1996 World Rally Championship

The 1996 World Rally Championship was the 24th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 9 rallies. As a result of their 1995 disqualification, Toyota Team Europe were not allowed to compete in this year's championship, so only three works teams contested the championship. The drivers' world championship was won by Tommi Mäkinen in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3, ahead of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Subaru.

Calendar

The 1996 championship was contested over nine rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania.

Rd.	Start date	Finish date	Rally	Rally headquarters	Surface	Stages	Distance
1	9 February	11 February	45th International Swedish Rally	Karlstad, Värmland County	Snow	27	490.64 km
2	5 April	7 April	44th Safari Rally Kenya	Nairobi	Gravel	15	1784.40 km
3	10 May	12 May	21st Bank Utama Rally Indonesia	Medan, North Sumatra	Gravel	27	452.29 km
4	2 June	4 June	43rd Acropolis Rally	Athens	Gravel	21	454.34 km
5	4 July	6 July	16th Rally Argentina	Carlos Paz, Córdoba	Gravel	28	516.15 km
6	23 August	26 August	46th Neste 1000 Lakes Rally	Jyväskylä, Central Finland	Gravel	29	478.93 km
7	13 September	16 September	9th Rally Australia	Perth, Western Australia	Gravel	27	475.92 km
8	13 October	16 October	38th Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	Sanremo, Liguria	Mixed	18	413.32 km
9	23 November	25 November	32nd Rallye Catalunya - Costa Brava - Rallye de España	Lloret de Mar, Catalonia	Tarmac	18	393.26 km
Sources:^[1]^[2]

Teams and drivers

Manufacturer entries

Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Rounds
555 Subaru WRT	Subaru	Impreza 555	P	1	Colin McRae	Derek Ringer	All
				2	Kenneth Eriksson	Staffan Parmander	All
				3	Didier Auriol	Bernard Occelli	1
					Piero Liatti	Mario Ferfoglia	2
						Fabrizia Pons	3–5, 7–9
				10		Mario Ferfoglia	1
Ford Motor Co. Ltd.	Ford	Escort RS Cosworth	M	4	Carlos Sainz	Luis Moya	All
				5	François Delecour	Daniel Grataloup	1
					Stig Blomqvist	Benny Melander	2
					Gwyndaf Evans	Howard Davies	3
					Bruno Thiry	Stéphane Prévot	4–9
				6	Stig Blomqvist	Benny Melander	1
				6	Dandy Rukmana	Supi Sabastian	3
				14	Ari Vatanen	Fabrizia Pons	1
				16	Ari Mökkönen	Voitto Silander	4
Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo III	M	7	Tommi Mäkinen	Seppo Harjanne	1–8
		Lancer Evo III		7	Tommi Mäkinen	Juha Repo	9
		Lancer Evo III (Grp. N)		8	Kenneth Bäcklund	Tord Andersson	1
		Lancer Evo III			Kenjiro Shinozuka	Pentti Kuukkala	2
		Lancer Evo III			Richard Burns	Robert Reid	3, 5, 7, 9
		Lancer Evo III (Grp. N)	P		Uwe Nittel	Christina Thörner	4
		Lancer Evo III	M		Lasse Lampi	Jyrki Stenroos	6
		Lancer Evo III	M		Didier Auriol	Denis Giraudet	8
		Lancer Evo III (Grp. N)	P	9	Uwe Nittel	Christina Thörner	1, 5, 8
		Lancer Evo III	?		Yoshihiro Kataoka	Satoshi Hayashi	3
		Lancer Evo III (Grp. N)	M		Jouko Puhakka	Keijo Eerola	6
			?		Ed Ordynski	Mark Stacey	7
			?	29	Yoshihiro Kataoka	Satoshi Hayashi	7
			P	*	Uwe Nittel	Christina Thörner	6–7, 9

