Red Bull Motorsports
WRC
The 5 most dominant rally teams in WRC history
Behind every champion driver is a champion manufacturer. Let's look at the five most victorious teams in the history of World Rally Championship.
1) Lancia
Lancia's greatest hits
© Lancia
With a total amount of 10 manufacture titles, Lancia is, by far, the most successful car brand in rally history. During the '70s and '80s, and even in the beginning of the '90s, the Italian brand collected victories and titles with four different models. Lancia's first championship victory came in 1974, with their Stratos, but it was after the Group B era in 1986, they really became unbeatable. For six years in a row, from 1987 until 1992, no one could stop their Delta Integrale.
2) Citroën
Sébastien Loeb at WRC Rally New Zealand
© GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool
No Loeb – no Citroën. That's the summary of the 2000 era in WRC. When Citroën fully entered WRC in 2003, the French team, led by the French superstar Sébastien Loeb, began their 10-year-long history of success. Except from 2006 and 2007, when Ford grabbed the manufactures title, no one could catch up with Citroën and their complete dominance. With three different kinds of cars (Xsara, C4 and DS3), they ended up with eight wins in the manufacturing championship. And who won the drivers championships from 2004 until 2012? Sebastien Loeb, of course.
3) Toyota
Elfyn Evans racing for Toyota in Croatia
© Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
We may claim that the '90s was the era of Japanese cars. Toyota secured three titles during this century. First, two in a row in 1992 and 1993, before their Corolla manage to grab the title in 1999, even though the Mitsubishi driver Tommi Mäkinen became a four-time World Rally champion. In more recent years, Toyota have found their way into the top three, with manufacture titles in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
4) Peugeot
Carlos Sainz driving a Peugeot 208 T16
© Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
The French brother of Citroën has also collected a handful of titles. But in two different eras. When the Group B cars were on fire in the middle of the '80s, Peugeot secured two titles with their 205 T16 4x4 in 1985 and 1986. Later on, at the beginning of the 2000s, the French team made a hat trick (from 2000 until 2002), led by the Finn Marcus Grönholm. A total amount of five victories makes Peugeot the fourth most successful manufacturer in history.
5) Ford and Volkswagen
What do these two brands have in common? They have each won four manufacturing championship titles. But in different ways.
Pierre-Louis Loubet in the M-Sport Ford WRT
© Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
What about Ford? They secured the manufacturers' championship as recently as 2017, even though they didn't catch the driver's title these years. Nevertheless, their first title came in 1979 with their legendary Escort RS. Four manufacturer titles put them right behind Peugeot and tied with Volkswagen in the all-time greats.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC
© David Robinson/Red Bull Content Pool
Volkswagen entered the championship in 2013 and became unbeatable from the start. Volkswagen hasn't just secured four championship titles over four years. No, in total, they won 40 events between 2013 and 2016.
At the end of the 2016 season, Volkswagen retired from competition in the World Rally Championship. That means Ford only needs to win one more manufacturer title to earn the fifth-greatest position to themselves.
