Top 30 most successful WRC cars

In March 2016, Jari-Matti Latvala won Rally Mexico in a Volkswagen Polo R WRC. That win brought the Polo’s tally up to 37, making it the single most successful car in World Rally Championship history, surpassing a record that had stood for more than five years.

That event prompted me to dig into the record books, which reveal that an incredible variety of cars have won WRC events. Indeed, 95 different models from 22 manufacturers have taken the laurels on one or more of the 565 WRC events there have been thus far (six events into the 2016 season).

Citroen is the most successful manufacturer, taking 95 wins since 1999. Incidentally, Citroen holds the distinction of being the last manufacturer to win with a two-wheel-drive car, Philippe Bugalski winning in Spain and Corsica with the Xsara Kit Car in ’99.

Ford lies second with 83 wins, while Lancia is third on 75. Volkswagen is only seventh on 38 – the first came in ’87 in Ivory Coast, Kenneth Eriksson winning the 2WD-only event with a Golf GTi.

‘Lancia Delta’ is the most successful nameplate, 51 wins spread out between five different iterations. With only 15 wins needed to surpass that marker, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the Polo takes that record within the next couple of years.

But enough statistics. Here’s a gallery of the top 30 most successful WRC cars in the series’ 43-year history*.

*I have defined ‘car’ as ‘bodyshell’, therefore different versions of the same namplate are separated out at points that the bodyshell changed.