1977 World Rally Championship

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The 1977 World Rally Championship was the fifth season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The schedule was expanded by one event to 11, with some changes to the locations visited. Morocco was dropped from the schedule while new rallies were introduced in Quebec and New Zealand.

Due to internal politics within the company, Lancia failed to mount a significant effort to capture a fourth consecutive Championship. Instead, corporate partner Fiat led the fight against Ford, ultimately triumphing in a tightly contested battle that lasted most of the year.

From 1973 to 1978, the WRC only awarded a championship for manufacturers. Scoring was modified in 1977 to a more complex system including points both for overall and group placement. A car would still have to place in the overall top 10 to score points.

In addition to the Championship for Manufacturers, the FIA began awarding the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers. A total of 20 events were part of this series, including all rallies of the WRC, the five coefficient 4 rallies from the European Championship and four FIA Special Events. Only the best 8 results were counted towards the title: five WRC rallies, two ERC rallies and one Special Event.

Events[]

Map[]

1977 World Rally Championship event map
WRC-1977.png
Black = Tarmac Brown = Gravel Blue = Snow/Ice Red = Mixed Surface

Schedule and results[]

1977 World Rally Championship schedule and results
Rally Dates run Podium Drivers (Finishing Time) Podium Cars
Monaco
Rallye Monte-Carlo
22–28 January
  1. Italy Sandro Munari (6h:36m:13s)
  2. France Jean-Claude Andruet (6h:38m:29s)
  3. Spain (6h:47m:07s)
  1. Lancia Stratos HF
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Seat 124D Especial 1800
Sweden
Swedish Rally
11–13 February
  1. Sweden Stig Blomqvist (8h:02m:17s)
  2. Sweden (8h:08m:19s)
  3. Sweden Anders Kulläng (8h:08m:32s)
  1. Saab 99 EMS
  2. Opel Kadett GT/E
  3. Opel Kadett GT/E
Portugal
Rallye de Portugal
1–6 March
  1. Finland Markku Alén (6h:51m:47s)
  2. Sweden Björn Waldegård (6h:55m:43s)
  3. Sweden Ove Andersson (6h:56m:08s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Ford Escort RS1800
  3. Toyota Celica 2000GT
Kenya
Safari Rally
7–11 April
  1. Sweden Björn Waldegård (+11m:05s penalties)
  2. Finland Rauno Aaltonen (+11m:40s penalties)
  3. Italy Sandro Munari (+13m:14s penalties)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Datsun 160J
  3. Lancia Stratos HF
New Zealand
South Pacific Rally
1–7 May
  1. Italy Fulvio Bacchelli (24h:29m:55s)
  2. Finland Ari Vatanen (24h:31m:29s)
  3. Finland Markku Alén (24h:51m:54s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Ford Escort RS1800
  3. Fiat 131 Abarth
Greece
Acropolis Rally
28 May–3 June
  1. Sweden Björn Waldegård (9h:31m:57s)
  2. United Kingdom Roger Clark (9h:37m:44s)
  3. Sweden Harry Källström (9h:47m:19s)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Ford Escort RS1800
  3. Datsun 160J
Finland
1000 Lakes Rally
26–28 August
  1. Finland Kyösti Hämäläinen (4h:26m:06s)
  2. Finland Timo Salonen (4h:30m:31s)
  3. Sweden Björn Waldegård (4h:36m:22s)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Ford Escort RS1800
Canada
Critérium du Québec
14–18 September
  1. Finland Timo Salonen (5h:13m:54s)
  2. Finland Simo Lampinen (5h:18m:31s)
  3. United Kingdom Roger Clark (5h:20m:56s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Ford Escort RS1800
Italy
Rallye Sanremo
4–8 October
  1. France Jean Claude Andruet (10h:27m:43s)
  2. Italy (10h:29m:40s)
  3. Italy 'Tony' (10h:36m:30s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Fiat 131 Abarth
France
Tour de Corse
5–6 November
  1. France Bernard Darniche (8h:13m:40s)
  2. Italy Raffaele Pinto (8h:17m:07s)
  3. Italy Fulvio Bacchelli (8h:24m:07s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Lancia Stratos HF
  3. Fiat 131 Abarth
United Kingdom
RAC Rally
20–24 November
  1. Sweden Björn Waldegård (8h:21m:26s)
  2. Finland Hannu Mikkola (8h:23m:49s)
  3. United Kingdom Russell Brookes (8h:31m:55s)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Toyota Celica 2000GT
  3. Ford Escort RS1800

