The 2001 World Rally Championship was the 29th season of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). In a tightly contested year, Subaru's Richard Burns took his first and only drivers' world title, beating Ford's Colin McRae, Mitsubishi's Tommi Mäkinen and the defending champion Marcus Grönholm of Peugeot. Peugeot successfully defended their manufacturers' title.
Calendar The 2001 championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, South America and Oceania. Rd.Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceSupport class118 January21 January 69th Rallye Automobile Monte CarloMonte CarloMixed15373.06 kmN/A28 February11 February 50th International Swedish RallyKarlstad, Värmland CountySnow17380.31 kmTeams Cup38 March11 March 35th TAP Rallye de PortugalSanta Maria da Feira, Aveiro DistrictGravel22390.72 kmTeams Cup422 March25 March 37th Rallye Catalunya - Costa Brava - Rallye de EspañaLloret de Mar, CataloniaTarmac18383.18 kmSuper 160053 May6 May 21st Rally ArgentinaCarlos Paz, CórdobaGravel21389.58 kmN/A631 May3 June 29th Cyprus RallyLimassol, Limassol DistrictGravel22341.38 kmTeams Cup714 June17 June 48th Acropolis RallyItea, PhocisGravel20387.41 kmSuper 1600/Teams Cup819 July22 July 49th Safari Rally KenyaNairobiGravel131129.76 kmN/A923 August26 August 51st Neste Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel21406.38 kmSuper 16001020 September23 September 32nd Propecia Rally New ZealandManukau, AucklandGravel24382.46 kmN/A114 October7 October 43rd Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'ItaliaSanremo, LiguriaTarmac20368.12 kmSuper 1600/Teams Cup1218 October21 October 45th Tour de Corse - Rallye de FranceAjaccio, CorsicaTarmac16394.04 kmSuper 1600131 November4 November 14th Telstra Rally AustraliaPerth, Western AustraliaGravel21396.77 kmTeams Cup1422 November25 November 57th Network Q Rally of Great BritainCardiff, WalesGravel17380.86 kmSuper 1600Sources:
Calendar changes All 14 rounds from the previous season remained on the calendar for the 2001 season. April was left open with the belief at the time being that Britain would be moved to the spring in 2002, since there had been talks to relocate Rally GB to earlier in the year to make the event better for weather and tourism. The Safari rally was moved to the summer away from its traditional spring date, while Cyprus was also moved to the summer to be back to back with the Acropolis Rally.
There had been plans to relocate Rally Australia from Perth to Melbourne with the event being based on the Rally of Melbourne that was part of the Australian Rally Championship at the time. However these plans failed to materialize and the Rally remained in Perth.
During the season, Rally GB was under the threat of cancellation due to the outbreak of foot in mouth disease in the United Kingdom, leading to the Rally of Lebanon being prepared as a replacement. Rally GB was able to go ahead but with a more compact route which concentrated on more rural parts of the south of Wales and controversially removed popular stages such as Sweet Lamb and Myherin.
Teams and drivers ManufacturersManufacturerCarTeamTyreNoDriversCo-DriversRoundsPeugeot206 WRC Peugeot Total1 Marcus Grönholm Timo RautiainenAll2 Didier Auriol Denis GiraudetAll16 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen2–3, 5–10, 13–14 Gilles Panizzi Hervé Panizzi1, 4, 11–121913FordFocus RS WRC 01 Ford Motor Co Ltd3 Carlos Sainz Luis MoyaAll4 Colin McRae Nicky GristAll17 François Delecour Daniel Grataloup1-13 Mark Higgins Bryan Thomas1421 Paolo Andreucci Alessandro Giusti11SubaruImpreza WRC 2001 555 Subaru World Rally Team5 Richard Burns Robert