1977 World Rally Championship

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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.

Calendar

Rd. Start date Finish date Rally Rally headquarters Surface Stages Distance Points
1 22 January 28 January 45th Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo Monte Carlo Mixed 27 540.5 km Drivers & Manufacturers
2 4 February 6 February 12th Marlboro Arctic Rally Rovaniemi, Lapland Snow 43 500 km Cup for Drivers
3 11 February 13 February 27th International Swedish Rally Karlstad, Värmland County Snow 35 704.2 km Drivers & Manufacturers
4 1 March 6 March 11th Rallye de Portugal - Vinho do Porto Estoril, Lisbon Mixed 46 584.6 km Drivers & Manufacturers
5 7 April 11 April 25th Safari Rally Nairobi Gravel N/A 5999.17 km Drivers & Manufacturers
6 1 May 7 May 8th South Pacific Rally - New Zealand Auckland Mixed 75 2211.06 km Drivers & Manufacturers
7 28 May 3 June 24th Acropolis Rally Athens Gravel 52 763.08 km Drivers & Manufacturers
8 12 June 17 June 5th Giro d'Italia Torino Tarmac ?? 452 km Cup for Drivers
9 5 July 9 July 20th Total Rally South Africa Pretoria Mixed ?? 2450 km Cup for Drivers
10 8 July 10 July 37th Rajd Polski Wroclaw Mixed 53 512.8 km Cup for Drivers
11 26 August 28 August 27th Jyväskylän Suurajot - Rally of the 1000 Lakes Jyväskylä, Central Finland Gravel 46 452.9 km Drivers & Manufacturers
12 2 September 4 September 14th Rally San Martino di Castrozza San Martino di Castrozza Mixed 10 160 km Cup for Drivers
13 14 September 18 September 5th Critérium Molson du Québec Montreal Mixed 17 536.4 km Drivers & Manufacturers
14 15 September 24 September 36th Tour de France Automobile Nice Mixed 28 1244.11 km Cup for Drivers
15 4 October 8 October 15th Rallye Sanremo Sanremo, Liguria Mixed 33 867.35 km Drivers & Manufacturers
16 8 October 12 October 12th Total Oil Southern Cross International Rally Sydney Mixed 35 1498.62 km Cup for Drivers
17 23 October 23 October 25th RACE Rallye de España Circuito del Jarama Mixed 27 481 km Cup for Drivers
18 5 November 6 November 21st Tour de Corse - Rallye de France Ajaccio, Corsica Tarmac 13 645.8 km Drivers & Manufacturers
19 20 November 24 November 33rd Lombard RAC Rally York Gravel 69 674.45 km Drivers & Manufacturers
20 15 December 20 December 10th Rallye Bandama Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan Gravel N/A ?? Cup for Drivers
Sources:[1][2]

Rounds that were only part of the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers are not officially recognised as WRC events.

Events

Map

1977 World Rally Championship event map
Black = Tarmac Brown = Gravel Blue = Snow/Ice Red = Mixed Surface

Schedule and results

1977 World Rally Championship schedule and results
Rally Dates run Podium 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

Pos. Co-Driver
MON
SWE
POR
KEN
NZL
GRC
FIN
ITA
CAN
FRA
GBR 		Points
1 Fiat 16 14 18 - 18 (12) 16 18 18 18 (6) 136
2 Ford - 14 16 18 16 18 18 14 (10) - 18 132
3 Toyota - 10 14 - 8 - 12 8 - - 16 68
4 Opel 9 17 13 - - 4 8 - 13 - 1 65
5 Lancia 18 - - 14 - - - - 12 16 - 60
6 Datsun - - - 16 - 14 - 10 - - - 40
7 Porsche 14 - 4 - - - - - 9 8 - 35
8 Saab - 18 - - - - - 10 - - 2 30
9 Mitsubishi - - - 12 3 - - 13 - - - 28
10 Chrysler - - - - - 10 14 - - - - 24
11 Renault - - - - - 7 - - 11 - - 18
12 British Leyland Cars - - - - - - - 12 - - 4 16
13 Peugeot - - - 6 - - - - - 9 - 15
14 SEAT 14 - - - - - - - - - - 14
15 Citroën - - - - - 13 - - - - - 13
16= Alpine-Renault 10 - - - - - - - - - - 10
16= Mazda - - - - 10 - - - - - - 10
18 Volvo - 8 - - - - - - - - - 8
19= Škoda - - - - - - 7 - - - - 7
19= Alfa Romeo - - - - - - - - 7 - - 7
21 Lada - 4 - - - - - - - - - 4
Pos. Co-Driver
MON
SWE
POR
KEN
NZL
GRC
FIN
ITA
CAN
FRA
GBR 		Points
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

Pos. Driver
MON
ARC
SWE
POR
KEN
NZL
GRC
GIR
RSA
POL
FIN
SMC
CAN
TDF
ITA
SCR
ESP
FRA
GBR
CIV 		Points
1 Sandro Munari 9 - - - 4 - - - 9 - - 9 - - - - - - - - 31
2 Björn Waldegård - - - 6 (9)[a] - 9 - - - 4 - - - 2 - - - 9 - 30
3 Bernard Darniche - - - - - - - - - 9 - - - 9 - - - 9 - - 27
  European Rally Championship events
  FIA Special Events
  • a Waldegård had to drop one of his best results in WRC events because he didn't take part in at least one ERC event, as provided by the regulations.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1977 in World Rally Championship.
  1. ^ "FIA Cup for Rally Drivers 1977". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
  2. ^ "1977 WRC calendar". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
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