1977 World Rally Championship Explained

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

+ align=center style="background:#BFD7FF"1977 World Rally Championship event mapalign=center colspan=4
width=25% Black = Tarmacwidth=25% Brown = Gravelwidth=25% Blue = Snow/Icewidth=25% Red = Mixed Surface

Schedule and results

+ align=center style="background:#BFD7FF"1977 World Rally Championship schedule and results
RallyDates runPodium Drivers (Finishing Time)Podium Cars

Rallye Monte-Carlo		22 - 28 January
  1. Sandro Munari (6h:36m:13s)
  2. Jean-Claude Andruet (6h:38m:29s)
  3. Antonio Zanini (6h:47m:07s)
  1. Lancia Stratos HF
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Seat 124D Especial 1800

Swedish Rally		11 - 13 February
  1. Stig Blomqvist (8h:02m:17s)
  2. Bror Danielsson (8h:08m:19s)
  3. Anders Kulläng (8h:08m:32s)
  1. Saab 99 EMS
  2. Opel Kadett GT/E
  3. Opel Kadett GT/E

Rallye de Portugal		1 - 6 March
  1. Markku Alén (6h:51m:47s)
  2. Björn Waldegård (6h:55m:43s)
  3. Ove Andersson (6h:56m:08s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Ford Escort RS1800
  3. Toyota Celica 2000GT

Safari Rally		7 - 11 April
  1. Björn Waldegård (+11m:05s penalties)
  2. Rauno Aaltonen (+11m:40s penalties)
  3. Sandro Munari (+13m:14s penalties)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Datsun 160J
  3. Lancia Stratos HF

South Pacific Rally		1 - 7 May
  1. Fulvio Bacchelli (24h:29m:55s)
  2. Ari Vatanen (24h:31m:29s)
  3. Markku Alén (24h:51m:54s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Ford Escort RS1800
  3. Fiat 131 Abarth

Acropolis Rally		28 May - 3 June
  1. Björn Waldegård (9h:31m:57s)
  2. Roger Clark (9h:37m:44s)
  3. Harry Källström (9h:47m:19s)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Ford Escort RS1800
  3. Datsun 160J

1000 Lakes Rally		26 - 28 August
  1. Kyösti Hämäläinen (4h:26m:06s)
  2. Timo Salonen (4h:30m:31s)
  3. Björn Waldegård (4h:36m:22s)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Ford Escort RS1800

Critérium du Québec		14 - 18 September
  1. Timo Salonen (5h:13m:54s)
  2. Simo Lampinen (5h:18m:31s)
  3. Roger Clark (5h:20m:56s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Ford Escort RS1800

Rallye Sanremo		4 - 8 October
  1. Jean Claude Andruet (10h:27m:43s)
  2. Maurizio Verini (10h:29m:40s)
  3. 'Tony' (10h:36m:30s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Fiat 131 Abarth
  3. Fiat 131 Abarth

Tour de Corse		5 - 6 November
  1. Bernard Darniche (8h:13m:40s)
  2. Raffaele Pinto (8h:17m:07s)
  3. Fulvio Bacchelli (8h:24m:07s)
  1. Fiat 131 Abarth
  2. Lancia Stratos HF
  3. Fiat 131 Abarth

RAC Rally		20 - 24 November
  1. Björn Waldegård (8h:21m:26s)
  2. Hannu Mikkola (8h:23m:49s)
  3. Russell Brookes (8h:31m:55s)
  1. Ford Escort RS1800
  2. Toyota Celica 2000GT
  3. Ford Escort RS1800

Manufacturers' championship

Co-Driver
MON
SWE
POR
KEN
NZL
GRC
FIN
ITA
CAN
FRA
GBR		Points
1align=left Fiat16 14 18 - 18 (12) 16 18 18 18 (6)136
2align=left Ford- 14 16 18 16 18 18 14 (10) - 18132
3align=left Toyota- 10 14 - 8 - 12 8 - - 1668
4align=left Opel9 17 13 - - 4 8 - 13 - 165
5align=left Lancia18 - - 14 - - - - 12 16 -60
6align=left Datsun- - - 16 - 14 - 10 - - -40
7align=left Porsche14 - 4 - - - - - 9 8 -35
8align=left Saab- 18 - - - - - 10 - - 230
9align=left Mitsubishi- - - 12 3 - - 13 - - -28
10align=left Chrysler- - - - - 10 14 - - - -24
11align=left Renault- - - - - 7 - - 11 - -18
12align=left British Leyland Cars- - - - - - - 12 - - 416
13align=left Peugeot- - - 6 - - - - - 9 -15
14align=left SEAT14 - - - - - - - - - -14
15align=left Citroën- - - - - 13 - - - - -13
16=align=left Alpine-Renault10 - - - - - - - - - -10
16=align=left Mazda- - - - 10 - - - - - -10
18align=left Volvo- 8 - - - - - - - - -8
19=align=left Škoda- - - - - - 7 - - - -7
19=align=left Alfa Romeo- - - - - - - - 7 - -7
21align=left Lada- 4 - - - - - - - - -4
Co-Driver
MON
SWE
POR
KEN
NZL
GRC
FIN
ITA
CAN
FRA
GBR		Points
+ align=center style="background:#BFD7FF"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

Driver
MON
ARC
SWE
POR
KEN
NZL
GRC
GIR
RSA
POL
FIN
SMC
CAN
TDF
ITA
SCR
ESP
FRA
GBR
CIV		Points
1align=left Sandro Munari9 - - - 4 - - - 9 - - 9 - - - - - - - -31
2align=left Björn Waldegård- - - 6 (9) - 9 - - - 4 - - - 2 - - - 9 -30
3align=left Bernard Darniche- - - - - - - - - 9 - - - 9 - - - 9 - -27

See also

External links

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