2005 World Rally Championship

The 2005 World Rally Championship was the 33rd season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on January 21 with the Monte-Carlo Rally and ended on November 13 with the Rally Australia.

In the drivers' world championship, Citroën Total's Sébastien Loeb successfully defended his title, finishing a record 56 points ahead of Subaru's Petter Solberg and Peugeot's Marcus Grönholm. Loeb also set several other records during the season. He won ten world rallies, beating the previous record of six held by him (2004) and Didier Auriol (1992). He also took six consecutive wins, beating Timo Salonen's 20-year-old record of four. Peugeot's Markko Märtin retired after his co-driver Michael Park was fatally injured in their crash at the Wales Rally GB.

Citroën took the manufacturers' title for the third year in a row, well ahead of Subaru and Ford. PSA Peugeot Citroën still went ahead with their plan to withdraw both Citroën and Peugeot from the series after the season. More blows to manufacturer involvement in the series followed when Mitsubishi and Škoda announced the withdrawal of their factory teams. However, the 2006 season would see Citroën and Škoda continue as the semi-works teams Kronos Citroën and Red Bull Škoda Team, respectively.

The video game WRC: Rally Evolved was based on this season.

Regulation changes[]

Drivers' and co-drivers' helmets are now required to be equipped with a HANS device.

Calendar[]

The 2005 championship was contested over sixteen rounds in Europe, North America, Asia, South America and Oceania.

Round	Dates	Rally	Support class
1	21–23 January	Monte Carlo Rally	JWRC
2	11–13 February	Swedish Rally	PWRC
3	11–13 March	Rally Mexico	JWRC
4	7–10 April	Rally New Zealand	PWRC
5	28 April-1 May	Rally d'Italia Sardegna	JWRC
6	13–15 May	Cyprus Rally	PWRC
7	3–5 June	Rally of Turkey	PWRC
8	23–26 June	Acropolis Rally	JWRC
9	14–17 July	Rally Argentina	PWRC
10	4–7 August	Rally Finland	JWRC
11	26–28 August	Rallye Deutschland	JWRC
12	15–18 September	Wales Rally GB	PWRC
13	29 September-2 October	Rally Japan	PWRC
14	21–23 October	Tour de Corse	JWRC
15	27–30 October	Rally Catalunya	JWRC
16	10–13 November	Rally Australia	PWRC

Teams and drivers[]

World Rally Championship entries[]

Manufacturer teams
Team	Constructor	Car	Tyre	No	Drivers	Rounds
Citroën Total	Citroën	Xsara WRC	M	1	Sébastien Loeb	All
				2	François Duval	1–6, 9–16
					Carlos Sainz	7–8
BP Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Focus RS WRC 04/06	M	3	Toni Gardemeister	All
				4	Roman Kresta	1, 4–9, 11–16
					Henning Solberg	2
					Daniel Solà	3
					Mikko Hirvonen	10
				14	Roman Kresta	2–3, 10
					Henning Solberg	5–8, 10, 12
					Daniel Solà	11, 13–16
				15	Antony Warmbold	All
					Luís Pérez Companc	4, 9
Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru	Impreza WRC 04/05	P	5	Petter Solberg	All
				6	Stéphane Sarrazin	1–2, 11, 14–15
					Chris Atkinson	3–10, 12–13, 16
				16		2, 11, 14–15
					Stéphane Sarrazin	5, 8, 12
Marlboro Peugeot Total	Peugeot	307 WRC	P	7	Marcus Grönholm	All
				8	Markko Märtin	1–12
					Daniel Carlsson	13, 16
					Nicolas Bernardi	14–15
				19	Daniel Carlsson	2
				25	Sebastian Lindholm	10
Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports	Mitsubishi	Lancer WRC 05	P	9	Harri Rovanperä	All
				10	Gilles Panizzi	1, 3, 6, 13–14
					Gianluigi Galli	2, 4–5, 7–12, 15–16
				18		13–14
Škoda Motorsport	Škoda	Fabia WRC	M	11	Armin Schwarz	1, 3–16
					Mattias Ekström	2
				12	Alexandre Bengué	1, 11, 14–15
					Janne Tuohino	2, 4–8
					Jani Paasonen	3, 9–10
					Colin McRae	12, 16
					Mikko Hirvonen	13
				17	Janne Tuohino	10
					Jan Kopecký	11, 14–15
				18	Jani Paasonen	2, 8
Major entries not registered as manufacturers
OMV World Rally Team	Citroën	Xsara WRC	M	16	Manfred Stohl	1, 4–6, 8–12, 16
				17	Xavier Pons	8–12, 14–16
				21	Juuso Pykälistö	5
Stobart VK Ford Rally Team	Ford	Focus RS WRC 04	M	17	Mark Higgins	5, 8, 12
		Focus RS WRC 02		19	Matthew Wilson	5, 12
Hyundai Assan Motorsports	Hyundai	Hyundai Accent WRC	P	17		7
				66		7
				67		7
				68		7
M-Sport	Ford	Focus RS WRC 03	M	18	Mikko Hirvonen	2, 5, 8, 15
Bozian Racing	Peugeot	206 WRC	M P	18	Daniel Carlsson	6, 9
				19	Marcos Ligato	9
				22	Nicolas Bernardi	11–12
				23	Xavier Pons	1, 3, 5
				61	Didier Auriol	1
					Ricardo Triviño	3, 9, 15
Equipe de France FFSA	Škoda	Fabia WRC	M	20	Nicolas Vouilloz	14–15