Non Manufacturer Entries

Major entries not registered as manufacturers
Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	Drivers	Co-drivers	Rounds
Toyota Castrol Team Sweden	Toyota	Celica GT-Four (ST205)	M	Thomas Rådström	Lars Bäckman	1
				Thomas Rådström	Denis Giraudet	9
				Juha Kankkunen	Nicky Grist	1
				'Gullabo'	Ingemar Algerstedt	1
Toyota Castrol Finland				Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	1, 6
				Thomas Rådström	Lars Bäckman	6
				Juha Kankkunen	Nicky Grist	6
Toyota Kenya			M	Ian Duncan	David Williamson	2
Toyota Team Australia			M	Juha Kankkunen	Nicky Grist	3
Toyota Team Australia			?	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	7
Reza Pribadi			?	Reza Pribadi	Denis Giraudet	3
H.F. Grifone SRL			M	Rui Madeira	Nuno Rodrigues da Silva	4–5, 8–9
				Thomas Rådström	Denis Giraudet	4
				Gilberto Pianezzola	Loris Roggia	4–5, 8
				Andrea Dallavilla	Danilo Fappani	6, 8
				János jun. Tóth	Danilo Fappani	8
				Matteo Luise	Raffaele Caliro	8
Toyota Team Belgium			M	Freddy Loix	Sven Smeets	4, 8–9
Toyotoshi		Celica Turbo 4WD (ST185)	M	Marco Galanti Jr.	Victor Zucchini	1, 5
Toyotoshi			M	Marco Galanti Jr.	Martin Christie	2
Mobil 1 Stomil Olsztyn			M	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	Maciej Wisławski	1
Jonathan Toroitich			P	Jonathan Toroitich	Ibrahim Choge	2
Tein Sport			M	Yoshio Fujimoto	Arne Hertz	3, 7
Jean-Pierre Richelmi			M	Jean-Pierre Richelmi	Thierry Barjou	4
Ford Team Finland	Ford	Escort RS Cosworth	M	Sebastian Lindholm	Timo Hantunen	1, 6
Shell Motorsport Norway			?	Birger Gundersen	Cato Menkerud	1
Mobil Ford Motorsport			M	Per Svan	Johan Olsson	1
Ford Motorsport Indonesia			?	Dolly Indra Nasution	Farid Sungkar	3
Ford Motorsport Indonesia			?	Danny Rukmana	Raphael Arioseno	3
Bank Utama Rally Team			?	Pratikto Singgih	Hervian Soejono	3
Bank Utama Rally Team			?	Pratikto Singgih	Bobby Willis	7
Yacco R.A.S. Ford			M	Patrick Bernardini	Bernard Occelli	4
					Catherine François	5
					Dominique Savignoni	8–9
Stephen Finlay			M	Stephen Finlay	Robbie Philpott	4
Leonídas Kirkos			M	Leonídas Kirkos	Ioánnis Stavropoulos	4
Blue Rose Team			M	Jarmo Kytölehto	Arto Kapanen	6, 8–9
Promoracing Finland			M	Harri Rovanperä	Juha Repo	6
Jan Habig			?	Jan Habig	Douglas Judd	7
Jolly Club			P	Gianfranco Cunico	Pierangelo Scalvini	8
Ford España		Escort RS 2000 MKVI	M	Daniel Alonso Villarón	Salvador Belzunces	9
Clarion Team Europe	Subaru	Legacy RS	P	Per Eklund	Anders Olsson	1
Goro Rally Team		Impreza 555	?	Ricardo Gelael	Adiguna Sutowo	3
Impreza Motorsport			?	Tony Hardianto	Anthony Sarwono	3
Gading Rally Team			?	Irvan Gading	Karel Harilatu	3
Impreza Recaro Fujitsubo			?	Masao Kamioka	Kevin Gormley	4, 6
A.R.T Engineering			P	Angelo Medeghini	Barbara Medeghini	4–6, 8–9