ReidAll6 Petter Solberg Phil Mills2–14 Markko Märtin Michael Park1184, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 Petter Solberg Phil Mills1 Toshihiro Arai Glenn MacNeall5–6, 10, 13193, 8, 10-1120721 Tony Sircombe1429 Neil Wearden Trevor Agnew14MitsubishiLancer Evo 6.5 Lancer Evo WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart7 Tommi Mäkinen Risto Mannisenmäki1-12 Timo Hantunen13 Kaj Lindström148 Freddy Loix Sven SmeetsAll19 Thomas Rådström Tina Thörner2 Katsuhiko Taguchi Derek Ringer6 Toni Gardemeister Paavo Lukander9-10HyundaiAccent WRC Accent WRC2 Hyundai World Rally Team9 Piero Liatti Carlo Cassina1, 4, 11–12 Kenneth Eriksson Staffan Parmander2–3, 5–7, 9–10, 13–1410 Alister McRae David Senior1–7, 9–1419 Piero Liatti Carlo Cassina6, 1420 Juha Kankkunen Juha Repo943 Thomas Kolberg Werner Seigerud245 Kristian Kolberg Anders Dawidson2ŠkodaOctavia WRC Evo2 Škoda Motorsport11 Armin Schwarz Manfred Hiemer1–9, 11–12, 1412 Bruno Thiry Stéphane Prévot1–8, 11–12, 14 Georges Biar920 Roman Kresta Jan Tománek8, 11, 1421 Stig Blomqvist Ana Goñi9 World Rally Car entries ineligible to score manufacturer pointsManufacturerCarTeamTyreDriversCo-DriversRoundsCitroënXsara WRC Citroën Sport Philippe Bugalski Jean-Paul Chiaroni4, 7, 11–12 Jesús Puras Marc Martí4, 11–12 Thomas Rådström Tina Thörner7 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena11Peugeot206 WRC H.F. Grifone SRL Toni Gardemeister Paavo Lukander1-2 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen11-12 Gilles Panizzi Hervé Panizzi3, 6–7, 9, 14 Neil Wearden Trevor Agnew6, 9–10, 12 Jean-Pierre Richelmi Thierry Barjou7 Peugeot Esso Silver Team SG Adruzilo Lopes Luís Lisboa3-4 Peugeot Bastos Racing Kris Princen Dany Colebunders3–4, 6 Simon Jean-Joseph Jacques Boyere4, 6–7, 11 Grégoire de Mévius14 Peugeot Sport Finland Sebastian Lindholm Timo Hantunen9 Peugeot Sport Austria Raphael Sperrer Per Carlsson9 F.P.F. Sport Renato Travaglia Flavio Zanella11 Papadimitriou Team Ioannis Papadimitriou Chris Patterson2-3, 6-7 Simon Jean-Joseph Simon Jean-Joseph Jack Boyére4, 6-7, 11ToyotaCorolla WRC H.F. Grifone SRL Piero Longhi Lucio Baggio1, 11 Pier Lorenzo Zanchi Dario D'Esposito1 Tapio Laukkanen Kaj Lindström2-3 Juuso Pykälistö Esko Mertsalmi9 Toyota Castrol Team Olivier Burri Jean-Philippe Patthey1 Daniel Carlsson Benny Melander2–3, 9, 11 Pedro Chaves Sérgio Paiva3 Antony Warmbold Gemma Price3, 9 Jouni Ahvenlammi Teppo Leino9 Neal Bates Coral Taylor13 Shell Norway Motorsport Henning Solberg Ola Fløene2–3 Cato Menkerud9 LPM Racing Janne Tuohino Petri Vihavainen2, 4, 9, 13 Juha Kangas Mika Ovaskainen9 Mocne Rally Leszek Kuzaj Maciek Baran3 Escudería Bengala Luís Climent Álex Romaní4 Top Run SRL Domenico Caldarola Paolo Cecchini11 Toyota Castrol Team Denmark Henrik Lundgaard Jens-Christian Anker2-3, 6-7, 11, 13 Toyota Castrol Team Finland Pasi Hagström Tero Gardemeister2–3, 6–7, 11, 13 Toyota Team Saudi Arabia Abdullah Bakhashab Bobby Willis2-3, 6-7, 11, 13 Giovanni Recordati Giovanni Recordati Freddy Delorme6-7SubaruImpreza WRC 99 Procar Rally Team Tobia Cavallini Bernardo Serra1Impreza WRC 00 Armodios Vovos Loris Meletopoulos7 Diego Oldrati Danilo Fappani11 Papadimitriou Team Ioannis Papadimitriou Chris Patterson11Impreza WRC 98 Subaru Benelux Mark Breijer Hans van Goor4, 11, 14 Jean-Claude Torre Jean-Claude Torre Patrick de la Foata12Impreza WRC 00 Promotor World Rally Team Achim Mörtl Stefan Eichhorner4, 9Impreza WRC 0111-13Impreza WRC 00 Subaru Rally Team Australia Peter 'Possum' Bourne Craig Vincent10 Mark Stacey13Impreza WRC 98 Shell Norway Motorsport Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud14 Richard