The 2002 World Rally Championship was the 30th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. Marcus Grönholm won his second drivers' world championship in a Peugeot 206 WRC, ahead of Petter Solberg and Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Peugeot, ahead of Ford and Subaru.
Calendar The 2002 championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, South America and Oceania. Rd.Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistanceSupport class117 January20 January 70th Rallye Automobile Monte CarloMonte CarloMixed15388.38 kmJWRC21 February3 February 51st Uddeholm Swedish RallyKarlstad, Värmland CountySnow16381.96 kmPWRC37 March10 March 46th Tour de Corse - Rallye de FranceAjaccio, CorsicaTarmac16357.70 kmPWRC421 March24 March 38th Rally Catalunya - Costa Brava - Rally de EspañaLloret de Mar, CataloniaTarmac18394.98 kmJWRC519 April21 April 30th Cyprus RallyLimassol, Limassol DistrictGravel20324.17 kmPWRC616 May19 May 22nd Rally ArgentinaCarlos Paz, CórdobaGravel22381.45 kmPWRC713 June16 June 49th Acropolis RallyLamia, Central GreeceGravel16391.50 kmJWRC812 July14 July 50th Inmarsat Safari RallyNairobiGravel121010.80 kmPWRC98 August11 August 52nd Neste Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel22401.68 kmPWRC1022 August25 August 21st ADAC Rallye DeutschlandTrier, Rhineland-PalatinateTarmac23415.57 kmJWRC1119 September22 September 44th Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'ItaliaSanremo, LiguriaTarmac18385.84 kmJWRC123 October6 October 33rd Propecia Rally New ZealandManukau, AucklandGravel26411.40 kmPWRC1331 October3 November 15th Telstra Rally AustraliaPerth, Western AustraliaGravel24388.64 kmPWRC1414 November17 November 58th Network Q Rally of Great BritainCardiff, WalesGravel17390.57 kmJWRCSources:
Calendar changes Rallye de Portugal was dropped from the calendar after a disastrous running of the event in 2001 due to heavy rain which was heavily criticized by drivers such as Marcus Grönholm, Colin McRae and Richard Burns. It was replaced by Rallye Deutschland which had an impressive candidate Rally in 2001 won by Philippe Bugalski after main rival Marcus Gronholm received a puncture and spun multiple times.
The Tour de Corse was moved to be earlier in the season while Rally New Zealand was moved later to be back to back with Rally Australia while the Cyprus Rally and Rally Argentina swapped places.
FIA President Max Mosley had stated that Japan and India had been two candidates to join the World Rally Championship but neither materialized for the 2002 season. Japan would create Rally Hokkaido for the 2002 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship which would join the WRC as Rally Japan in 2004 while India would likewise create Rally India in Mumbai for the 2003 APRC season although this would fail to join the WRC.
Teams and drivers ManufacturersManufacturerCarTeamTyreNoDriversCo-DriversRoundsPeugeot206 WRC Peugeot Total1 Richard Burns Robert ReidAll2 Marcus Grönholm Timo RautiainenAll3 Gilles Panizzi Hervé Panizzi1, 3–4, 11 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen2, 5–8, 14 Voitto Silander9–10, 12-1323 Gilles Panizzi Hervé Panizzi5–8, 13FordFocus RS WRC 02 Ford Motor Co Ltd4 Carlos Sainz Luis Moya1–3, 5–14 Marc Marti45 Colin McRae Nicky Grist1–12 Derek Ringer13–146 Markko Märtin Michael ParkAll24 François Duval Jean-Marc Fortin5, 9, 13 Mark Higgins Bryan Thomas14MitsubishiLancer Evo WRC Lancer Evo WRC2 Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart7 François Delecour Daniel Grataloup1–13 Dominique Savignoni148 Alister McRae David Senior1–11 Justin Dale