Top Five Rally Drivers Of All Time

Fancy yourself as the next Colin McRae? If so, you might want to follow this link to our rally cars for sale – you could be tearing up those forest tracks by sundown.

Alternatively, if you’re more of an armchair rally enthusiast, sit back and enjoy our countdown of history’s greatest rally drivers. It was never going to be easy to pick just five, and we had to turn down some truly great competitors to make it possible – but here, in no particular order, are our Top Five Rally Drivers Of All Time.

TOMMI MÄKINEN: 4-Time Champion

It’s difficult to argue with the CV of a man who won every single Driver Title between 1996 and 1999. Four-time World Rally Champion Tommi Mäkinen, a supremely talented and endlessly motivated Finnish driver, achieved much of his success for the Mitsubishi team, in total winning an astonishing 24 races. Some have argued that his dominance depended greatly on the car (after moving to Subaru he struggled to maintain the same level of success), but either way Tommi’s contribution to the sport was huge.

CARLOS SAINZ: El Matador

Carlos Sainz is the definitive Spanish rally driver, affectionately known as ‘El Matador’ by his fans. Turning down potential careers in both squash and football (he had trials for Real Madrid), Sainz eventually focussed his efforts on driving, and soon worked his way up to becoming the best driver in the world. He was the first non-Scandinavian to win the 1,000 Lakes in Finland (something he achieved with a broken ankle!) and, all told, by 2004 he had managed to line up 26 rally wins. Considered by many to be the sport’s classiest driver.

COLIN McRAE: The Household Name

Colin McRae may well be the only rally driver to have truly permeated the public consciousness, particularly in the UK. Almost everyone has heard of him, whether or not they hold any interest in the sport. Britain’s most successful rally driver, the larger-than-life Scot was born with the sport in his blood – his father Jimmy McRae was a champion during the Sixties. McRae, who sadly died along with his son Johnny in a helicopter crash in 2007, won 3 consecutive World Rally Championship Constructors’ titles with Subaru and was posthumously inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall Of Fame in 2008. He was fast, stylish and bursting with personality, deservedly one of the biggest names in the history of rally driving.

JUHA KANKKUNEN: The Flying Finn

World champion four times, and racking up a total of 23 world rally wins, ‘The Flying Finn’ Kankkunen ranks up there with his countryman Tommi Mäkinen when it comes to putting Finland firmly on the rallying map. His career spanned three decades, taking him from Toyota, to Lancia, to Peugeot, and in fact he remains the only driver to have become world champion with three separate manufacturers. Kankkunen retired from rally driving in 2002, but remains a force to be reckoned with – in 2007 he set the world speed record on ice, driving a Bentley Continental.

SEBASTIEN LOEB: The Conqueror

Nobody in the sport of rally driving has won as many events as the Frenchman Sebastian Loeb. With 78 rally wins under his belt, he is acres ahead of the competition and has broken winners’ records left, right and centre. While many argue that his success cannot be separated from the ongoing dominance of his team (he has only ever driven for Citroen), there’s no denying that Loeb can’t be touched on almost any surface. A modern-day sporting legend.

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