Hein Richard Hein Philippe Sevol1, 12Impreza WRC 99 Tobia Cavallini Tobia Cavallini Bernardo Serra1 Derek McGarrity Derek McGarrity Dermot O'Gorman14Impreza WRC 98 Styllex Tuning Prosport Tomáš Hrdinka Petr Gross2FordFocus WRC 00 Blue Rose Team Jani Paasonen Arto Kapanen2, 9 Markku Alén Ilkka Riipinen9Focus WRC 99 Jolly Club Roman Kresta Jan Tománek7 Jari Viita Jari Viita Riku Rousku9Focus WRC 00 Carlos Sainz Junior Team Txus Jaio Lucas Cruz14SEATCórdoba WRC Evo3 SEAT Sport Marc Blázquez Jordi Mercader3–6 Salvador Cañellas Alberto Sanchís4 Gwyndaf Evans Chris Patterson14Córdoba WRC Evo2 Matthias Kahle Peter Göbel7SubaruImpreza WRC 00 Oman Arab World Rally Team Hamed Al-Wahaibi Tony Sircombe2–3, 6–7, 11Impreza WRC 0113Impreza WRC 99 World Rally HIRE Nigel Heath Steve Lancaster2–3, 6–7, 11, 13Impreza WRC 00 F.Dor Rally Team Frédéric Dor Didier Breton2–3, 6Impreza WRC 018Impreza WRC 98 Styllex Tuning Prosport Tomáš Hrdinka Petr Gross2FordFocus WRC 00 Marlboro Ford Mobil 1 Team Janusz Kulig Jarosław Baran2-3Focus RS WRC 01 Ford Galp Racing Rui Madeira Fernando Prata3MitsubishiLancer Evo 6.5 Pedro Dias da Silva Pedro Dias da Silva Mário Castro3 Ralliart New Zealand Ross Meekings Alan Glen10HyundaiAccent WRC Steve Petch Steve Petch John Richardson14 Peter Littler Peter Littler Andrew Marchbank14 Super 1600 Championship entries
No Entrant Drivers Co-driver Car Rounds 50 Top Run SRL Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor Fiat Punto S1600 4, 7, 11–12, 14 Peter Müller 9 56 Giandomenico Basso Flavio Guglielmini 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 51 Ford Motor Co Ltd Patrick Magaud Guylène Brun Ford Puma S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 55 Niall McShea Michael Orr 4, 7 59 Benoît Rousselot Gilles Mondésir 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 71 François Duval Jean-Marc Fortin 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 52 R&D Motorsport Andrea Dallavilla Danilo Fappani Fiat Punto S1600 4 Massimo Chiapponi 7 Giovanni Bernacchini 9, 11–12, 14 64 Massimo Macaluso Antonio Celot 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 53 Citroën Sport Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Citroën Saxo S1600 4, 7, 9, 12, 14 55 Niall McShea Michael Orr 9, 11–12, 14 54 Peugeot Bastos Racing Larry Cols Yasmine Gerard Peugeot 206 S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12 Dany Colebunders 14 57 Team Gamma Cédric Robert Marie-Pierre Billoux Peugeot 206 S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12 Gérald Bedon 14 69 Nicolas Bernardi Delphine Cavalier 4, 7, 11–12 Jean-Claude Grau 9 Bruno Brissart 14 58 Pronto Racing Sergio Vallejo Diego Vallejo Fiat Punto S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 67 Albert Llovera Marc Corral 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 60 Rally Team Henny Cyril Henny Aurore Brand Citroën Saxo S1600 4, 7 61 H.F. Grifone SRL Corrado Fontana Renzo Casazza Peugeot 206 S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 62 ST Motors Jussi Välimäki Jakke Honkanen Peugeot 206 S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 63 Zeta Racing Martin Stenshorne Clive Jenkins Ford Puma S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 65 Astra Racing Alejandro Galanti Daniel Muzio Ford Puma S1600 4 Fernando Zuleta 7, 9 Xavier Amigó 11–12, 14 68 Hawk Racing Club Massimo Ceccato Mitia Dotta Fiat Punto S1600 4, 7, 9, 11–12, 14 73 Christian Chemin Matteo Alberto Bacchin 4, 7, 9, 11–12 Simone Scattolin 14 72 Saladin Rallying Saladin Mazlan Timothy Sturla Fiat Punto S1600 4 Ford Puma S1600 7, 9, 11–12 Citroën Saxo S1600 14
Group N Cup major entries