Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle".

Career

Waldegård, who came from

Rimbo Rimbo () is a locality situated in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 4,629 inhabitants in 2010. Rimbo is located about 20 km west of the municipal seat of Norrtälje. Rimbo grew up as a railhead at the junction between th ...

, had a career that spanned four decades; he made his debut in 1962 and, after winning the Swedish Rally Championship in 1967 and '68, continued to compete at the top level until 1992 when a broken arm suffered during a crash in the 1992

Safari Rally The Safari Rally is a rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically r ...

forced his retirement. His first international victory, at the wheel of a Porsche 911, came on the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally, while his last came for

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

on the 1990 Safari. It made him the oldest driver to win a World Rally Championship event, a record he retained until the

2022 Monte Carlo Rally The 2022 Monte Carlo Rally (also known as the 90e Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) was a motorsport, motor racing event for rallying, rally cars that was held over four days between 20 and 23 January 2022. It marked the ninetieth running of the Mon ...

. In the mid-1970s Waldegård took part in the newborn European Championship for Rallycross Drivers with a privately entered Porsche Carrera RSR. His best overall result was to become the Runner-up to Austrian Franz Wurz, father of

Alexander Wurz Alexander Georg Wurz (born 15 February 1974) is an Austrian former professional racing driver, driver training expert and businessman. He competed in Formula One from until , and is also a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours. He is current ...

, of the 1974 Embassy European Rallycross Championship. The

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

-backed Lancia team of the 1970s frequently choose between star drivers Waldegård and

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frontrunner Sandro Munari. Waldegård and Munari came head to head in the 1976

Rallye Sanremo Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo, Italy. Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of the FIA World Rally Championship schedule from the 1973 season to the 2003 season. Currently, it is a round of the Intercontinental Rall ...

. Waldegård had a four-second lead over Munari entering the final stage, only to be forced to squander that advantage in keeping with the team's hopes for an 'equal' shootout. Waldegård, however, emerged as victor by four seconds, having disobeyed team orders and overtaken Munari – as a result, Waldegård left Lancia and joined

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

in late 1976. Driving

Ford Escort RS1800 The Ford Escort is a small family car that was manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 until 2000. In total there were six generations, spread across three basic platforms beginning with the original rear-wheel drive Mk.1/Mk.2 (1968–1980), ...

models, Waldegård won three of the world's most punishing rallies in 1977; the East African

, the

Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece ( el, Ράλλυ Ακρόπολις) is a rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually duri ...

, and the

RAC Rally Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

. He was later victor in the inaugural

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 ...

series in 1979 for

and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, beating

Hannu Mikkola Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times. Career Mikkola's rally career ...

in the final round at the

Rallye Côte d'Ivoire The Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, perhaps better known as the Rallye Bandama as it was originally called, or the Ivory Coast Rally is a rally race held annually in Côte d'Ivoire in Africa. In common with other races on the continent, it is known for its ...

in the Ivory Coast, by finishing second behind his rival. Björn Waldegård - 2008 Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally

In September 2008, Waldegård took part in the ''

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007) was a Scottish rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver and the youngest person to win the World Rally Championship ...

Forest Stages Rally'', a round of the

Scottish Rally Championship The Scottish Rally Championship is a rallying series run throughout Scotland over the course of a year, that comprises both gravel and closed surface rallies.http://www.scottishrallychampionship.co.uk/ SRC Homepage Points are awarded to the top ...

centred in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in Scotland. He was one of a number of ex-world champions to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007. On the event he drove a Porsche 911. In addition to his rallying career, Waldegård also took part in the

1970 Targa Florio The 1970 Targa Florio was an endurance race that took place on 3 May 1970. It was held on a 44.6 mi (71.8 km) anti-clockwise circuit made up entirely of public roads on the mountainous Italy, Italian island of Sicily. It was the fifth ro ...

sports car endurance race on the Italian island of Sicily, the oldest motor race in the world at the time. He drove a factory supported, John Wyer-entered Porsche 908/3. The Targa Florio was more or less a rally-type race on a closed circuit made up of public roads, hence the reason for Waldegård's one-off drive with Porsche. Sharing driving duties with Briton Richard Attwood, he finished fifth. Björn Waldegård died on 29 August 2014 of cancer at the age of 70.

International victories

WRC victories

Racing record

Complete IMC results

Complete WRC results

Complete FIA European Rallycross Cup results

Publications

''Björn Waldegård – Rally blev mitt liv'', by Waldegård, Björn & Karlsson, Gerhard, Årets Bilsport 1994, 212 pages, Swedish language,

References

External links

Björn Waldegård RallyBase profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldegard, Bjorn 1943 births 2014 deaths World Rally Champions Swedish rally drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Rally Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers People from Solna Municipality Sportspeople from Stockholm County Porsche Motorsports drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers