The list of fatal World Rally Championship accidents consists of drivers and co-drivers who have died at FIA World Rally Championship

World Rally Championship

The World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 13...

 (WRC) rallies. The list also includes fatal accidents in the International Championship for Manufacturers

International Championship for Manufacturers

The FIA International Championship for Manufacturers was a rally series culminating in a champion manufacturer. The championship was run from 1970 to 1972 and it was replaced by the FIA World Rally Championship in 1973...

 (IMC), the predecessor to the World Rally Championship, which was contested from 1970 to 1972. Well-known fatalities involving officials, spectators and team members are also mentioned.

The fatal accidents of the Group B

Group B

Group B was a set of regulations introduced in 1982 for competition vehicles in sportscar racing and rallying regulated by the FIA. The Group B regulations fostered some of the quickest, most powerful and sophisticated rally cars ever built. However, a series of major accidents, some fatal, were...

 era resulted in its demise. Only hours after Henri Toivonen

Henri Toivonen

Henri Pauli Toivonen was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri Toivonen, became a professional circuit racer.Toivonen's first World Rally Championship victory came...

's crash at the 1986 Tour de Corse

Tour de Corse

The Tour de Corse - Rallye de France is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was part of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season to 2008. The name "Tour de Corse" refers to the fact that in the early days it was run around the island; nowadays it only features...

, FISA

Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile

The Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile was the governing body for motor racing events. The organisation's origins date from 1922, when the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile delegated the organisation of automobile racing to the CSI , an autonomous committee that would later...

 president Jean-Marie Balestre

Jean-Marie Balestre

Jean-Marie Balestre was a French auto racing executive, who was president of FISA from 1978 to 1991 and of the FIA from 1985 to 1993.-Biography:Balestre was born at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône....

 announced that Group B cars were banned for the 1987 season

1987 World Rally Championship season

The 1987 World Rally Championship season was the 15th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile World Rally Championship . The season consisted of 13 rallies in the same venues of the previous season...

. However, driver fatalities peaked in 1989, when five competitors died in the first three rallies of the season. Markko Märtin

Markko Märtin

Markko Märtin is a rally driver from Estonia, who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2000 until 2005.-Career:...

's co-driver Michael Park

Michael Park (co-driver)

Michael Park was a rally co-driver from Newent in Gloucestershire.One of the top co-drivers of his generation, Park died as a result of injuries sustained in an accident on the final leg of Wales Rally Great Britain when his Peugeot 307 WRC left the road and struck a tree...

's death at the 2005 Wales Rally GB was the WRC's first fatality in over eleven years.

