Kenneth Eriksson (born 13 May 1956 in Äppelbo, in the

kommun The municipalities of Sweden () are its generally smaller but co-equal local government entities. There are 290 municipalities which are responsible for a large proportion of local services, including schools, emergency services and physical p ...

of Vansbro) is a now retired

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver. He drove for several manufacturer teams, including the Subaru World Rally Team,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

, Hyundai and Škoda. He also competed for the manufacturer Mitsubishi squad in the Cross-Country World Cup and Dakar events between 1991 and 1992, finishing fourth overall in '91. He was the 1986

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

Champion in the competition's only year, his best performance, overshadowed by the fatalities that occurred in that season. His finest showing in the top-tier World Rally Championship was third place overall for Mitsubishi in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. He controversially won the Swedish Rally that year under pressure on the road from second-placed young teammate Tommi Mäkinen, as well as winning directly ahead of the Champion-elect, Subaru World Rally Team's

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007), was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title. At 27, ...

in Australia. He then switched to Subaru for the 1996 season to drive the Impreza WRC alongside McRae. He excelled for them as a second points-scorer on the championship's loose-surface rounds. Conversely, Italian

Piero Liatti Piero Liatti (born 7 May 1962) is an Italian rally driver. His specialty was driving on tarmac rallies like Monte Carlo, Catalunya, Corsica and the San Remo Rally. As of 2024, Liatti is the last Italian driver to win a rally in the World Rally ...

often took on the same responsibility for

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

rounds. By the end of the 1997 season Eriksson and regular co-driver Staffan Parmander had collected six individual World Rally victories. These included a famous win aboard the Impreza in New Zealand in 1997, on which occasion he took advantage of the altercation with a sheep that befell long-time leader, Ford's Carlos Sainz. Between 1995 and 1997, he also notched up a hat-trick of Asia-Pacific rally titles. Ke hyundai

After finishing fourth on the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Swedish Rally, Eriksson was released from his contract at

Subaru is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first largest aut ...

in order to pursue a kit-car and latterly a

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

chance with Hyundai. He was joined as factory driver of both the Hyundai Coupe and eventual Hyundai Accent WRC by fellow eventual one-time Subaru driver, Alister McRae. 6th on the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Rally Great Britain marked his solitary points finish for the team, on his last outing with them. He then enjoyed his final season with Škoda, in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, alongside navigator Tina Thörner in the light of Parmander's retirement and with his teammate in the sister Octavia WRC being the young Finn Toni Gardemeister. Eriksson departed the 'works' world rally scene at the end of 2002. He has since been competing in the Race to the Sky hillclimb event held in Cardrona Valley, New Zealand. He finished second in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

WRC victories

WRC results

References

External links

Kenneth Eriksson
at ewrc-results {{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, Kenneth World Rally Championship drivers Swedish rally drivers Living people 1956 births Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Hyundai Motorsport drivers Volkswagen Motorsport drivers Škoda Motorsport drivers People from Vansbro Municipality