List of fatal World Rally Championship accidents

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The list of fatal World Rally Championship accidents consists of drivers and co-drivers who have died at FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) rallies. The list also includes fatal accidents in the International Championship for Manufacturers (IMC), the predecessor to the World Rally Championship, which was contested from 1970 to 1972. Well-known fatalities involving officials, spectators and team members are also mentioned.

The fatal accidents of the Group B era resulted in its demise. Only hours after Henri Toivonen's crash at the 1986 Tour de Corse, FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre announced that Group B cars were banned for the 1987 season. However, driver fatalities peaked in 1989, when five competitors died in the first three rallies of the season (two during reconnaissance, two who were spectating having only done reconnaissance for the event, and only one as an active competitor). Markko Märtin's co-driver Michael Park's death at the 2005 Wales Rally GB was the WRC's first fatality in over eleven years. In April 2023 Hyundai driver Craig Breen died in a crash. He was in Croatia conducting his pre-event test for the 2023 Croatia Rally in the week leading up to the reconnaissance and rally itself.

Drivers and co-drivers fatalities[edit]

IMC[edit]

Name Role Date of accident Event Car During
Japan Eiichi Morinishi Driver February 1970 1970 East African Safari Rally Datsun 1600 SSS Reconnaissance
Uganda David Ndahura Driver 28 March 1970 1970 East African Safari Rally Ford Cortina GT Rally
Kenya Cyrus Kamundia Driver March 1971 1971 East African Safari Rally Datsun Reconnaissance
France Christian Serradori[nb 1] Driver 25 June 1971 1971 Coupe des Alpes[nb 2] Lancia Fulvia Rally
France Yves Serradori[nb 1] Co-driver

WRC[edit]

Name Role Date of accident Event Car During
Finland Seppo Jämsä Co-driver 2 August 1974 1974 1000 Lakes Rally Morris Mini 850 Rally
United Kingdom Don Daly Co-driver 27 November 1976 1976 RAC Rally Saab 99 EMS Rally
Brazil Tomas Fuchs Driver 14 August 1982 1982 Rallye do Brasil Fiat 147 Rally
Finland Reijo Nygren Co-driver 26 August 1983 1983 1000 Lakes Rally Ford Escort RS Rally
Italy Attilio Bettega Driver 2 May 1985 1985 Tour de Corse Lancia 037 Rally Rally
Finland Henri Toivonen Driver 2 May 1986 1986 Tour de Corse Lancia Delta S4 Rally
United States Sergio Cresto Co-driver
France Jean-Michel Argenti Co-driver 7 May 1987 1987 Tour de Corse Peugeot 205 GTI Rally
France Jean-Marc Dubois Driver 11 October 1988 1988 Rallye Sanremo Citroën AX Sport Rally
France Robert Moynier Co-driver
Belgium George Mignot Driver 2 January 1989 1989 Swedish Rally Volkswagen Golf Reconnaissance
Belgium Bernard de Lathuy Co-driver
Sweden Lars-Erik Torph Driver 23 January 1989 1989 Monte Carlo Rally Lancia Delta Integrale Rally[nb 3]
Sweden Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt Co-driver
Portugal Augusto Mendes Driver 1 March 1989 1989 Rallye de Portugal Opel Kadett GSI Rally
France Francis Malaussene Co-driver 22 January 1990 1990 Monte Carlo Rally Renault 5 GT Turbo Rally
New Zealand Rodger Freeth Co-driver 18 September 1993 1993 Rally Australia Subaru Legacy RS Rally
United Kingdom Michael Park Co-driver 18 September 2005 2005 Wales Rally GB Peugeot 307 WRC Rally
Germany Jörg Bastuck Co-driver 24 March 2006 2006 Rally Catalunya Citroën C2 S1600 Rally[nb 4]
Republic of Ireland Craig Breen Driver 13 April 2023 2023 Croatia Rally Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Pre-event test

Other fatalities[edit]

Team members[edit]

