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1975 World Rally Championship

The 1975 World Rally Championship was the third season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). 10 events were included on the schedule, including the return to the series of the famous Monte Carlo and Swedish rallies after a one season absence of those events. Both North American events were removed from the schedule however. Other returning entries to the schedule included the Acropolis Rally in Greece, which would become a staple of the WRC circuit to this day, and the Rallye du Maroc.

Lancia, with its powerful Stratos HF, continued its dominance despite struggling with reliability. Lancia won four rallies during the season however, outpacing competitors Fiat and Alpine-Renault. The battle for second place in the season was ultimately determined by a single point, with Fiat outscoring Alpine-Renault 61 points to 60, while Opel's Ascona made a strong bid to be competitive, scoring 58 points.

From 1973 to 1978, the WRC only awarded a championship for manufacturers. 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.

Calendar[edit]

After the oil crisis of 1973 that affected the 1974 season, the Monte Carlo Rally, the Swedish Rally, the Acropolis Rally, and the Rallye du Maroc returned to the calendar, while the Rally of the Rideau Lakes was dropped.

Round	Rally name	Surface	Dates
1	Monte Carlo Rally	Mixed (Tarmac - Snow)	15–24 January
2	Swedish Rally	Snow	13–15 February
3	Safari Rally	Gravel	25–31 March
4	Acropolis Rally	Gravel	24–31 May
5	Rallye du Maroc	Gravel	24–28 June
6	Rally de Portugal	Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel)	18–21 July
7	1000 Lakes Rally	Gravel	29–31 August
8	Rallye Sanremo	Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel)	1–4 October
9	Tour de Corse	Tarmac	8–9 November
10	RAC Rally	Gravel	22–26 November
Sources:[1][2]

Manufacturers' championship[edit]

Points were awarded to the best placed vehicle of each manufacturer.^[3]

Schedule of points by place:

Pos.	Manufacturer	MON	SWE	KEN	GRC	MAR	POR	FIN	ITA	FRA	GBR	Points
1	Lancia	20	20	15	-	-	-	-	20	20	1	96
2	Fiat	15	8	-	-	-	20	-	15	-	3	61
3	Alpine-Renault	6	-	-	15	12	-	-	12	15	-	60
4	Opel	-	3	-	20	-	10	8	6	1	10	58
5	Peugeot	-	-	20	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	40
6	Ford	-	1	-	-	-	2	12	-	-	20	35
7	Toyota	-	-	-	-	-	12	20	-	-	-	32
8	Saab	-	-	6	-	6	8	6	-	-	-	30
9	Datsun	3	-	-	4	-	-	-	4	12	-	26
10	Alfa Romeo	3	-	-	4	-	-	-	4	12	-	23
11	Mitsubishi	-	-	10	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	22
12	Citroën	-	-	-	-	10	3	-	-	-	-	13
13	Porsche	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	12
14	Volvo	-	2	-	6	1	-	-	-	-	-	9
15=	Renault	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
15=	Audi	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
17	Škoda	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
18=	Chrysler	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	2
18=	Vauxhall	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
20=	BMW	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
20=	Lada	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Pos.	Manufacturer	MON	SWE	KEN	GRC	MAR	POR	FIN	ITA	FRA	GBR	Points
Sources:[1][4]

Events[edit]

1975 World Rally Championship event map

Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Snow/Ice	Red = Mixed Surface

1975 World Rally Championship schedule and results

Rally Name	Start-End Date	Podium Drivers (Finishing Time)	Podium Cars
Rallye Monte Carlo	15–23 January	Sandro Munari (6h:25m:59s) Hannu Mikkola (6h:29m:05s) Markku Alén (6h:29m:46s)	Lancia Stratos HF Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye
Swedish Rally	13–15 February	Björn Waldegård (7h:19m:46s) Stig Blomqvist (7h:21m:33s) Simo Lampinen (7h:31m:22s)	Lancia Stratos HF Saab 96 V4 Lancia Beta Coupé
Safari Rally	27–31 March	Ove Andersson (+11m:58s penalties) Sandro Munari (+12m:36s penalties) Björn Waldegård (+13m:57s penalties)	Peugeot 504 Lancia Stratos HF Lancia Stratos HF
Acropolis Rally	24–31 May	Walter Röhrl (9h:20m:36s) Tasos'Siroco' Livieratos (9h:56m:18s) Mihalis Koumas (11h:35m:53s)	Opel Ascona Alpine-Renault A110 1800 Mitsubishi Galant
Rallye du Maroc	24–28 June	Hannu Mikkola (23h:30m:48s) Bernard Consten (25h:12m:03s) Bob Neyret (25h:48m:19s)	Peugeot 504 Peugeot 504 Alpine-Renault A110 1800
Rallye de Portugal	18–21 July	Markku Alén (6h:24m:15s) Hannu Mikkola (6h:26m:58s) Ove Andersson (6h:29m:29s)	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Toyota Corolla
1000 Lakes Rally	29–31 August	Hannu Mikkola (2h:52m:33s) Simo Lampinen (2h:53m:47s) Timo Mäkinen (2h:54m:35s)	Toyota Corolla Saab 96 V4 Ford Escort RS1800
Rallye Sanremo	4–10 October	Björn Waldegård (10h:22m:52s) Maurizio Verini (10h:25m:40s) Jean-Luc Thérier (10h:59m:04s)	Lancia Stratos HF Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Alpine-Renault A110 1800
Tour de Corse	8–9 November	Bernard Darniche (4h:58m:26s) Jean-Pierre Nicolas (4h:58m:58s) Jean-Claude Andruet (5h:09m:51s)	Lancia Stratos HF Alpine-Renault A110 1800 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT
RAC Rally	22–26 November	Timo Mäkinen (6h:00m:44s) Roger Clark (6h:01m:57s) Tony Fowkes (6h:06m:11s)	Ford Escort RS1800 Ford Escort RS1800 Ford Escort RS1800
Sources:[1][5]

See also[edit]

• 1975 in sports

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1975 in World Rally Championship.

• FIA World Rally Championship 1975 at ewrc-results.com