Drivers and co-drivers

Name	Role	Date of accident	Event	Car	During
Seppo Jämsä	Co-driver	2 August 1974	1974 1000 Lakes Rally	Morris Mini 850	Rally
Don Daly	Co-driver	27 November 1976	1976 RAC Rally	Saab 99 EMS	Rally
Tomas Fuchs	Driver	14 August 1982	1982 Rallye do Brasil	Fiat 147 Fiat 147 The Fiat 147 was a three door hatchback compact car produced by Fiat in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais from 1976 until 1986, when it was replaced by the Fiat Uno. It was the Brazilian variant of the Fiat 127...	Rally
Reijo Nygren	Co-driver	26 August 1983	1983 1000 Lakes Rally	Ford Escort RS	Rally
Attilio Bettega Attilio Bettega Attilio Bettega was an Italian rally driver.Bettega was born in Molveno, Trentino. In 1982, he joined the Lancia squad driving the Lancia 037 after some years with Fiat. In his Lancia years he gained four podium finishes in rallies counting towards the World Rally Championship...	Driver	2 May 1985	1985 Tour de Corse Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse - Rallye de France is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was part of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season to 2008. The name "Tour de Corse" refers to the fact that in the early days it was run around the island; nowadays it only features...	Lancia Rally 037	Rally
Henri Toivonen Henri Toivonen Henri Pauli Toivonen was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri Toivonen, became a professional circuit racer.Toivonen's first World Rally Championship victory came...	Driver	2 May 1986	1986 Tour de Corse Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse - Rallye de France is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was part of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season to 2008. The name "Tour de Corse" refers to the fact that in the early days it was run around the island; nowadays it only features...	Lancia Delta S4 Lancia Delta S4 The Lancia Delta S4 is a Group B rally car that competed in the World Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986, until Group B cars were banned from competition by the FIA. The car replaced and was an evolution of the Lancia 037 Monte Carlo. The S4 took full advantage of the Group B regulations, and...	Rally
Sergio Cresto Sergio Cresto Sergio Cresto was the co-driver of Henri Toivonen at the Lancia Martini team for the 1986 World Rally Championship season. He was also a former co-driver for fellow Lancia employee, the Italian driver Attilio Bettega....	Co-driver
Jean-Michel Argenti	Co-driver	7 May 1987	1987 Tour de Corse Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse - Rallye de France is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was part of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season to 2008. The name "Tour de Corse" refers to the fact that in the early days it was run around the island; nowadays it only features...	Peugeot 205 GTI	Rally
Jean-Marc Dubois	Driver	11 October 1988	1988 Rallye Sanremo 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 Rally Challenge and the Italian national rally...	Citroën AX Sport Citroën AX The Citroën AX is a supermini built by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1986 to 1998. The AX was launched at the 1986 Paris Motor Show to replace the Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA.-Overview:...	Rally
Robert Moynier	Co-driver
George Mignot	Driver	2 January 1989	1989 Swedish Rally Swedish Rally The Uddeholm Swedish Rally , formerly the Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in Värmland, Sweden in early February. First held in 1950, when it was called the Rally to the Midnight Sun with start and finish at separate locations, seventeen years later both start and finish...	Volkswagen Golf Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf is a small family car manufactured by Volkswagen since 1974 and marketed worldwide across six generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada , and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico .The...	Reconnaissance
Bernard de Lathuy	Co-driver
Lars-Erik Torph Lars-Erik Torph Lars-Erik Torph was a Swedish rally driver. He debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1980 and took his first points at his home event, the Swedish Rally, in 1984. Driving a Toyota Celica TCT, a Toyota Supra 3.0i and an Audi Coupé Quattro, he went on to finish on the podium four times...	Driver	23 January 1989	1989 Monte Carlo Rally Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rally Monte Carlo is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco which also organises the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and...	Lancia Delta Integrale	RallyLars-Erik Torph and Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt only did the reconnaissance for the event, and then were spectating the fifth stage when Alex Fiorio Alex Fiorio Alessandro "Alex" Fiorio is an Italian rally driver. He debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1986. Driving the dominant Lancia Delta Integrale for the Lancia "B-team" Jolly Club, he finished third in the drivers' world championship in 1988 and second in 1989...  lost control of his Lancia Delta Integrale, went off the road and crashed into them at about 145 km/h (90 mph).
Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt	Co-driver
Augusto Mendes	Driver	1 March 1989	1989 Rallye de Portugal	Opel Kadett GSI Opel Kadett The Opel Kadett is a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel between 1937 and 1940, and then again from 1962 until 1991 , when it was replaced by the Opel Astra.-Original model :...	Rally
Francis Malaussene	Co-driver	22 January 1990	1990 Monte Carlo Rally Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rally Monte Carlo is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco which also organises the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and...	Renault 5 GT Turbo	Rally
Rodger Freeth Rodger Freeth Rodger Freeth, Ph.D., was a New Zealand motor sport competitor.He held a Ph.D. in Physics and had a distinguished academic and motorsport career. His first love was motorcycles and whilst he was still at university he built a radical Yamaha TZ750A with an aerofoil...	Co-driver	18 September 1993	1993 Rally Australia Rally Australia Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in and around Perth, Western Australia from 1988 until 2006, when that state's tourism commission severed its collaboration with the event. The rally was part of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1988 and the World Rally Championship...	Subaru Legacy RS	Rally
Michael Park Michael Park (co-driver) Michael Park was a rally co-driver from Newent in Gloucestershire.One of the top co-drivers of his generation, Park died as a result of injuries sustained in an accident on the final leg of Wales Rally Great Britain when his Peugeot 307 WRC left the road and struck a tree...	Co-driver	18 September 2005	2005 Wales Rally GB	Peugeot 307 WRC	Rally
Jörg Bastuck Jörg Bastuck Jörg Bastuck was a German co-driver in the Junior World Rally Championship...	Co-driver	24 March 2006	2006 Rally Catalunya 2006 Rally Catalunya The 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada,the fourth round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season took place from March 24–26, 2006.- Event :...	Citroën C2 Citroën C2 The Citroën C2 is a supermini-class car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since autumn of 2003, replacing the Citroën Saxo, it was built at the Aulnay plant on the outskirts of Paris. A different model, based on the Peugeot 206, is sold in China as the C2...  S1600 Super 1600 Super 1600 is a rally car formula that is primarily used in the Junior World Rally Championship, as well as various national rally championships. Any automobile manufacturer that has a suitable road-going production model in its range may develop a specification for use in this formula...	RallyFollowing a crash on the second stage, JWRC Junior World Rally Championship The FIA Junior World Rally Championship is a complementary series to the World Rally Championship as is the Production World Rally Championship , and the Super 2000 World Rally Championship . As JWRC was originally envisioned as a series for developing drivers, it is limited to drivers below the...  contestant Aaron Burkart's co-driver Jörg Bastuck was changing a wheel when he was struck by the Ford Fiesta ST driven by Stobart M-Sport Ford's Barry Clark Barry Clark (rally driver) Barry Clark is a British rally driver born in Aberdeen in Scotland. After becoming the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International champion in 2007, Clark has been awarded a drive in the World Rally Championship for one event, and secured funding for two more events... , who had lost control of his car and gone off at the same place.