A.R.T Engineering			P	Andrea Navarra	Renzo Casazza	6, 8
F.Dor Rally Team			P	Frédéric Dor	Didier Breton	4, 6
			P	Frédéric Dor	Kevin Gormley	8
Manfred Stohl			P	Manfred Stohl	Peter Müller	5
Growth International Motorsport			?	Peter 'Possum' Bourne	Craig Vincent	7
"Zeeohg"			?	"Zeeohg"	Raffy Etyemezian	9
Joakim Andersson	Volkswagen	Golf III GTi 16V	?	Joakim Andersson	Micael Eriksson	1
Volkswagen Motorsport Sweden			?	Jörgen Jonasson	Nicklas Jonasson	1
Volkswagen Motorsport Sweden			?	Harry Joki	Per Carlsson	1
Blue Rose Team			?	Tapio Laukkanen	Risto Mannisenmäki	6
Darko Peljhan			?	Darko Peljhan	Miran Kacin	8
Opel Team Sweden	Opel	Astra GSi 16V	?	Mats Jonsson	Johnny Johansson	1
Remus Racing	Opel	Astra GSi 16V	?	Kris Rosenberger	Peter Diekmann	5, 8–9
Stohl Racing	Audi	Coupé S2	M	Rudolf Stohl	Jürgen Bertl	2
				Rudolf Stohl	Kay Gerlach	4
				Manfred Stohl	Kay Gerlach	2
				Manfred Stohl	Peter Müller	9
Silverstone Suzuki Sport	Suzuki	Swift GTi MK2	S	Nobuhiro Tajima	Visut Sukosi	3
Silverstone Suzuki Sport	Suzuki	Baleno	S	Nobuhiro Tajima	Ross Runnalls	7
Hyundai Rally Sport	Hyundai	Lantra	?	Wayne Bell	Iain Stewart	3, 7
		Coupé		Greg Carr	Glenn Macneall	3, 7
				Kim Dong-Ok	Andrew Graham Walker	3
				Kim Han Bong	Andrew Graham Walker	7
Kia Motorsport Korea	Kia	Sephia	?	Rob Herridge	Chris Randell	3, 7
				Dean Herridge	Rod van der Straaten	3, 7
				Park Jeong-Ryong	Jim Carlton	3, 7
Konstantinos Apostolou	Lancia	Delta HF Integrale	?	Konstantinos Apostolou	Mihalis Kriadis	4
Autostal Duindistel	Mazda	323 GT-R	?	Gaby Goudezeune	Filip De Pelsemaeker	4
Technocar	SEAT	Ibiza GTi 16V	?	"Stratissino"	Tonia Pavli	4
SEAT Sport		Ibiza Kit Car	M	Jesús Puras	Carlos del Barrio	5, 7, 9
				Erwin Weber	Manfred Hiemer	5, 7
				Antonio Rius	Manuel Casanova	7, 9
				Josep María Bardolet	Joaquim Muntada	9
Škoda Motorsport	Škoda	Felicia Kit Car	M	Emil Triner	Pavel Štanc	5, 7, 9
				Pavel Sibera	Petr Gross	5, 7, 9
				Stig Blomqvist	Benny Melander	7
				Bernard Munster	Jean-François Elst	9
Cimauto Sport	Renault	Clio Williams	?	Gabriel Raies	Jose Maria Volta	5
Walter Suriani			?	Walter Suriani	Raúl Rosso	5
Renault Team Sweden			?	Jonas Kruse	Anders Dawidson	1
Renault Team Sweden		Mégane Maxi	?	Jonas Kruse	Anders Olsson	6
Paolo Andreucci			M	Paolo Andreucci	Simona Fedeli	8
Husky S.R.L.			M	Piero Longhi	Luigi Pirollo	8
Mirabella Mille Miglia			M	Diego Oldrati	Paolo Lizzi	8
Renault Sport España			M	Oriol Gómez	Marc Martí	9
SanYang MIT Motorsport	Honda	Civic VTi	?	Alister McRae	David Senior	7
Daihatsu Australia	Daihatsu	Charade GTi	?	Robert Nicoli	Claire Parker	7
Peugeot Sport España	Peugeot	306 S16	?	Jaime Azcona	Alfredo Rodríguez	9
Peugeot Sport España	Peugeot	306 S16	?	Manuel Muniente	Joan Ibáñez Sotos	9

