Didier Auriol (born 18 August 1958) is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first driver from his country to do so. He was a factory candidate for Lancia, Toyota and Peugeot among others, before losing his seat at Škoda at the end of 2003. His sister Nadine was also involved in rallying as a co-driver, while his brother Gerrard was also a former rally driver.

Career At the age of 21, Auriol started rallying in an old Simca 1000. He drove the Simca for two years before getting a Renault 5 Turbo to compete in the French Rally Championship. In 1986 he competed in a Metro 6R4. With this car, he won his first French Rallye Championship. He contested it again the following year, the first of the Group A years, in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and with his car he was French Rally Champion 1987 and 1988.

Auriol won his first World Championship event, the 1988 Tour de Corse, whilst driving a works Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. It was the only time that season when Lancia were beaten in a straight fight, and the Lancia team signed him for the following year. He remained with the team for four seasons, driving three successive versions of the then-dominant Lancia Delta Integrale. In 1992, driving the final evolution of the car, he won six events in one season (a record until beaten by Sébastien Loeb in 2005), but poor results on other rounds and retirement on the last event of the season, the RAC Rally, handed the world championship to Carlos Sainz.

In 1993, Auriol switched to Toyota, and won his first event for the team, the Monte Carlo Rally. He did not win again that season, but the following year he won the Corsica, Argentina and San Remo rallies and went into the final round, in Great Britain, vying again with Sainz for the championship. Despite a poor showing on the rally, he emerged as World Champion after the Spanish driver went off the road on the final day. In 1995, he took the first win for the Celica GT-Four ST205 in Tour de Corse with Denis Giraudet, who replaced his regular co-driver Bernard Occelli who was experiencing a family problem at that time. However, later in the same season, on the Rally Catalunya, Toyota were found to have used an illegal device in the turbocharger to increase the power of the engine, and were excluded from the results of the 1995 championship and banned for next year.

In 1996, Auriol contested only two World Championship events. He drove for Subaru in Sweden and for Mitsubishi in San Remo. In 1997, he entered in Monte Carlo with a private Ford, and drove couple of rallies with Toyota's new Corolla WRC.

In 1998, Auriol became a Toyota full-time driver. he earned one win and four podiums, finishing fifth in the overall standings. In 1999 he scored one win and seven podiums, which placed him third in points.

As Toyota retired from World Rally Championship after 1999, Auriol moved to SEAT Sport, driving the SEAT Córdoba WRC E2. Using Auriol's experience, SEAT managed to grab the third podium place at the Safari Rally in Kenya, and later that season to launch their third evolution of the Córdoba WRC. However at the end of the season the Spanish manufacturer retired from WRC to focus on the development of a special series of high performance cars.

Auriol landed a drive with Peugeot Sport for the 2001 season, but he had a largely difficult season; only on asphalt-rallies was Auriol able to be quicker than his teammate, Marcus Grönholm. Auriol's only win that year came in Spain, whereas he scored three third places at Sanremo, Corse and Australia. 2002 was a kind of gap year for Auriol, and for 2003, Auriol signed with Škoda Motorsport, and played a notable part in the development work of the Škoda Fabia WRC.

Auriol is a six-time winner of the Tour de Corse, a record jointly held with Bernard Darniche.

WRC victories

{|class="wikitable" ! Number ! Event ! Season ! Co-driver ! Car |- | 1 | 32ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 1988 | Bernard Occelli | Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |- | 2 | 33ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 1989 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta Integrale |- | 3 | 58ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 1990 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta Integrale 16V |- | 4 | 34ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 1990 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta Integrale 16V |- | 5 | 32º Rallye Sanremo – Rallye d'Italia | 1990 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta Integrale 16V |- | 6 | 33º Rallye Sanremo – Rallye d'Italia | 1991 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta Integrale 16V |- | 7 | 60ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 1992 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |- | 8 | 36ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 1992 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |- | 9 | 39th Acropolis Rally | 1992 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |- | 10 | 12º Rally Argentina | 1992 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |- | 11 | 42nd 1000 Lakes Rally | 1992 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |- | 12 | 5th Telecom Rally Australia | 1992 | Bernard Occelli | Lancia Delta HF Integrale |- | 13 | 61ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 1993 | Bernard Occelli | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD |- | 14 | 38ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 1994 | Bernard Occelli | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD |- | 15 | 14º Rally Argentina | 1994 | Bernard Occelli | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD |- | 16 | 36º Rallye Sanremo – Rallye d'Italia | 1994 | Bernard Occelli | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD |- | 17 | 39ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 1995 | Denis Giraudet | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 |- | 18 | 34º Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava (Rallye de España) | 1998 | Denis Giraudet | Toyota Corolla WRC |- | 19 | 3rd China Rally | 1999 | Denis Giraudet | Toyota Corolla WRC |- | 20 | 37º Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava (Rallye de España) | 2001 | Denis Giraudet | Peugeot 206 WRC

WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 1984 Didier Auriol Renault 5 Turbo MON SWE POR KEN FRARet GRC NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR – 0 1985 Didier Auriol Renault 5 Maxi Turbo MON SWE POR KEN FRARet GRC NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR – 0 1986 Austin Rover World Championship Team MG Metro 6R4 MON SWE POR KEN FRARet GRC NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBR USA – 0 1987 Ford France Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MON SWE POR KEN FRA8 GRC USA NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA4 GBR 22nd 13 1988 Ford France Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MON SWE PORRet KEN 7th 32 Ford Motorsport FRA1 GRC USA NZL ARG FIN3 CIV ITARet GBR 1989 Martini Lancia Lancia Delta Integrale SWE MON2 PORRet KEN FRA1 GRC2 NZL ARG FINRet AUS 5th 50 Lancia Delta Integrale 16v ITARet CIV GBR 1990 Martini Lancia Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v MON1 POR2 KEN FRA1 GRCRet NZL ARG3 FINRet AUSRet ITA1 CIV GBR5 2nd 95 1991 Jolly Club Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v MONRet SWE9 POR2 KEN FRA2 GRC4 NZL3 ARG3 FIN2 AUSRet ITA1 CIV ESP GBR12 3rd 101 1992 Martini Lancia Lancia Delta HF Integrale MON1 SWE PORRet KEN FRA1 GRC1 NZL ARG1 FIN1 AUS1 ITARet CIV ESP10 GBRRet 3rd 121 1993 Castrol Toyota Team Europe Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD MON1 SWERet POR KEN FRA2 GRCRet ARG3 NZL3 FIN3 AUSRet ITA ESP2 GBR6 3rd 92 1994 Castrol Toyota Team Europe Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD MONRet POR2 KEN3 FRA1 GRCRet ARG1 NZL5 FIN2 ITA1 GBR6 1st 116 1995 Castrol Toyota Team Europe Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 MONRet SWE5 POR5 FRA1 NZL2 AUSRet ESPDSQ GBR DSQ 51 1996 555 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza 555 SWE10 KEN IDN GRC ARG FIN AUS 25th 4 Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III ITA8 ESP 1997 R.A.S. Sport Ford Escort RS Cosworth MONRet SWE KEN POR ESP FRA 11th 6 H.F. Grifone Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 ARG5 GRC NZL Castrol Toyota Team Europe Toyota Corolla WRC FIN8 IDNRet ITA8 AUS3 GBRRet 1998 Castrol Toyota Team Europe Toyota Corolla WRC MON14 SWE6 KEN4 PORRet ESP1 FRA6 ARGRet GRC2 NZL2 FIN4 ITARet AUS3 GBRRet 5th 34 1999 Castrol Toyota Team Europe Toyota Corolla WRC MON3 SWE4 KEN2 POR3 ESP2 FRA5 ARG3 GRCRet NZL4 FINRet CHN1 ITA3 AUSRet GBRRet 3rd 52 2000 Repsol SEAT Sport SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo2 MONRet SWE10 KEN3 POR10 ESP13 ARGRet GRCRet NZLRet 12th 4 SEAT Córdoba WRC Evo3 FIN11 CYPRet FRA8 ITA17 AUS8 GBR9 2001 Peugeot Sport Total Peugeot 206 WRC MONRet SWERet POR8 ESP1 ARGRet CYPRet GRCRet KENRet FINRet NZL6 ITA3 FRA3 AUS3 GBR7 7th 23 2002 Didier Auriol Toyota Corolla WRC MONRet SWE FRA ESP CYP ARG GRE KEN FIN GER ITA NZL AUS GBR – 0 2003 Shell Škoda Motorsport Škoda Octavia WRC Evo3 MON9 SWE18 TURRet NZL8 ARG6 GRE9 CYPRet 13th 4 Škoda Fabia WRC GERRet FINRet AUS12 ITA12 FRARet ESPRet GBR11 2005 Didier Auriol Peugeot 206 WRC MONRet SWE MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR GRE ARG FIN GER GBR JPN FRA ESP AUS – 0

References

External links rallybase.nl – Dider Auriol's profile