Andrew Bargery149 Jani Paasonen Arto Kapanen2, 5, 9, 12–14SubaruImpreza WRC2001 Impreza WRC2002 555 Subaru World Rally Team10 Tommi Mäkinen Kaj LindströmAll11 Petter Solberg Phil MillsAll12 Toshihiro Arai Tony Sircombe7 Achim Mörtl Klaus Wicha10-1126 Toshihiro Arai Tony Sircombe10ŠkodaOctavia WRC Evo2 Octavia WRC Evo3 Škoda Motorsport14 Kenneth Eriksson Tina ThörnerAll15 Toni Gardemeister Paavo LukanderAll16 Roman Kresta Jan Tománek1, 3, 5, 8, 11 Miloš Hůlka14 Stig Blomqvist Ana Goñi2, 4, 7 Gabriel Pozzo Daniel Stillo4, 6HyundaiAccent WRC2 Accent WRC3 Hyundai World Rally Team17 Armin Schwarz Manfred HiemerAll18 Freddy Loix Sven SmeetsAll19 Juha Kankkunen Juha Repo2, 5–9, 12–14 World Rally Car entries ineligible to score manufacturer pointsManufacturerCarTeamTyreDriverCo-DriversRoundsCitroënXsara WRC Citroën Sport Thomas Rådström Dennis Giraudet1–2, 4, 7–9, 14 Jesús Puras Marc Marti10 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena1–2, 4, 7–10, 13-14 Philippe Bugalski Jean-Paul Chiaroni1, 4, 10-11ToyotaCorolla WRC H.F. Grifone SRL Didier Auriol Jacques Boyere1 Juuso Pykälistö Esko Mertsalmi2, 5 Top Run SRL Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor1 Marco Menegatto Massimiliano Cerrai1 Toyota Castrol Finland Jussi Välimäki Tero Gardemeister2, 7, 9 Shell Norway Motorsport Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud2, 9 Polsat Dialog Rally Team Tomasz Kuchar Maciek Szczepaniak2, 7, 12–14 Marlboro Rally Team Saudi Arabia Abdullah Bakhashab Bobby Willis7Peugeot206 WRC Bruno Thiry Bruno Thiry Stéphane Prévot1 Peugeot Bastos Racing5, 7, 11 Peugeot Team Belgium3 Peugeot Team Bel-Lux10 Peugeot Sport Finland Sebastian Lindholm Timo Hantunen9 Powerhorse World Rally Team Achim Mörtl Klaus Wicha3-5 H.F. Grifone SRL Juuso Pykälistö Esko Mertsalmi9, 14 Valentino Rossi Carlo Cassina14 Bozian Racing Timo Salonen Launo Heinonen9 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen1, 3–4 Voitto Silander11 Cédric Robert Gérald Bedon11 Gilles Panizzi Hervé Panizzi2, 7, 14CitroënXsara WRC Piedrafita Sport Jesús Puras Carlos del Barrio4, 11 Philippe Bugalski Jean-Paul Chiaroni3FordFocus WRC 01 LPM Racing Janne Tuohino Petri Vihavainen2, 5, 9 Armin Kremer Armin Kremer Klaus Wicha1 Dieter Schneppenheim4, 7, 9-10, 14ŠkodaOctavia WRC Evo2 Gabriel Pozzo Gabriel Pozzo Daniel Stillo5, 7FordFocus WRC 99 Jolly Club Emanuele Dati Massimo Chiapponi1Focus WRC 01 Stohl Racing Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor5, 14 Ford Motor Hellas Ioannis Papadimitriou Allan Harryman7, 14 Errepi Racing Armodios Vovos Loris Meletopoulos7Focus WRC 00 Ford España Txus Jaio Lucas Cruz14SubaruImpreza WRC2000 Styllex Tuning Prosport Tomáš Hrdinka Petr Gross2Impreza WRC99 World Rally HIRE Nigel Heath Steve Lancaster7-8 David Higgins Daniel Barritt14Impreza WRC2002 F.Dor Rally Team Frédéric Dor Didier Breton8Impreza WRC2000 22 Motorsport Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen14Peugeot206 WRC Olivier Burri Olivier Burri Christophe Hofmann1SubaruImpreza WRC98 Richard Hein Richard Hein Philippe Servol1ŠkodaOctavia WRC Riccardo Errani Riccardo Errani Stefano Casadio1, 3SubaruImpreza WRC98 Johan Kressner Johan Kressner Leif Wigert2Impreza WRC2000 Styllex Tuning Prosport Tomáš Hrdinka Petr Gross2Impreza WRC2001 Benoît Rousselot Benoît Rousselot Gilles Mondésir3Impreza WRC99 Jean-Claude Torre Jean-Claude Torre Patrick de la Foata3FordFocus WRC 01 François Duval François Duval Jean-Marc Fortin2-3ToyotaCorolla WRC Stanislav Gryazin Stanislav Gryazin Dmitriy Eremeev3-4SubaruImpreza WRC98 Chris Thomas Chris Thomas Andreas Christodoulides5ToyotaCorolla