Results and standings

Drivers' championship

Pos	Driver	SWE	KEN	INA	GRE	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	Pts
1	Tommi Mäkinen	1	1	Ret	2	1	1	1	Ret	5	123
2	Colin McRae	3	4	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	4	1	1	92
3	Carlos Sainz	2	Ret	1	3	2	Ret	3	2	Ret	89
4	Kenneth Eriksson	5	2	Ret	5	3	5	2	5	7	78
5	Piero Liatti	12	5	2	4	7	DNS	7	Ret	2	56
6	Bruno Thiry				6	5	11	6	3	3	44
7	Juha Kankkunen	4		3			2				37
8	Freddy Loix				7				4	4	24
9	Richard Burns			Ret		4		5		Ret	18
10	Marcus Grönholm	7					4				14
11	Gilberto Pianezzola				8	6			7		13
12=	Ian Duncan		3								12
12=	Jarmo Kytölehto						3		Ret	Ret	12
14	Yoshio Fujimoto			4				9			12
15	Thomas Rådström	6			Ret		6			Ret	12
16	Patrick Bernardini				9	9			10	6	11
17	Reza Pribadi			5							8
18	Stig Blomqvist	8	7					Ret			7
19	Rui Madeira				Ret	8	9		Ret	9	7
20=	Kenjiro Shinozuka		6								6
20=	Michael Lieu			6				Ret			6
20=	Franco Cunico								6		6
23=	Shigeyuki Konishi			7				25			4
23=	Sebastian Lindholm	Ret					7				4
25	Didier Auriol	10							8		4
26	Angelo Medeghini				Ret	12	10		9	10	4
27=	Hideaki Miyoshi		8					29			3
27=	Irvan Gading			8							3
27=	Lasse Lampi						8				3
27=	Peter 'Possum' Bourne							8			3
27=	Oriol Gómez									8	3
32=	Tomas Jansson	9									2
32=	Patrick Njiru		9								2
32=	Chandra Alim			9							2
35=	Jonathan Toroitich		10								1
35=	Bambang Hartono			10							1
35=	Jean-Pierre Richelmi				10						1
35=	Uwe Nittel	16			14	10	16	DSQ	Ret	16	1
35=	Ed Ordynski							10			1
Pos	Driver	SWE	KEN	INA	GRE	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	Pts

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Each works team had to nominate up to three drivers 30 days before each event; only two best placed nominated drivers were eligible to score points for the manufacturers' championship.

Pos.	Manufacturer	No.	SWE	KEN	INA	GRE	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	Points
1	Subaru	1	3	4	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	4	1	1	401
		2	5	2	Ret	(5)	3	5	2	5	(7)
		3	(10)	(5)	2	4	7		(7)	Ret	2
2	Mitsubishi	7	1	1	Ret	2	1	1	1	Ret	5	322
		8	14	6	Ret	14	4	8	5	8	Ret
		9			Ret		(10)	Ret	(10)	Ret
3	Ford	4	2	Ret	1	3	2	Ret	3	2	Ret	299
		5	(11)	7	Ret	6	5	11	6	3	3
		6	8		Ret
Pos.	Manufacturer	No.	SWE	KEN	INA	GRE	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	Points

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Group N Cup

Pos	Driver	SWE	KEN	INA	GRE	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	Pts
1	Gustavo Trelles	Ret		Ret	2	2	4	5	1	1	55
2	Uwe Nittel	3			1	1	3	Ret	Ret	2	50
3	Pascal Smets				3				2		17
4	Kenneth Bäcklund	1									13
	Hideaki Miyoshi		1					14			13
	Michael Lieu			1				Ret			13
	Pasi Hagström						1				13
	Ed Ordynski							1			13
9	Stig-Olov Walfridsson	2									10
	Patrick Njiru		2								10
	Shigeyuki Konishi			2				11			10
	Olli Harkki						2				10
	Yoshihiro Kataoka							2			10
14	Jorge Recalde				Ret	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	4	8
15	Jim Heather-Hayes		3								7
	Chandra Alim			3							7
	Daniel Alejandro Preto					3					7
	Karamjit Singh			Ret				3			7
	Giovanni Manfrinato								3		7
	Jacques Andreani									3	7
Pos	Driver	SWE	KEN	INA	GRE	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	Pts

