rally Finland. However, remember Loeb had the 2005 Rally GB in hand before tragedy struck. Following the death of Michael Park in an accident, Loeb took a penalty to avoid a title clinching victory on the somber day. Last season, the Frenchman sat out Rally GB recovering from a broken arm, yet still won the WRC crown.