About the sources
Britannica supports the early dates on this page. Almost everything after that comes from Wikipedia, which we treat as a secondary source; we could not check it against the FIA or the WRC directly.
The first rallies
Britannica dates the start of rallying to 1907, with a Peking-to-Paris event of about 12,000 km, and the first Monte Carlo Rally to 1911. Rallies became popular after World War II, when the FIA created European and international championships for them.
The Monte Carlo Rally
Wikipedia records that the Monte Carlo Rally was launched in 1911 at the wish of Prince Albert I of Monaco. The first winner, Henri Rougier in a Turcat-Méry, was judged partly on elegance, passenger comfort and the condition of his car on arrival, not only on speed. For most of the event's life the journey was part of the contest: until 1997 competitors drove to Monaco from starting points around Europe before the special stages began.
The Monte opened the first World Rally Championship in 1973 and stayed in the series until 2008. From 2009 to 2011 it ran instead as the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and it returned to the WRC in 2012 (Wikipedia). Wikipedia credits Sébastien Ogier with a record 10 Monte Carlo wins, ahead of Sébastien Loeb with 8, as checked in October 2026.
The World Rally Championship
According to Wikipedia, an International Championship for Manufacturers ran from 1970 to 1972 before the World Rally Championship replaced it in 1973; Alpine-Renault won the first manufacturers' title. Drivers waited longer. An FIA Cup for Rally Drivers was awarded in 1977 and 1978, and the first drivers' world championship, in 1979, went to Björn Waldegård.
| Era | Top-class cars (Wikipedia) |
|---|---|
| 1982 to 1986 | Group B |
| 1987 to 1997 | Group A |
| From 1997 | World Rally Cars |
| From 2022 | Rally1 hybrids; the hybrid system was dropped for 2025 |
Group B, 1982 to 1986
Wikipedia records that the FIA introduced Group B in 1982 and that homologation needed only 200 road cars. Its champions were:
| Year | Drivers' champion | Notes (Wikipedia) |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Hannu Mikkola | Audi Quattro; Lancia took the makes' title |
| 1984 | Stig Blomqvist | Audi |
| 1985 | Timo Salonen | Peugeot 205 T16 |
| 1986 | Juha Kankkunen | Awarded the title after the Sanremo result was annulled |
Michèle Mouton
The era's best-known driver outside the title list was Michèle Mouton. Wikipedia records that she won four WRC rallies in an Audi Quattro with co-driver Fabrizia Pons, at Sanremo in 1981 and in Portugal, the Acropolis and Brazil in 1982, and finished the 1982 season as runner-up to Walter Röhrl. In 1985 she won the Pikes Peak hill climb outright in a record time.
Why Group B ended
Wikipedia records a series of fatal accidents. Lancia driver Attilio Bettega was killed at the 1985 Tour de Corse. At Rally Portugal in March 1986, Joaquim Santos's Ford RS200 went off the road into spectators on the first stage, killing three people and injuring 31, and the top teams withdrew from the event. In May 1986, at the Tour de Corse, Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto were killed when their Lancia Delta S4 left the road.
The FIA then banned Group B from the World Rally Championship from 1987, and the planned successor class, Group S, with a 300 hp limit, was abandoned (Wikipedia). Mouton co-founded the Race of Champions in 1988 in memory of Toivonen, and in 2010 she became the first president of the FIA's women's commission. Rally safety rules today are set by each event's organiser and sanctioning body; our safety history page covers how other series changed after their own accidents.
The record holders
Wikipedia credits Sébastien Loeb (2004 to 2012) and Sébastien Ogier (2013 to 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2025) with nine drivers' titles each, the record. Ogier won the 2025 title with co-driver Vincent Landais, and Toyota won the 2025 manufacturers' title. We do not give 2026 WRC results here; for the current season, see our rally and Dakar page, and for how rallying works, rally and rallycross.