IMC

Name	Role	Date of accident	Event	Car	During
Eiichi Morinishi	Driver	February 1970	1970 East African Safari Rally	Datsun 1600 SSS	Reconnaissance
David Ndahura	Driver	28 March 1970	1970 East African Safari Rally	Peugeot 404 Peugeot 404 The Peugeot 404 is a large family car produced by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot from 1960 to 1975, with the exception of the truck which was sold until 1988. It was also made under licence in various African countries until 1991 . It was also built in Argentina by Sevel.Designed by...	Rally
Cyrus Kamundia	Driver	March 1971	1971 East African Safari Rally	Datsun Datsun Datsun was an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd...	Reconnaissance
Christian SerradoriUnlike Corriere della Sera and Sport Auto, 28 June issue of Autosprint reports the last name of the French brothers as "Ferradori". The brothers died during the third stage of the rally, on Col de l'Iseran Col de l'Iseran Col de l'Iseran is the highest paved mountain pass in the Alps. A part of the Graian Alps, it is situated in the department of Savoie in France near the border with Italy. It is crossed by the D902....  mountain pass, when their Lancia Fulvia went off the road and fell 200 metres (656.2 ft) into a ravine.	Driver	25 June 1971	1971 Coupe des AlpesBecause the 1971 Coupe des Alpes (Alpine Rally) ran with an insufficient number of starters, no points were awarded towards the championship.	Lancia Fulvia Lancia Fulvia The Lancia Fulvia is an Italian car introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1963 by Lancia. It was produced by that company through 1976. Fulvias are notable for their role in automobile racing history, including winning the International Rally Championship in 1972...	Rally
Yves Serradori	Co-driver

Team members

At the 1975 Safari Rally

Safari Rally

The Safari Rally is considered by many to be the world's toughest rally. It was first held from 27 May to 1 June 1953 as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II...

, a service car with four mechanics crashed into a parked truck near Mombasa

Mombasa

Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....

. Carlino Dacista, Bian Fernandez and Willie Uis died instantly. The driver David Joshi sustained serious injuries. At the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally

Monte Carlo Rally

The Monte Carlo Rally or Rally Monte Carlo is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco which also organises the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and...

, two mechanics, Bernard Balmer and Georges Reinier, died when their van collided with a truck near Gap

Gap, Hautes-Alpes

Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...

, Hautes-Alpes

Hautes-Alpes

Hautes-Alpes is a department in southeastern France named after the Alps mountain range.- History :Hautes-Alpes is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

. On the second day of the 1987 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire

Rallye Côte d'Ivoire

The Rallye Côte d'Ivoire 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 arduous conditions and high attrition rate among competitors. It was part of the World Rally Championship for drivers and manufacturers from 1978 to...

