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 30-21:
30. Monza
Coming in at number 30 is the WRC’s favorite stand-in round: the Monza Rally.
Brought in as a last-minute season finale during the COVID-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons, the event based around the home of the Italian Grand Prix delivered far more than just a procession of WRC cars parading around a racetrack.
Monza delivered difficult stages and dramatic scenes, hosting two world championship showdowns between Toyota team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans.
The Welshman handed the title to Ogier after suffering an accident on the roads north of Bergamo in 2020, and the Frenchman held off Evans to emerge victorious again in 2021.
Ogier took both rally victories in Monza too, with the latter rounding-off his full-time WRC career in some style.
29. USA
Up next in the ranking is the USA, which has hosted the WRC five times over the 50-year history of the championship.
The first two of those came in the form of the Michigan-based Press-on-Regardless Rally, with Walter Boyce conquering the challenging gravel roads to give Toyota its maiden WRC win in 1973, and Jean-Luc Thérier taking top honors for Renault the following year.
After more than a decade away from the championship, the USA returned to the world stage with the Washington state-based Olympus Rally from 1986-88.
The Olympus provided long, tortuous gravel stages and Rally GB-like scenery, and Lancia was certainly fond of the event. The Italian manufacturer took victory on all three WRC editions of the rally.
Both of the USA’s WRC events continue today as part of the American Rally Association championship, with the Press-on-Regardless Rally now running as the Lake Superior Performance Rally while the Olympus retains its original name.
=26. Turkey
In a tie for 26th place is the Rally of Turkey, whose rough gravel stages challenged the WRC’s best nine times between 2003 and 2020.
The event was primarily based around the Turkish riviera in the south-west of the country, with the exception of the 2010 edition when the rally moved to a base in the country’s largest city, Istanbul.
Sébastien Loeb holds the record for the most WRC wins on Turkish soil with three, while Citroën has won there five times, including its most recent WRC win with Sébastien Ogier in 2019.
=26. Cyprus
Lying just to the south of Turkey is the island nation of Cyprus, which attracted an equal number of votes in this poll to its neighbor.
The Cyprus Rally was part of the WRC eight times from 2000-09, and the event garnered a reputation as one of the toughest on the calendar. Searingly hot summer conditions, rough roads and long, winding stages made the event a real challenge for drivers and cars alike.
Carlos Sainz won the inaugural event in 2000 with a smart and steady drive in his Ford Focus WRC, while Cyprus marks yet another rally where Sébastien Loeb holds the overall wins record, with the Frenchman triumphing four times.
=26. Norway
Also equal 26th in your rally ranking is Norway, which has hosted the WRC in its own name just twice.
The Hamar-based event’s debut came just a week after the WRC’s traditional visit to snowy Sweden in 2007, while the event’s final outing was the only snow rally of the 2009 season.
Predictably, support for the Solberg brothers was huge, but neither Petter nor Henning were able to secure a historic win on home snow.
Instead, the Rally Norway victories were shared between Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen and France’s Sébastien Loeb.
The Norwegian stages were tricky and notably narrower than those of neighboring Rally Sweden, which itself often crosses the border, and the event is fondly remembered despite its brief tenure on the WRC calendar.
=23. Central European Rally
Taking joint 23rd spot is the WRC’s newest event: Central European Rally.
The rally made history in 2023 by becoming the championship’s first-ever tri-nation event, traversing roads in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria across its four days of competition.
But that wasn’t the only history made that weekend, and by the time the cars rolled into the host town of Passau on Sunday afternoon, Kalle Rovanperä had secured his second world title after championship rival Elfyn Evans slipped off the road and hit a barn on Saturday morning.
The man who conquered the treacherous Tarmac and testing conditions on CER though was Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who for now holds the honor of being the WRC’s only winner on this unique event.
=23. Mexico
Rally México also occupies the 23rd position in this poll, and is an event that has come to be described as a modern classic.
That’s because not only do the Mexican stages deliver stunning scenery, hard gravel roads and turbo-chokingly high altitudes, but they also provide perhaps the best atmosphere of any modern WRC event, particularly around the tunnels and turns of the world famous Guanajuato superspecial stage.
Sébastien Ogier has proved himself as the master of Mexico, winning the Léon-based event an incredible seven times.
Mexico has hosted the WRC on 17 occasions since its debut in 2004, but its future remains uncertain after missing out on a place on next year’s calendar.
=23. Japan
The third rally in our three-way tie for 23rd is another that featured in the 2023 WRC: Rally Japan.
While the most recent rendition of the event features the drivers taking to asphalt stages around Toyota City, Rally Japan made its championship debut as a gravel rally in 2004, based on the northern island of Hokkaidō.
After hosting the WRC six times in seven years, Mikko Hirvonen proved to be the only repeat winner on Hokkaidō, taking back-to-back wins in 2007 and 2008.
Rally Japan was slated to return in 2020, but we had to wait until 2022 to see WRC cars back in the Land of the Rising Sun, thanks to the COVID pandemic.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville spoiled Toyota’s party to win the first Rally Japan on asphalt, while the Japanese brand avenged that result by scoring a 1-2-3 at home last season, headed by Elfyn Evans.
22. Italy Sardinia
There are three Italian WRC events in your top 40 list, and the second to appear in this ranking is Rally Italy Sardinia.
Set among the rugged hills of the island of Sardinia with the stunning backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea, this rally first played host to the world championship in 2004, and has done so every year since except for 2010.
Known for its rocky and rough roads, Sardinia has delivered some classic WRC battles during those years, including Thierry Neuville’s powerstage triumph over Sébastien Ogier in 2018, with the Belgian securing victory at the last by just 0.7 seconds.
Over the event’s 19-year WRC history however, Ogier shares the record for victories with compatriot Sébastien Loeb, both having four apiece.
21. Australia
Just missing out on a spot in the top 20 is Australia, which became a mainstay on the WRC calendar for a generation after making its debut in 1989.
Initially based in Perth, the rally was known for its smooth, ball bearing-like gravel, and was a favorite with both drivers and fans before eventually dropping off the calendar after the 2006 edition.
Australia made its WRC return in 2009 with a new event based in New South Wales, and the rally would remain in the championship until 2018, with the scheduled 2019 edition being sadly canceled due to bushfires.
Surprisingly, Rally Australia is one of the few events held in the 21st century where the win record is not held by a Frenchman named Sébastien. Finn Juha Kankkunen holds that honor, with four wins to his name.
Keep an eye on DirtFish tomorrow when the countdown continues.
