From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1973 World Rally Championship

Inaugural season of the World Rally Championship

Alpine-Renault 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

For the first ever World Rally Championship, there were fourteen rallies.

Round	Rally name	Surface	Dates	1	Mixed (Tarmac - Snow)	2	Snow	3	Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel)	4	Gravel	5	Gravel	6	Gravel	7	Gravel	8	Gravel	9	Gravel	10	Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel)	11	Gravel	12	Gravel	13	Tarmac
MON Rallye Monte-Carlo	19–26 January
SWE Swedish Rally	15–18 February
POR Rallye de Portugal	13–18 March
KEN Safari Rally	19–23 April
MAR Rallye du Maroc	8–13 May
GRE Acropolis Rally	23–28 May
POL Rajd Polski	12–15 July
FIN [1000 Lakes Rally](1000-lakes-rally)	3–5 August
AUT Österreichische Alpenfahrt	12–14 September
ITA Rallye Sanremo	10–13 October
USA Press-on-Regardless Rally	31 October–4 November
GBR RAC Rally	17–21 November
FRA Tour de Corse	1–2 December
Sources:

Events

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
1	MON Rallye Monte-Carlo
(19–26 January) — *[Results and report](1973-monte-carlo-rally)*	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](1973-swedish-rally)*	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](1973-rallye-de-portugal)*	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](1973-safari-rally)*	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](1973-rally-of-morocco)*	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 Acropolis Rally
(23–28 May) — *[Results and report](1973-acropolis-rally)*	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 Rajd Polski
(12–15 July) — *[Results and report](1973-polish-rally)*	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 Maciej Stawowiak	Polski Fiat 125p	12:08:31
8	FIN [1000 Lakes Rally](1000-lakes-rally)
(3–5 August) — *[Results and report](1973-1000-lakes-rally)*	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](1973-austrian-alpine-rally)*	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](1973-rallye-sanremo)*	1	FRA Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	8:01:32	37	369.30 km	107	54
2	ITA Maurizio Verini	Fiat Abarth 124	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](1973-press-on-regardless-rally)*	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](1973-rac-rally)*	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](1973-tour-de-corse)*	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	5:18:46
Sources:

Championship

Points were awarded to the best placed vehicle of each manufacturer.

Position	Points
1st	2nd
20	15

Manufacturers' championship

Pos.	Manufacturer	[MON](1973-monte-carlo-rally)
Monaco	[SWE](1973-swedish-rally)
Sweden	[POR](1973-rallye-de-portugal)
Portugal	[KEN](1973-safari-rally)
Kenya	[MAR](1973-rallye-du-maroc)
Morocco	[GRC](1973-acropolis-rally)
Greece	[POL](1973-rajd-polski)
Poland	[FIN](1973-1000-lakes-rally)
Finland	[AUT](1973-osterreichische-alpenfahrt)
Austria	[ITA](1973-rallye-sanremo)
Italy	[USA](1973-press-on-regardless-rally)
USA	[GBR](1973-rac-rally)
United Kingdom	[FRA](1973-tour-de-corse)
France	Points	1	147	2	84	3	76	4	44	5	42	6	34	7	33	8	28	9	27	10	25	11	25	12	18	13	17	14	15	15	15	16	13	17	4	18	3	19	2	20	2	Pos.	Manufacturer	[MON](1973-monte-carlo-rally)
Monaco	[SWE](1973-swedish-rally)
Sweden	[POR](1973-rallye-de-portugal)
Portugal	[KEN](1973-safari-rally)
Kenya	[MAR](1973-rally-of-morocco)
Morocco	[GRC](1973-acropolis-rally)
Greece	[POL](1973-rajd-polski)
Poland	[FIN](1973-1000-lakes-rally)
Finland	[AUT](1973-austrian-alpine-rally)
Austria	[ITA](1973-rallye-sanremo)
Italy	[USA](1973-press-on-regardless-rally)
USA	[GBR](1973-rac-rally)
United Kingdom	[FRA](1973-tour-de-corse)
France	Points
France Alpine-Renault	1	3	1		1	1	Ret		2	1	Ret	(5)	1
Italy Fiat	7	5	4	(8)	6	2	1	(8)	6	2		(10)
USA Ford	4		9	14		7	Ret	1			4	1	4
Sweden Volvo		9			9			2			2	4
Sweden Saab	37	1						4	3			Ret
Japan Datsun	9	19	11	1	11			Ret			3	14	22
France Citroën			3		2	6			Ret
Germany BMW	17	7	13			Ret	Ret	17	1	51		7
Germany Porsche	46		5	Ret			Ret	3	7			22	8
Japan Toyota		23	Ret			9	Ret		8		1	12
Germany Opel	12	10	7		DSQ	11		5	13	9	Ret	6	7
Poland Polski Fiat	35						3				6
Italy Lancia	8	4								7		Ret
East Germany Wartburg	38						2	39
Germany Volkswagen		6	19		12	5			10
France Peugeot	Ret			3	10			22
Japan Mitsubishi				7
Czechoslovakia Škoda		8						15
Italy Alfa Romeo	19	17		Ret				13					9
Germany Audi	51					10							10
Sources:

Positions in parentheses did not count to championship totals

References

"WRC 1973". [[eWRC-results.com]].
"1973 WRC calendar". Jonkka's World Rally Archive.
"Season 1973 – Season statistics – Event statistics". Jonkka's World Rally Archive.
"Rule changes for 1973". Jonkka's World Rally Archive.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

world-rally-championship-seasons 1973-in-rallying 1973-world-rally-championship-season

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1973 World Rally Championship — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report