MATOSINHOS (PORTUGAL): As part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary (WRC50) of the FIA World Rally Championship, several former world champions and rally legends will be present at this week’s 55th Vodafone Rally of Portugal.
Record-breaking nine-time champion Sébastien Loeb and eight-time series winner Sébastien Ogier are taking part in the rally this week. They will be joined by two-time world champions, Carlos Sainz, Miki Biasion, Marcus Grönholm and Walter Röhrl, in addition to one-time winners, Ari Vatanen, Ott Tänak and Petter Solberg. Mikko Hirvonen is also present.
Several of the top names will attend a WRC50 press conference at the event’s media centre and then a celebratory gala dinner in the service park tomorrow evening (Wednesday).
Between them, the nine triumphant drivers have amassed 28 world titles in a series that was launched in 1973 and has so far visited 35 countries.
Esteemed co-drivers Luis Moya, David Richards, Robert Reid, Christian Geistdörfer, Tiziano Siviero, Timo Rautianen, Derek Ringer and Martin Järveoja will also attend the gala dinner.
Röhrl will then join a group of drivers to tackle four special stages (SS1, SS9, SS16 and SS21) of the event in rally cars from yesteryear. The German will take the wheel of his original Open Ascona 400 at the start of each stage except for Fafe and his 1985 Monte-Carlo Audi Sport Quattro to close off each special.
Loeb is the most successful driver in the history of the WRC. He won nine successive titles between 2004 and 2012 and a record-breaking 80 rally wins over a 21-year period, including success this year in Monte-Carlo.
Ogier burst on to the scene after his fellow Frenchman had taken a relative back seat. He won eight titles between 2013 and 2021 and has 54 career WRC wins under his belt. His first success came in Portugal back in 2010 and his last was secured in Monza in 2021.
Sainz won 26 WRC rallies and the world title in 1990 and 1992 before switching to a career in Dakar-type events and cross-country rallies. His son is now an integral member of the Ferrari team in the FIA F1 World Championship.
Biasion was a member of the Lancia team that dominated the WRC in the early days of the Group A era from 1987. He won 17 rounds of the series and the world title in 1988 and 1989.
Grönholm achieved 30 WRC successes and his two titles (2000 and 2002) came during a six-year stint with Peugeot. Röhrl won his first title in 1980 with Fiat and added a second crown two years later with Opel on his way to amassing 14 WRC event wins.
Solberg was crowned champion in 2003 with Subaru and claimed 13 career victories, while Hirvonen secured 15 rally wins but missed out on the title on four occasions (2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012) by finishing second to Loeb. Tãnak earned his title in 2019, while Vatanen was crowned World Champion in 1981.
Joining Röhrl and co-driver Wolf-Dieter Ihle on the special stages will be the Portuguese driver Victor Lopes, who teams up with Sérgio Paiva to drive an ex-Biasion Lancia Delta Integrale 16V. Lopes is a multiple two-wheel drive Portuguese rally champion and Paiva is a former national co-drivers’ champion
Former Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Porto soccer manager André Villas Boas is a keen rallying enthusiast and took part in the event for the first time in 2021. He returns to drive the Citroën C3 WRC that was used by Esapekka Lappi in 2019.
Other drivers out on the Coimbra, Lousada, Porto-Foz and Fafe stages include Austria’s Helmut Steiner at the wheel of an ex-Sanremo Toyota Corolla WRC, the Swiss duo of Achim Loth (ex-Sainz Portugal Lancia) and Rolf Wyss (ex-Henri Toivonen RAC Lancia Delta S4) and Germany’s Claus Aulenbacher (ex-Björn Waldegård Sanremo Lancia Stratos).
Former German female WRC star Isolde Holderied will take the wheel on a couple of special stages and will be joined at the dinner by fellow former WRC Ladies’ Cup winner Louise Aitken-Walker and their respective co-drivers, Christine Driano and Tina Thörner. Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons were the only all-female crew ever to win a round of the WRC and they will also attend the celebrations.
Additional cars on display on the spectator stages and before the start in Coimbra include an ex-factory Renault Alpine A110 1800, driven by Jean-Luc Therier at the 1973 Tour de Corse, an ex-Vic-Preston Jnr. Safari Ford Escort RS1800 and a legendary Lancia Rally 037 that was used on the 1985 Safari Rally.