Veni, Vidi, Vici: 5 drivers who won debut in WRC

Feb 16, 2020

Taisiya Lavi

Photo by rallyazores.blogspot.com



#1 Francois Delecour and his Rally Monte Carlo (1993).

Francois Delecour's debut in a four-wheel-drive car was on Rally Monte Carlo in 1993. He took the lead from reigning World Champion Carlos Sainz on the third day. It seemed that he will win his debut, but on the final night, Francois Delecour dropped down to third following a suspension breakage.



Wikipedia



#2 Carlos Reutemann and his Rally Argentina (1980).





Today could you imagine that F1 driver can do such an amazing debut as Carlos Reutemann did in 1980? Still being a Formula One racer driver, Carlos Reutemann was joined to Fiat to drive in his home Rally Argentina, where he finished his debut rally in an amazing third position.









Probably you will ask about K. Raikkonen. As you remember, Finnish driver made his initial rally debut at the Arctic Lapland Rally, driving a Tommi Mäkinen Racing-prepared Abarth Grande Punto S2000. He finished in 13th place.





photo by twitter

#3 Toni Gardemeister and his Rally New Zealand (1999). The young Finn driver took a chance in Cordoba World Rally Car at the 1999 Rally New Zealand, but nobody could have guessed that Gardemeister would make the podium on his debut.

When someone talks about the top in WRC, it means this record isn't possible without S. Ogier being there. #4 Sébastien Ogier and his Rallye Monte-Carlo (2009) This was Ogier's first victory in Rallye Monte-Carlo. He was voted into a drive at the Intercontinental Rally Challenge season-opener and made it count, winning the only IRC event he ever contested in style at the wheel of a Peugeot 207 S2000. Sébastien Ogier's win



What about the true king of WRC?

#5 Sébastien Loeb's amazing debuts. Mr. Loeb is nine times the winner of the World Rally Championship. He had a pretty amazing result on Sanremo Rally in 2001. But this wasn't Loeb's debut in a World Rally Car. The French federation had given him two rounds in Italy and France 2000, and he twice finished in the top 10 in Toyota Corolla WRC.

Going back to 2001 in Sanremo, despite the conditions, rain, and fog on the final day, Loeb pushed asphalt ace, Gilles Panizzi, and finished just 11 seconds back in the second spot in his Citroen Xsara WRC.

Going back to our time. It's not easy to call our drivers as debutants at this day. But if you look at the last results of drivers who changed the teams ( took the new cars), you will see incredible results: let's look at the Monte Carlo rally:



WRC official

S. Ogier 2d. position (+12.6 seconde near the leader), E. Evans - 3d. position ( +14.3 seconds).





WRC official

That's why we can say Mr. Evans did breakthrough in his new Toyota Yaris by wining Rally Sweden. Thank you for reading, wishing you true breakthroughs in your goals and amazing results this week!

After an incredible Elfyn Evans win at Rally Sweden we thought what could be more difficult than to get winning at the new car in the new rally team? Of course, it's about debut time for any driver! Here is top 5 rally drivers, who came, saw and conquered in their debut rallies.