At the 1975 Safari Rally, a service car with four mechanics crashed into a truck near Mombasa. Carlino Dacista, Brian Fernandez and Willie Uis died instantly. The driver David Joshi sustained serious injuries.[1] At the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally, two mechanics, Bernard Balmer and Georges Reinier, died when their van collided with a truck near Gap, Hautes-Alpes.[2] On the second day of the 1987 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, Toyota Team Europe's Cessna 340 crashed and exploded, killing all four inside; manager and former co-driver Henry Liddon, his assistant Nigel Harris, the pilot and the navigator. Team manager Ove Andersson withdrew Toyota from the event. Prior to the accident, Björn Waldegård and Fred Gallagher had been running second in their Toyota Supra Turbo.[3] At the 1996 Safari Rally, competed in bad weather and rain, three British mechanics drowned while attempting to cross a river with their Land Rover.[4]

Officials[edit]

At the end of the fourth stage of the 1981 1000 Lakes Rally, Audi Sport driver Franz Wittmann and his co-driver Kurt Nestinger did not notice the flying finish which marks the end of the stage. They continued at race speed with their Quattro and crashed into a group of people standing in front of a van. Raul Falin, chairman of AKK, Finland's sporting authority for motorsport and the country's representative in the FIA, was quickly taken to a hospital but died from his injuries soon after. Boris Rung, co-founder and chairman of the European Rallycross Association and member of FIA's Off-Road Commission, survived the accident along with Greek FIA observer Costas Glossotis.[5]

Spectators[edit]

At the 1978 Safari Rally, five passers-by and four spectators were killed in unrelated accidents, both involving non-competitive drivers crashing into competitors.[6]

On the first stage of the 1986 Rally Portugal, Joaquim Santos lost control of his Ford RS200 while trying to avoid spectators on the road, crashing into a crowd of spectators, killing three and injuring over thirty.[7] All the factory teams – Audi, Austin Rover, Ford, Lancia, Peugeot and Volkswagen – withdrew from the event.[8]

At the 1996 1000 Lakes Rally, at a special stage that took place in the centre of Jyväskylä, one spectator died and 36 were injured when Danish driver Karsten Richardt lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Rikhard reached the curve at 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), finally hitting the crowd at 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph).[9]

At the 2017 Monte Carlo Rally, a spectator died after Hayden Paddon slid wide on a left-hand corner and went rear-first on the roadside embankment.[10]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Unlike Corriere della Sera and Sport Auto, 28 June issue of Autosprint reports the last name of the French brothers as "Ferradori". The brothers died during the third stage of the rally, on Col de l'Iseran mountain pass, when their Lancia Fulvia went off the road and fell 200 meters (660 ft) into a ravine.
  2. ^ Because the 1971 Coupe des Alpes (Alpine Rally) ran with an insufficient number of starters, no points were awarded towards the championship.
  3. ^ Lars-Erik Torph and Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt only did the reconnaissance for the event, and then were spectating the fifth stage when Alex Fiorio lost control of his Lancia Delta Integrale, went off the road and crashed into them at about 145 km/h (90 mph).
  4. ^ Following a crash on the second stage, JWRC contestant Aaron Burkart's co-driver Jörg Bastuck was changing a wheel when he was struck by the Ford Fiesta ST driven by Stobart M-Sport Ford's Barry Clark, who had lost control of his car and gone off at the same place.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Carlino Dacista". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Bernard Balmer". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  3. ^ "Henry Liddon". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  4. ^ "1996 Safari Rally". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  5. ^ "Raul Falin". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  6. ^ "1978 Safari Rally". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  7. ^ "3 Portuguese spectators killed by skidding racer". St. Petersburg Times. 6 March 1986. p. 29.
  8. ^ "20º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto". RallyBase. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
  9. ^ "Katsojaonnettomuus Jyväskylän Suurajoissa 23.8.1996" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
  10. ^ "Spectator dies after Monte Carlo WRC crash". Retrieved 20 January 2017.
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