JWRC Entries[]

No	Entrant	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Rounds
31	Suzuki Sport Europe	Per-Gunnar Andersson	Jonas Andersson	Suzuki Ignis S1600	1, 3, 5, 8
				Suzuki Swift S1600	10–11, 15
32		Guy Wilks			10–11, 15
				Suzuki Ignis S1600	1, 3, 5, 8
33		Kosti Katajamäki			1, 5, 8, 10–11, 14–15
36		Urmo Aava	Kuldar Sikk		1, 5, 8, 10–11, 14–15
34		Mirco Baldacci		Fiat Punto S1600	1, 5, 8, 10–11, 14–15
35	Kronos Racing	Kris Meeke	Chris Patterson	Citroën C2 S1600	1, 5, 8
					10–11, 14–15
41		Daniel Sordo	Marc Martí		1, 5, 10–11, 14–15
					8
37				Suzuki Ignis S1600	15
					1, 5, 8, 14
				Fiat Punto S1600	10
					11
38		Luca Betti		Renault Clio S1600	1, 5, 8, 11, 14–15
					10
39				Renault Clio S1600	1
				Fiat Punto S1600	3, 5, 8, 11
					14–15
40	PH Sport	Conrad Rautenbach		Citroën Saxo S1600	3
				Citroën C2 S1600	5, 8, 10–11, 14–15
42		Pavel Valoušek		Suzuki Ignis S1600	1, 3, 5, 10–11
					14–15
43	Jipocar Racing	Martin Prokop		Suzuki Ignis S1600	1, 5, 8, 10–11, 14–15

PWRC entries[]

No	Entrant	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Rounds
31	Subaru Team Arai	Toshihiro Arai		Subaru Impreza WRX STI	2, 4, 6–7, 13, 16
32	Ralliart Spain	Xavier Pons		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	2, 4, 6–7
33	Autotek Motorsport	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Chris Patterson	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4, 6–7, 9, 12, 16
34		Fumio Nutahara		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	2, 4, 6–7, 13, 16
35	Team Proton Pert Malaysia	Karamjit Singh		Proton Pert	4, 6–7, 12
36		Marcos Ligato		Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4, 6–7, 12–13, 16
40		Gabriel Pozzo			4, 6–7, 9, 13, 16
44					4, 6–7, 9, 13, 16
37	Top Run SRL	Mark Higgins		Subaru Impreza WRX STI	2, 4, 6–7, 9
			Daniel Barritt		16
51		Brice Tirabassi			4, 6–7, 9, 12–13
38				Subaru Impreza WRX STI	2, 6–7, 9, 12
				Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	16
39				Subaru Impreza WRX STI	2, 6–7, 9
					12
41	OMV World Rally Team	Natalie Barratt		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII	4, 6–7, 13
				Subaru Impreza WRX STI	12, 16
42	Villagra Racing	Federico Villagra		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	4, 6–7, 9, 13, 16
43				Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	2, 4, 6, 9
				Subaru Impreza WRX STI	12, 16
45				Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	2, 6–7, 12–13, 16
47				Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI	4
				Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	6
					7
48				Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII	4, 6–7, 9, 13
49		Hamed Al-Wahaibi	David Senior	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4, 6–7, 12–13, 16
50				Subaru Impreza WRX STI	2, 4, 7, 12–13, 16

Results and standings[]

Drivers' championship[]

Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR FIN GBR JPN FRA AUS  Pts  1 Sébastien Loeb 1 Ret 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 2 1 1 Ret 127 2 Petter Solberg Ret 1 1 3 2 Ret 2 9 3 4 7 1 Ret 3 13 Ret 71 3 Marcus Grönholm 5 Ret 2 2 3 Ret 3 4 2 1 3 Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 71 4 Toni Gardemeister 2 3 6 6 5 5 6 2 4 6 17 DSQ 6 2 14 Ret 58 5 Markko Märtin 4 2 3 5 4 3 5 8 6 3 4 Ret 53 6 François Duval Ret 12 Ret 4 11 Ret 7 8 2 2 4 Ret 2 1 47 7 Harri Rovanperä 7 4 5 Ret Ret 7 10 6 5 7 10 4 5 10 10 2 39 8 Roman Kresta 8 8 Ret DNS 6 6 7 Ret 11 23 6 6 7 5 5 6 29 9 Manfred Stohl 6 9 9 2 20 8 Ret Ret 5 3 22 10 Mikko Hirvonen Ret Ret 5 5 Ret 3 14 11 Gianluigi Galli 7 8 Ret 8 7 Ret Ret 5 13 Ret 9 Ret 5 14 12 Chris Atkinson 19 Ret 7 18 10 24 Ret 9 Ret 11 38 3 Ret 9 4 13 13 Carlos Sainz 4 3 11 14 Henning Solberg 5 15 4 11 Ret 9 10 9 15 Gilles Panizzi 3 8 11 11 Ret 7 16 Xavier Pons Ret 38 10 13 Ret 34 17 10 10 12 9 11 7 4 Ret 7 17 Stéphane Sarrazin 14 13 12 13 8 Ret 4 Ret 6 18 Antony Warmbold 10 11 7 11 7 Ret 9 Ret 12 Ret DNS 12 9 13 7 Ret 6 19 Daniel Carlsson 6 Ret 8 Ret 14 15 DNS 8 Ret 5 20 Nicolas Bernardi Ret Ret 8 6 4 21 Alexandre Bengué 9 Ret 6 Ret 3 22 Colin McRae 7 Ret 2 23 Daniel Solà Ret 12 Ret Ret Ret 7 2 24 Juuso Pykälistö DNS 8 DNS 1 25 Mark Higgins Ret Ret 10 Ret 44 Ret DSQ DNS 8 10 1 26 Jan Kopecký 37 Ret 12 8 1 27 Armin Schwarz Ret 9 10 Ret 13 Ret 18 16 11 Ret 14 10 Ret 11 8 1 Pos. Driver MON SWE MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR FIN GBR JPN FRA AUS  Pts

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

Manufacturers' championship[]

Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR FIN GBR JPN FRA AUS Points 1 Citroën 1 1 Ret 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 2 1 1 Ret 188 2 Ret 8 Ret 4 7 Ret 4 3 7 8 2 2 4 Ret 2 1 2 Peugeot 7 5 Ret 2 2 3 Ret 3 4 2 1 3 Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 135 8 4 2 3 5 4 2 5 7 6 3 4 Ret 8 7 4 Ret 3 Ford 3 2 3 6 6 5 3 6 2 4 6 10 Ret 6 2 8 Ret 104 4 7 5 Ret Ret 6 4 7 Ret 9 5 6 5 7 5 3 5 4 Subaru 5 Ret 1 1 3 2 Ret 2 8 3 4 7 1 Ret 3 7 Ret 97 6 9 9 Ret 7 9 7 11 Ret 8 Ret 8 9 3 4 Ret 3 5 Mitsubishi 9 6 4 5 Ret Ret 5 9 5 5 7 9 4 5 8 5 2 76 10 3 6 7 8 Ret 8 8 6 Ret Ret 5 8 10 Ret Ret 4 6 Škoda 11 Ret 7 8 9 Ret 9 Ret 9 10 9 Ret 7 9 Ret 6 6 21 12 8 Ret 9 Ret 8 6 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 Ret 6 Ret Ret Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE MEX NZL ITA CYP TUR FIN GBR JPN FRA AUS Points

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

JWRC Drivers' championship[]

Pos. Driver MON MEX ITA FIN FRA  Pts  1 Dani Sordo 4 1 Ret 1 1 2 1 53 2 Guy Wilks 7 1 6 2 3 3 Ret 35 3 Kris Meeke 1 3 6 7 2 8 7 32 4 Urmo Aava Ret 2 3 2 Ret 4 4 32 5 Kosti Katajamäki 2 Ret 4 Ret 5 3 2 31 6 Per-Gunnar Andersson 6 2 5 1 Ret 4 Ret 30 7 Mirco Baldacci 10 Ret 5 5 7 1 3 26 8 Luca Betti 5 4 Ret 4 6 Ret Ret 17 9 Martin Prokop 9 7 7 6 Ret 7 5 13 10 Ret 3 Ret Ret 9 6 8 10 11 Pavel Valoušek 8 4 9 Ret 8 Ret 6 10 12 Conrad Rautenbach Ret 8 8 8 Ret 5 Ret 7 13 3 Ret 9 Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 Pos. Driver MON MEX ITA FIN FRA  Pts

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

Events[]

