The votes have been counted and the results are in.
Last week, we asked you to submit your votes for the best event in the history of the World Rally Championship. Thousands of votes later, we’ve compiled the final ranking of the top 40 rallies to have ever graced a WRC calendar – as voted by you.
Over the course of this week we’ll be revealing that ranking, so make sure you check the website every day to see where your favorite rally placed in the final results!
Here are the events that ranked 20-11:
20. Chile
Chile gets a spot in your top 20, fresh from having hosted the WRC for a second time this season and four years on from making its series debut.
Based in the city of Concepción on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, Rally Chile allows drivers to take on some of the world’s finest forest roads, which have been compared to stages ranging from New Zealand’s fast, flowing tracks to the muddy gravel of Wales.
There has only ever been one winner of Chile’s WRC round, with Ott Tänak taking the inaugural rally win for Toyota in 2019, and then backing that up last season by taking his most recent WRC win in an M-Sport Ford Puma.
19. Argentina
We take a short hop over the Andes now for the next rally in your ranking: Argentina.
While Chile is a relative newcomer to the WRC, Argentina is veteran, having hosted a round of the world championship 37 times.
And in that time, the rocky mountain passes, spectacular water splashes and the extreme passion of the spectators established Rally Argentina as a bona fide classic event.
While Sébastien Loeb holds the record for victories in Argentina with eight, the rally has thrown up some all-time great WRC moments, like Hayden Paddon’s incredible drive to resist Sébastien Ogier and take his one and only WRC win in 2016.
And there was Colin McRae’s roadside suspension fix – consisting of bashing a bent link into shape with a large rock – before setting the fastest time on the very next stage in 1998.
18. Ypres
The Ypres Rally ranked 18th in this poll and has a storied history, running annually on the asphalt roads around the town from which it takes its name since 1965.
But the event has only been part of the WRC twice, giving Belgium its first world championship round in 2021 and returning the following year.
The rally is known for its demanding and narrow farm roads, deep ditches and muddy cuts, which allow drivers to bring dirt onto the road surface and hinder the following cars into the stage.
Thierry Neuville took a popular home win in 2021, but his mistake in 2022 threw away a strong lead and handed victory to Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak.
17. Poland
Next up in your ranking is Poland, which actually hosted a round of the first world championship season in 1973.
The event owns the ominous record of having the fewest cars make the finish of a rally in WRC history, with Achim Warmbold leading home only two other competitors in his Fiat 124 Rallye.
In more modern times, the WRC returned to Poland in 2009, and then again annually from 2014-17. Now held in the Masurian Lake District, Sébastien Ogier took to the fast Polish gravel the best, and is the only repeat winner in Rally Poland’s WRC history with a brace of victories.
The event will return to the world championship in 2024.
=15. Croatia
We have a tie for your 15th favorite rally, and one of those in the tussle is the Croatia Rally.
The event is one of the youngest in the WRC, first appearing on the calendar in 2021 and maintaining its place at rallying’s top table ever since.
Croatia’s fast stages, slippery Tarmac and unpredictable weather have already given it a unique character, which is further heightened by the passionate support of the masses of local fans.
Sébastien Ogier won a thriller by just 0.6s on the event’s debut in 2021, while Kalle Rovanperä edged Ott Tänak in another nail-biter one year later.
Elfyn Evans won the 2023 edition, ensuring Toyota maintained its record as the only manufacturer to win on Croatian soil in the championship’s short history there.
=15. Sanremo
While Croatia may be a new event, the rally with which it tied is one of the original classics: Rally Sanremo.
Held in the hills above the Mediterranean coast of north-west Italy, the history of the event – which was initially a mixed surface rally before latterly switching to a full asphalt configuration – stretches back to the first WRC season in 1973.
Sanremo has produced some of the most stunning images in WRC history, with classic cars from the sport’s past winding their way through picturesque villages and the twisty roads in the foothills of the Ligurian Alps.
Markku Alén, Miki Biasion, Didier Auriol and Gilles Panizzi share the WRC victory record in Sanremo with three each, while Sébastien Loeb won the last world championship edition of the event in 2003, driving for Citroën.
14. Ireland
Rally Ireland was a popular choice in this poll, despite having been part of the WRC only twice.
Those occasions came at opposite ends of the year, with the rally’s 2007 debut taking the penultimate slot on the calendar, while the 2009 edition was held as the season opener.
While the time of year may have been different the weather was not, as traditional Irish rain made the Tarmac stages extremely slippery for the world’s best rally drivers on both events.
Marcus Grönholm suffered a hard crash on the 2007 edition, arguably costing him the world title, while Sébastien Loeb splashed his way to victory en route to a fourth WRC crown. The Frenchman returned to the Emerald Isle to take another win in 2009.
=12. Spain
We continue our run of asphalt rallies with Rally Spain, which has appeared on the WRC calendar an impressive 30 times.
Although best known for its super-smooth, wide Tarmac roads, the Catalonia-based event also ran as a mixed-surface rally from 2010-19, with mechanics being required to switch the cars from gravel to asphalt specification overnight after the rally’s first full day.
Whatever the surface, Rally Spain has been Sébastien Loeb’s personal playground over the years, winning eight consecutive times between 2005 and 2012.
However, his finest moment may have come in 2018, where a final day charge and an inspired choice to take hard tires as the rest of the field opted for softs took him to a record-extending 79th WRC victory on only his fourth start in five years.
=12. Germany
Tied with Spain in this contest is Germany; yet another rally that was held on a sealed surface.
First hosting the WRC in 2002, and having done so 17 times in total, Rally Germany offered some unique challenges, such as the narrow vineyard roads of the Mosel Valley and the car-crunching hinkelsteins of the Baumholder military training ground, the site of an enormous crash for Subaru’s Petter Solberg in 2004.
Yet again, this was a rally on which Sébastien Loeb often dominated, winning the first eight editions of the event and nine times overall.
Ott Tänak won the final Rally Germany to date in 2019, before the country returned to the WRC as part of last season’s Central European Rally.
11. Arctic Finland
The final rally in today’s ranking is Finland. No, not that Finland. The other one.
Held just once as a WRC round in 2021 as a snow rally replacement for Rally Sweden, Arctic Rally Finland was a popular addition to the calendar.
Based within the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi – also known as Santa’s official residence – the event offered perfect winter conditions and challenging stages. As such, it received rave reviews from drivers and fans alike.
Ott Tänak was the happiest man in Lapland after the rally’s only WRC edition, winning five of the 10 stages for a dominant victory on the hastily organized but well executed event.