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Events

**1996 World Rally Championship event map**
Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Snow/Ice	Red = Mixed Surface

Rally Name	Start-End Date	Podium Drivers (Finishing Time)	Podium Cars
Swedish Rally	9–11 February	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:37m:10s) Carlos Sainz (4h:37m:33s) Colin McRae (4h:38m:15s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Ford Escort RS Cosworth Subaru Impreza 555
Safari Rally	5–7 April	Tommi Mäkinen (12h:41m:24s) Kenneth Eriksson (12h:55m:40s) Ian Duncan (13h:23m:24s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Subaru Impreza 555 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Rally Indonesia	10–12 May	Carlos Sainz (5h:30m:00s) Piero Liatti (5h:30m:23s) Juha Kankkunen (5h:31m:02s)	Ford Escort RS Cosworth Subaru Impreza 555 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Acropolis Rally	2–4 June	Colin McRae (5h:33m:12s) Tommi Mäkinen (5h:34m:02s) Carlos Sainz (5h:36m:33s)	Subaru Impreza 555 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rally Argentina	4–6 July	Tommi Mäkinen (5h:48m:42s) Carlos Sainz (5h:50m:17s) Kenneth Eriksson (5h:53m:21s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Ford Escort RS Cosworth Subaru Impreza 555
1000 Lakes Rally	23–26 August	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:04m:13s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:04m:59s) Jarmo Kytölehto (4h:06m:50s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rally Australia	13–16 September	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:08m:50s) Kenneth Eriksson (4h:10m:07s) Carlos Sainz (4h:10m:11s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Subaru Impreza 555 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rallye Sanremo	13–16 October	Colin McRae (4h:26m:57s) Carlos Sainz (4h:27m:19s) Bruno Thiry (4h:29m:06s)	Subaru Impreza 555 Ford Escort RS Cosworth Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rally Catalunya	4–6 November	Colin McRae (4h:14m:20s) Piero Liatti (4h:14m:27s) Bruno Thiry (4h:15m:38s)	Subaru Impreza 555 Subaru Impreza 555 Ford Escort RS Cosworth

FIA 2 Litre World Cup For Manufacturers

Pos	Manufacturer	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	SEAT	(25)	60	(13)	36	46	47	46	39	274
2	Renault	36	39	53	64	-	-	48	25	265
3	Skoda	39	44	-	46	35	60	(16)	40	264
4	Peugeot	46	9	54	-	9	-	40	10	168
5	General Motors Europe	43	31	11	-	-	-	18	-	103
6	Suzuki	-	-	-	16	36	-	-	-	52
=	Hyundai	-	-	-	-	21	31	-	-	52
8	Daihatsu	-	-	-	-	15	35	-	-	50
9	Honda	9	6	-	-	8	-	-	20	43
10	Nissan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	42	42
11	Kia	-	-	-	-	-	32	-	-	32
=	Toyota	-	1	-	-	31	-	-	-	32
13	Renault Argentina	-	-	-	28	-	-	-	-	28
14	Citroën	20	-	-	-	-	-	7	-	27
15	Daewoo	-	-	-	26	-	-	-	-	26
16	Toyota Australia	-	-	-	-	-	21	-	-	21
17	Volkswagen	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	15	18
18	Ford	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	-	15
19	Mitsubishi	-	-	-	-	14	-	-	-	14
20	Fiat	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10

() Denotes dropped score

References

^ "WRC 1996". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
^ "1996 WRC calendar". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 20 January 2025.

External links

FIA World Rally Championship 1996 at ewrc-results.com

[WRC1997-1] "WRC 1996". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 20 January 2025.

[2] "1996 WRC calendar". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 20 January 2025.

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