, Toyota Team Europe's Cessna 340

Cessna 340

|-See also:-References:* Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. ISBN 0 7106-0748-2.* Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988–89. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1988. ISBN 0 7106-0867-5....

 crashed and exploded, killing all four inside; manager and former co-driver Henry Liddon, his assistant Nigel Harris, the pilot and the navigator. Team manager Ove Andersson

Ove Andersson

Ove Andersson was a Swedish rally driver and the first head of Toyota's F1 program. His nickname was "Påven" .-Early life:...

 withdrew Toyota from the event. Prior to the accident, Björn Waldegård

Björn Waldegård

Björn Waldegård from Rimbo is a former Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979...

 and Fred Gallagher

Fred Gallagher (co-driver)

Fred Gallagher is a World Rally Championship winning co-driver and motorsport personality.-Career:Gallagher's first WRC rally was the 1975 RAC Rally alongside Norwegian driver John Haugland in a Škoda 120...

 had been running second in their Toyota Supra Turbo

Toyota Supra in motorsport

During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety of different motorsports.- Drag racing :The Supra has a history of professional drag racing, mainly in Japan and the United States. The HKS team have used both the Mk III and Mk IV to showcase its products, known as...

. At the 1996 Safari Rally

Safari Rally

The Safari Rally is considered by many to be the world's toughest rally. It was first held from 27 May to 1 June 1953 as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II...

, competed in bad weather and rain, three British mechanics drowned while attempting to cross a river with their Land Rover

Land Rover

Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...

.

Officials

At the end of the fourth stage of the 1981 1000 Lakes Rally, Audi Sport driver Franz Wittmann

Franz Wittmann, Sr.

Franz Wittmann is an Austrian rally driver, who won the 1987 Rally New Zealand, a round of the World Rally Championship .-Career:...

 and his co-driver Kurt Nestinger did not notice the flying finish which marks the end of the stage. They continued at race speed with their Quattro

Audi Quattro

The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, now part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March.The word quattro is derived from the Italian word for "four"...

 and crashed into a group of persons standing in front of a van. Raul Falin, chairman of AKK

AKK-Motorsport

AKK-Motorsport ry is a Finnish motorsport organisation which governs over 320 member clubs in the country. The organisation is a member in Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, and representing Finland there is its most important duty. AKK-Motorsport has divided Finland into 8 sections, which...

, Finland's sporting authority for motorsport and the country's representative in the FIA, was quickly taken to a hospital but died from his injuries soon after. Boris Rung, co-founder and chairman of the European Rallycross Association and member of FIA's Off-Road Commission, survived the accident along with Greek FIA observer Costas Glossotis.

Spectators

At the 1978 Safari Rally, five by-passers and four spectators were killed in unrelated accidents, both involving non-competitive drivers crashing into competitors.

On the first stage of the 1986 Rally Portugal, Joaquim Santos lost control of his Ford RS200

Ford RS200

The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, four-wheel drive sports car produced by Ford from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was based on Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologation regulations, which required 200 road legal versions be built...

 while trying to avoid spectators on the road, crashing into a "human wall" of spectators, killing three and injuring over thirty. All the factory teams – Audi

Audi

Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....

, Austin Rover, Ford, Lancia

Lancia

Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more...

, Peugeot

Peugeot

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

 and Volkswagen

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...

 – withdrew from the event.

At the 1995 Rally of the Thousand Lakes, at a special stage Hassi one spectator died when Belgian Bruno Thiry

Bruno Thiry

Bruno Thiry is a Belgian rally driver. He was born in St. Vith, Province of Liège.He began his career as an amateur in 1981, driving a Simca, and quickly became very successful in the Belgian Rally Championship. In 1994, he joined the Ford team to contest the World Rally Championship, driving a...

, driving 0-car, ran over her. According to some reports the spectator was unable to hear Thiry's car coming because of the crowd noise and relatively low sound of the car compared to full WRC

World Rally Car

World Rally Car is a term used to describe racing automobiles built to the specification set by the FIA, the international motorsports governing body, and used to compete in the outright class of the World Rally Championship...

 vehicles.

At the 1996 Rally of the Thousand Lakes, at the famous special stage Harju that took place in the centrum of "Rally Capital" Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...

, one spectator died and 36 injured when Danish Kristen Rikhard lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer

Mitsubishi Lancer

The Mitsubishi Lancer is a family car built by Mitsubishi Motors. It has been known as the Colt Lancer, Dodge/Plymouth Colt, Chrysler Valiant Lancer, Chrysler Lancer, Eagle Summit, Hindustan Lancer, Soueast Lioncel, Mitsubishi Carisma, and Mitsubishi Mirage in various countries at different times,...

due to too high speed and wrong driving line. Rikhard, car number 65, reached the curve at 120 km/h (approximately 75 mph), finally hitting the crowd at 40 km/h although the audience had placed within safe distance to road.