Round	Rally name	Podium drivers (Finishing time)	Podium cars
1	/ Monte Carlo Rally (21–23 January) — Results and report	Sébastien Loeb (4h:13m:05.6s) Toni Gardemeister (4h:16m:03.9s) Gilles Panizzi (4h:16m:45.7s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Ford Focus RS WRC 04 Mitsubishi Lancer WRC
2	Swedish Rally (11–13 February) — Results and report	Petter Solberg (3h:00m:52.1s) Markko Märtin (3h:03m:03.2s) Toni Gardemeister (3h:04m:06.8s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 2004 Peugeot 307 WRC Ford Focus RS WRC 04
3	Rally Mexico (11–13 March) — Results and report	Petter Solberg (3h:41m:06.2s) Marcus Grönholm (3h:41m:40.7s) Markko Märtin (3h:42m:44.5s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 2005 Peugeot 307 WRC Peugeot 307 WRC
4	Rally New Zealand (8–10 April) — Results and report	Sébastien Loeb (3h:34m:51.6s) Marcus Grönholm (3h:35m:41.4s) Petter Solberg (3h:36m:00.3s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Peugeot 307 WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 2005
5	Rally d'Italia Sardegna (29 April–1 May) — Results and report	Sébastien Loeb (4h:06m:33.7s) Petter Solberg (4h:07m:33.3s) Marcus Grönholm (4h:09m:41.0s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 2005 Peugeot 307 WRC
6	Cyprus Rally (13–15 May) — Results and report	Sébastien Loeb (5h:02m:29.4s) Manfred Stohl (5h:06m:38.9s) Markko Märtin (5h:07m:11.3s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Citroën Xsara WRC Peugeot 307 WRC
7	Rally of Turkey (2–5 June) — Results and report	Sébastien Loeb (4h:21m:48.0s) Petter Solberg (4h:22m:47.6s) Marcus Grönholm (4h:23m:03.3s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 2005 Peugeot 307 WRC
8	Acropolis Rally (23–26 June) —	Sébastien Loeb (4h:12m:53.7s) Toni Gardemeister (4h:14m:29.9s) Carlos Sainz (4h:15m:04.8s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Ford Focus RS WRC 04 Citroën Xsara WRC
9	Rally Argentina (14–17 July) —	Sébastien Loeb (3h:55m:36.5s) Marcus Grönholm (3h:56m:02.5s) Petter Solberg (3h:56m:41.7s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Peugeot 307 WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 2005
10	Rally Finland (4–7 August) — Results and report	Marcus Grönholm (2h:54m:11.0s) Sébastien Loeb (2h:55m:17.7s) Markko Märtin (2h:55m:46.6s)	Peugeot 307 WRC Citroën Xsara WRC Peugeot 307 WRC
11	Rallye Deutschland (25–27 August) —	Sébastien Loeb (3h:27m:13.2s) François Duval (3h:27m:50.6s) Marcus Grönholm (3h:29m:18.0s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Citroën Xsara WRC Peugeot 307 WRC
12	Wales Rally GB (16–18 September) — Results and report	Petter Solberg (2h:45m:57.8s) François Duval (2h:47m:15.2s) Sébastien Loeb (2h:47m:15.7s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 2005 Citroën Xsara WRC Citroën Xsara WRC
13	Rally Japan (30 September–2 October) — Results and report	Marcus Grönholm (3h:23m:32.0s) Sébastien Loeb (3h:26m:54.1s)[1] Chris Atkinson (3h:28m:12.0s)	Peugeot 307 WRC Citroën Xsara WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 2005
14	Tour de Corse (21–23 October) — Results and report	Sébastien Loeb (3h:35m:46.7s) Toni Gardemeister (3h:37m:38.4s) Petter Solberg (3h:38m:28.7s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Ford Focus RS WRC 04 Subaru Impreza WRC
15	Rally Catalunya (28–30 October) —	Sébastien Loeb (3h:31m:07.0s) François Duval (3h:32m:28.9s) Mikko Hirvonen (3h:33m:53.7s)	Citroën Xsara WRC[2] Citroën Xsara WRC Ford Focus RS WRC 03
16	Rally Australia (10–13 November) — Results and report	François Duval (3h:19m:55.0s) Harri Rovanperä (3h:20m:47.9s) Manfred Stohl (3h:21m:28.0s)	Citroën Xsara WRC Mitsubishi Lancer WRC Citroën Xsara WRC

Notes[]

1. ^ Sébastien Loeb secured the drivers' championship title in Japan.
2. ^ Citroën secured the manufacturers' championship in Spain.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2005 in World Rally Championship.

• FIA World Rally Championship 2005 at ewrc-results.com
• 2005 season at World Rally Archive