Björn Waldegård, The First WRC Champion, Has Passed Away


Björn Waldegård, The First WRC Champion, Has Passed Away

Björn Waldegård, rally-racing royalty and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship in 1979, has passed on at the age of 71. A rally racer for over thirty years, Waldegård was known for driving Lancia Stratos, Ford Escorts and Toyota Celicas, though he was known to venture to some other makes, including one notable rally where he ran a Ferrari 308 through the woods.

Waldegård started his career in 1962 and by 1967 he had won the Swedish Rally Championship, a victory he repeated in 1968. He campaigned a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR privately in European Championship for Rallycross Drivers in the 1970s, where his best placing was 2nd behind Franz Wurst. He drove for the Alitalia Rally Team until 1976, when the team’s orders to fall behind to let teammate Sandro Munari take first didn’t sit well with him…he beat Munari by four seconds after passing him. Shortly afterwards, he left Lancia and drove for Ford, racing in some of the harshest rally races that existed, including the East African Rally. Over the course of 1979 Waldegård drove Ford Escort RS1800s for two different teams (Ford and Rothman’s) and a Mercedes 450SLC for Daimler-Benz. After his retirement in 1992, he drove in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally in memory of McRae, at the wheel of a Porsche 911. He still holds the title of the oldest winner of a rally, winning the 1990 Safari Rally at the age of 46.

Waldegård had been battling cancer when his health took a downturn shortly after the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he was seen in a Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo. He will be remembered for his driving finesse, which could win as easily in the snow as it could in the wilds of Africa. He raced during rally racing’s shift from long stages to shorter ones, and from slower cars to faster ones.

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One thought on “Björn Waldegård, The First WRC Champion, Has Passed Away

  1. Ken

    I used to hear about him on the radio racing day and night when I was a youngster in Kenya. I am sad to hear about his death,may he RIP.
    May Sardar Joginder Singh Bhachu,another well known rally driver who died in 2013,also RIP.

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