The 2006 World Rally Championship was the 34th season in the

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World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

. The season began on January 20 with the 74th Monte Carlo Rally where

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Marcus Grönholm Marcus Ulf Johan Grönholm (born February 5, 1968) is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Cha ...

, in a

Ford Focus RS WRC The Ford Focus RS WRC is a car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport and based on the Ford Focus Climate 2-litre production hatchback, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship. The RS stands for ''Rallye Sport ...

, took the win ahead of

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's Sébastien Loeb. After the

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

ended with the same top-two, Loeb and Kronos Citroën went on to win five rallies in a row. Despite an injury in a mountain-biking accident before the Rally of Turkey, forcing Loeb to miss last four rallies, he secured his third drivers' title, whereas Ford won their first manufacturers' title since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Rule changes

In an attempt to cut costs, new regulations required mechanical front and rear differentials, while the central differential remained active. Active suspension and water injections were also prohibited. Cars entered by a manufacturer had to be equipped with the same engine for two rallies; further limitations were imposed on the changing of some parts, including suspension, steering, turbochargers and gearboxes. For 2006 ''manufacturer'' is understood to mean a manufacturer, a team designated by a manufacturer, or a privateer team taking part with a single make of car. Two categories were created to compete for the Manufacturer's championship: Manufacturer 1 (M1) *undertakes to take part in all the rallies of the Championship *must enter only cars corresponding to the latest homologated version of a World Rally Car in conformity with the 2006 Appendix J *must inform the FIA of the name of the first driver entered for the season at the time of registration for the Championship. No change of the first driver is authorised, except in a case of force majeure. The driver of the second car may be changed for each of the rallies in the Championship *In order to score points in the Championship, a Manufacturer 1 must take part with two cars of the same make in the 16 rallies of the calendar Manufacturer 2 (M2) *undertakes to take part in 10 or more Championship rallies which it has nominated *cannot enter World Rally Cars homologated during the year 2006 and cannot use parts homologated after 2 January 2006 *cannot enter a driver who has been classified among the first six in the final classification of the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers in the last five years *In order to score points in the Championship, a Manufacturer 2 must take part with two cars of the same make in 10 or more rallies it nominated on registering for the Championship. The Manufacturer can only score points in the events it nominated on registering

Calendar

The 2006 championship was contested over sixteen rounds in

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and

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Teams and drivers

Notes

This is the first season without Carlos Sainz since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

. ^† Sebastien Loeb broke his arm before Rally Turkey and missed the remainder of the season.
Max Rally, accessed 8/5/2010

JWRC entries

PWRC entries

Results and standings

Drivers' championship

* Sébastien Loeb secured the drivers' championship title in Australia.

Manufacturers' championship

* Ford secured the manufacturers' championship in New Zealand.

JWRC Drivers' championship

PWRC Drivers' championship

Events

References

External links

FIA World Rally Championship 2006
at ewrc-results.com {{Authority control 2006 World Rally Championship season, * World Rally Championship seasons