WRC Giovanni Recordati Giovanni Recordati Freddy Delorme7FordFocus WRC 01 Armodios Vovos Armodios Vovos "El-Em"7 Jari Viita Jari Viita Riku Rousku9Focus WRC 99 Urmo Aava Urmo Aava Toomas Kitsing9ŠkodaOctavia WRC Evo2 Mimex Motorsport Tibor Cserhalmi Karol Bodnár10ToyotaCorolla WRC Autostal Duindistel Rocco Theunissen Elisabeth 'Lilly' Genten10 Wevers Sport Erik Wevers Michiel Poel10 Matador Czech National Team Jan Kopecký Filip Schovánek10 Austin MacHale Austin MacHale Brian Murphy14SubaruImpreza WRC99 Eamonn Boland Eamonn Boland Francis Regan14 Gareth Jones Gareth Jones Ryland James14 Stephen Harron Stephen Harron Philip McCrea14Impreza WRC98 Steve Fleck Steve Fleck Mark Aspinwall14Impreza WRC2000 Peter Stephenson Peter Stephenson Allan Whittaker14HyundaiAccent WRC2 Kristian Kolberg Kristian Kolberg Kjell Peterssen2 Thomas Kolberg Thomas Kolberg Ola Fløene2Accent WRC3 Hyundai World Rally Team Tomasz Kuchar Maciek Szczepaniak3, 5 Natalie Barratt Roger Freeman4, 7, 12–14ŠkodaŠkoda Octavia WRC Evo3 Škoda Auto Deutschland Matthias Kahle Peter Göbel10 JWRC entries
No Entrant Drivers Co-driver Car Rounds 51 Vieffe Corse Srl Andrea Dallavilla Giovanni Bernacchini Citroën Saxo S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 66 Mirco Baldacci Maurizio Barone 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 52 Opel Motorsport Niall McShea Michael Orr Opel Corsa S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 54 Martin Stenshorne Clive Jenkins 7, 10 70 Sven Haaf Michael Kölbach 11, 14 53 Top Run SRL Giandomenico Basso Luigi Pirollo Fiat Punto S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 64 Gianluigi Galli Guido D'Amore 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 54 ST Motors Martin Stenshorne Jakke Honkanen Peugeot 206 S1600 1, 4 55 Ford Motor Co Ltd François Duval Jean-Marc Fortin Ford Puma S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 76 Alexander Foss Claire Mole 1 Cato Menkerud 4, 7, 10–11, 14 56 Citroën Sport Jussi Välimäki Tero Gardemeister Citroën Saxo S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 62 Janne Tuohino Petri Vihavainen 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 65 Daniel Solà David Moreno 1 Álex Romaní 4, 7, 10–11, 14 70 Sven Haaf Michael Kölbach 1, 4, 7, 10 57 Astra Racing Alejandro Galanti Xavier Amigó Ford Puma S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 63 Martin Rowe Chris Wood 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 67 Daniel Carlsson Per Karlsson 1 Mattias Andersson 4, 7, 10–11, 14 72 Marc Blázquez Oriol Julià 1, 4 78 Roger Feghali Nicola Arena 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 58 Hawk Racing Club Christian Chemin Simone Scattolin Fiat Punto S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 59 Suzuki Sport Juha Kangas Mika Ovaskainen Suzuki Ignis S1600 1 Jani Laaksonen 4, 7, 10–11, 14 68 Niki Schelle Gerhard Weiss 1, 4, 7 Tanja Geilhausen 10–11, 14 75 Kazuhiko Niwa Kohei Kusaka 1, 4 Tatsuya Ideue 7, 10–11, 14 60 Procar Rally Team Nicola Caldani Sauro Farnocchia Peugeot 206 S1600 1, 4 Dario D'Esposito Fiat Punto S1600 7, 10–11, 14 61 MG Sport & Racing Gwyndaf Evans Chris Patterson MG ZR S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 69 Volkswagen Racing Kosti Katajamäki Lasse Hirvijärvi Volkswagen Polo S1600 1, 4 Jakke Honkanen 7, 10–11, 14 71 Schmidt Racing David Doppelreiter Thomas Lettner Peugeot 206 S1600 1, 4, 7 Ola Fløene 10–11, 14 73 Pronto Racing Albert Llovera Marc Corral Fiat Punto S1600 1, 4, 7, 10–11, 14 77 Fiat Auto España Paco Roig Joan Sureda Fiat Punto S1600 1, 4 Ezequiel Nazabal 7
PWRC entries