Robert Reid (co-driver)

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Robert Reid (born 17 February 1966) is a retired Scottish rally co-driver who partnered Richard Burns to victory in the 2001 World Rally Championship.[1] The partnership lasted from 1991 until 2003 during which time they entered into 103 world rallies, achieving 277 stage wins and 34 podium finishes.[2] The pair were runners-up in the 1999 World Rally Championship and the 2000 World Rally Championship.[1]

Career

Early Years

Reids first stage rally was the 1984 Hackle Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship.[3] For seven years he competed in many different rallies around the United Kingdom navigating for many notable drivers including Robbie Head, Colin McRae and Alister McRae.[3] However, he is most well-known for his long and successful partnership with Richard Burns.[1]

Burns and Reid

In 1991 Burns and Reid formed a new partnership and placed 16th in the British round of the World Rally Championship that year.[2] The following year they finished in 7th place and in 1993 they won the British Rally Championship driving a Subaru making Burns the youngest ever British champion.[2] In 1994 and 1995 Burns and Reid competed in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship and occasionally rounds of the World Rally Championship.[2] Their best result was third in the 1995 British round of the World Rally Championship driving a Subaru.[2]

1996-1998 Mitsubishi

Between 1996 and 1998 Burns and Reid drove for Mitsubishi with their results improving every year.[2] In 1996 they placed fifth in the Australian round and fourth in the Argentinian round of the World Rally Championship.[2] The following year they finshed fourth in the British, Australian, Indonesian, New Zealand and Greek rounds of the Championship as well as placing second in the Kenyan round.[2] Even further progress was made in 1998 with their first ever victory in the Kenyan round of the World Rally Championship and a first at the British round of the Championship.[2] They placed sixth overall in the 1998 World Rally Championship season.[2]

1999-2001 Subaru

In 1999 Burns and Reid switched manufacturer and drove for Subaru.[2] They won the Greek, Australian and British rounds of the Championship and finished second in the Argentinian, Finnish and Chinese rounds.[2] Overall they finished runners-up in the 1999 World Rally Championship season.[2]

The following year Burns and Reid would finish runners-up a second time even though they won four rounds of the 2000 World Rally Championship season.[2] They finished first in the Kenyan, Portuguese, Argentinian and British rounds but Marcus Gronholm still managed to beat them at the end of the season by five points.[2]

2001 World Rally Champions

In 2001 Burns and Reid would win their first and only World Rally Championship title finishing two points ahead of Colin McRae.[2] They won the New Zealand round of the Championship and placed second at the Argentinian, Cypriot, Finnish and Australian rounds.[2] Burns became the first English driver to become world champion.

2002-2003 Peugeot

The move to Peugeot did not prove to be as successful, though they did manage four second place finishes in the 2002 season at the Spanish, Cypriot, Finnish and German rounds of the Championship.[2] Marcus Gronholm won the title by thirty points from his nearest rival. Burns and Reid finished in fifth place overall.[2]

Burns and Reid managed two second place and five third place positions in the 2003 Championship, giving them an outside chance of re-claiming the world title going into the Wales Rally GB, the final rally of the 2003 World Rally Championship season.[2] Whilst driving to the final event Richard Burns suffered a blackout at the wheel and was withdrawn from the event. Burns was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. Throughout Burns's illness, Reid spent two to three days per week with him and did not want to race with any other driver.[4] On 25 November 2005 four years to the day since Burns and Reid had won the World Championship title, Richard Burns died.

Post-Racing Career

Since retiring from racing Reid has held several positions within the sport including colour commentator for WRC. He spent several years as the Performance Director of the UK Motor Sport Association establishing elite programmes to develop young driver talent in the United Kingdom.[5] More recently he has been working alongside Alexander Wurz to select and train emerging talent at the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.[5]

WRC Victories

 #  Event Season Driver Car
1 Kenya 46th Safari Rally Kenya 1998 Richard Burns Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
2 United Kingdom 54th Network Q Rally of Great Britain Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V
3 Greece 46th Acropolis Rally of Greece 1999 Subaru Impreza WRC 99
4 Australia 12th Telstra Rally Australia
5 United Kingdom 55th Network Q Rally of Great Britain
6 Kenya 48th Sameer Safari Rally Kenya 2000
7 Portugal 33° TAP Rallye de Portugal Subaru Impreza WRC 00
8 Argentina 20° Rally Argentina
9 United Kingdom 56th Network Q Rally of Great Britain
10 New Zealand 31st Propecia Rally New Zealand 2001 Subaru Impreza WRC 2001

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Robert Reid". GoMotorsport.net. 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 "Robert Reid - Co-Driver Profile". Rallye-Info.com. 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Robert Reid". rallycodrivermagazine.co.uk. 26 July 2000. Retrieved 14 December 2012. 
  4. ↑ "Q&A: Robert Reid". Richard Burns Foundation. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2012. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Interview: FIA Institute Academy's Robert Reid". FIA Institute. 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2012. 

External links

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