1973 World Rally Championship season

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World Rally Championship
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Other Classes:
Junior World Rally Championship
Production World Rally Championship

Lists:
Drivers (Champions)
Constructors (Champions)
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The 1973 World Rally Championship season was the inagural 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 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 Rally Championship for Makers. 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 winningest 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.

1 Events
2 Championship
3 See also

[edit] Events

**1973 World Rally Championship event map**
Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Snow/Ice	Red = Mixed Surface

**1973 World Rally Championship schedule and results**
Round	Rally name	Stages	Podium finishers
Round	Rally name	Stages	Rank	Driver	Car	Time
1	42ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo (19–26 January)	18 stages 420 km Tarmac	1	Jean-Claude Andruet	Alpine Renault A110	5h:42m:04s
			2	Ove Andersson	Alpine Renault A110	5h:42m:30s
			3	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	5h:43m:39s

2	24th International Swedish Rally (15–18 February)	36 stages 760 km Snow/Ice	1	Stig Blomqvist	Saab 96 V4	9h:18m:31s
			2	Per Eklund	Saab 96 V4	9h:20m:53s
			3	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	9h:34m:12s

3	7º TAP Rallye de Portugal (13–18 March)	32 stages 387 km Tarmac/Gravel	1	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	5h:42m:16s
			2	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	5h:48m:57s
			3	Francisco Romãozinho	Citroën DS21	6h:07m:48s

4	21st East African Safari Rally (19–23 April)	56 controls 5300 km Gravel	1	Shekhar Mehta	Datsun 240Z	+6m:46s pen
			2	Harry Källström	Datsun 1800 SSS	+6m:46s pen
			3	Ove Andersson	Peugeot 504	+8m:47s pen

5	16ème Rallye du Maroc (8–13 May)	27 stages 1210 km Tarmac/Gravel	1	Bernard Darniche	Alpine Renault A110	15h:01m:22s
			2	Bob Neyret	Citroën DS23	15h:20m:04s
			3	Richard Bochnicek	Citroën DS23	15h:34m:37s

6	21st Acropolis Rally (23–28 May)	549 km Gravel	1	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	7h:37m:58s
			2	Rauno Aaltonen	Fiat Abarth 124	7h:44m:59s
			3	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	7h:45m:56s

7	33 Rajd Polski (12–15 July)	55 stages 734 km Tarmac/Gravel	1	Achim Warmbold	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	8h:28m:14s
			2	Egon Culmbacher	Wartburg 353	11h:15m:16s
			3	Maciej Stawowiak	Polski Fiat 125p	12h:08m:31s

8	23rd 1000 Lakes Rally (3–5 August)	43 stages 517 km Gravel	1	Timo Mäkinen	Ford Escort RS1600	4h:53m:50s
			2	Markku Alén	Volvo 142	4h:55m:59s
			3	Leo Kinnunen	Porsche 911	4h:57m:12s

9	44. Österreichische Alpenfahrt (12–14 September)	27 stages 310 km Gravel	1	Achim Warmbold	BMW 2002Tii	3h:58m:55.5s
			2	Bernard Darniche	Alpine Renault A110	4h:00m:10.1s
			3	Per Eklund	Saab 96 V4	4h:00m:11.2s

10	15º Rallye Sanremo (10–13 October)	37 stages 520 km Tarmac/Gravel	1	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	8h:01m:32s
			2	Maurizio Verini	Fiat Abarth 124	8h:07m:34s
			3	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	8h:21m:37s

11	25th Press-on-Regardless Rally (31 October–4 November)	Gravel	1	Walter Boyce	Toyota Corolla	6h:58m:28.2s
			2	Jim Walker	Volvo 142S	7h:22m:43.2s
			3	John Smiskol	Datsun 240Z	7h:33m:36.0s

12	22nd Daily Mirror RAC Rally (17–21 November)	Gravel/Tarmac	1	Timo Mäkinen	Ford Escort RS1600	6h:47m:08s
			2	Roger Clark	Ford Escort RS1600	6h:52m:23s
			3	Markku Alén	Ford Escort RS1600	6h:55m:26s

13	17ème Tour de Corse (1–2 December)	13 stages 372 km Tarmac	1	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	5h:06m:31s
			2	Jean-François Piot	Alpine Renault A110	5h:14m:37s
			3	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	5h:18m:46s

[edit] Championship

**1973 Manufacturers Championship Points**
Rank	Manufacturer	Event													Total points
Rank	Manufacturer	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	MAR	GRC	POL	FIN	AUT	ITA	USA	GBR	FRA	Total points
1	Alpine-Renault	20	12	20	-	20	20	-	-	15	20	-	(8)	20	147
2	Fiat	4	8	10	(3)	6	15	20	(3)	6	15	-	(1)	-	84
3	Ford	10	-	2	-	-	4	-	20	-	-	10	20	10	76
4	Volvo	-	2	-	-	2	-	-	15	-	-	15	10	-	44
5	Saab	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	10	12	-	-	-	-	42
6	Datsun	2	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	34
7	Citroën	-	-	12	-	15	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	33
8	BMW	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	4	-	28
9	Porsche	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	12	4	-	-	-	3	27
10	Toyota	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	3	-	20	-	-	25
11	Opel	-	1	4	-	-	-	-	8	-	2	-	6	4	25
12	Polski Fiat	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	-	6	-	-	18
13	Lancia	3	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	17
14	Wartburg	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	15
15	Volkswagen	-	6	-	-	-	8	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	15
16	Peugeot	-	-	-	12	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	13
17	Mitsubishi	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
18	Škoda	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
19	Alfa Romeo	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
20	Audi	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2
Note: Scores in parenthesis () are not included in manufacturers' totals.