Manufacturers' championship[]

Pos. Co-Driver Monaco
Sweden
Portugal
Kenya
New Zealand
Greece
Finland
Italy
Canada
France
United Kingdom
Points
1 Italy Fiat 16 14 18 - 18 (12) 16 18 18 18 (6) 136
2 United States Ford - 14 16 18 16 18 18 14 (10) - 18 132
3 Japan Toyota - 10 14 - 8 - 12 8 - - 16 68
4 Germany Opel 9 17 13 - - 4 8 - 13 - 1 65
5 Italy Lancia 18 - - 14 - - - - 12 16 - 60
6 Japan Datsun - - - 16 - 14 - 10 - - - 40
7 Germany Porsche 14 - 4 - - - - - 9 8 - 35
8 Sweden Saab - 18 - - - - - 10 - - 2 30
9 Japan Mitsubishi - - - 12 3 - - 13 - - - 28
10 United States Chrysler - - - - - 10 14 - - - - 24
11 France Renault - - - - - 7 - - 11 - - 18
12 United Kingdom British Leyland Cars - - - - - - - 12 - - 4 16
13 France Peugeot - - - 6 - - - - - 9 - 15
14 Spain SEAT 14 - - - - - - - - - - 14
15 France Citroën - - - - - 13 - - - - - 13
16= France Alpine-Renault 10 - - - - - - - - - - 10
16= Japan Mazda - - - - 10 - - - - - - 10
18 Sweden Volvo - 8 - - - - - - - - - 8
19= Czechoslovakia Škoda - - - - - - 7 - - - - 7
19= Italy Alfa Romeo - - - - - - - - 7 - - 7
21 Soviet Union Lada - 4 - - - - - - - - - 4
Pos. Co-Driver Monaco
Sweden
Portugal
Kenya
New Zealand
Greece
Finland
Italy
Canada
France
United Kingdom
Points
1977 World Rally Championship point awards
Overall
finish
Group finish
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 18 - - - - - - - - -
2 17 16 - - - - - - - -
3 16 15 14 - - - - - - -
4 15 14 13 12 - - - - - -
5 14 13 12 11 10 - - - - -
6 13 12 11 10 9 8 - - - -
7 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 - - -
8 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 - -
9 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 -
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1

Cup for drivers[]

Pos. Driver Monaco
MON
Finland
ARC
Sweden
SWE
Portugal
POR
Kenya
KEN
New Zealand
NZL
Greece
GRC
Italy
GIR
South Africa
Poland
POL
Finland
FIN
Italy
Canada
CAN
France
TDF
Italy
ITA
Australia
SCR
Spain
ESP
France
FRA
United Kingdom
GBR
Ivory Coast
CIV
Points
1 Italy Sandro Munari 9 - - - 4 - - - 9 - - 9 - - - - - - - - 31
2 Sweden Björn Waldegård - - - 6 (9)[a] - 9 - - - 4 - - - 2 - - - 9 - 30
3 France Bernard Darniche - - - - - - - - - 9 - - - 9 - - - 9 - - 27
  European Rally Championship events
  FIA Special Events
  • a Waldegård had to drop one of his best results in WRC events because he didn't take part in at least one ERC event, as provided by the regulations.

See also[]

  • 1977 in sports

External links[]

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