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Björn Waldegård

Björn Waldegård during the Rally of the Midnight Sun in Västerås, Sweden in July 2011
Personal information
Nationality	Swedish
Born	(1943-11-12)12 November 1943 Solna, Sweden
Died	29 August 2014(2014-08-29) (aged 70) Stockholm, Sweden
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1973–1992
Co-driver	Hans Thorszelius Fergus Sager Arne Hertz Claes-Göran Andersson Claes Billstam Ragnar Spjuth Michel Lizin Fred Gallagher
Teams	BMW, Toyota, Lancia, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Fiat
Rallies	95
Championships	1 (1979)
Rally wins	16
Podiums	35
Stage wins	290
Total points	428
First rally	1973 Monte Carlo Rally
First win	1975 Swedish Rally
Last win	1990 Safari Rally
Last rally	1992 Safari Rally

Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle".

Career

Waldegård, who came from Rimbo, had a career that spanned four decades; he made his debut in 1962 and, after winning the Swedish Rally Championship in 1967 and '68, continued to compete at the top level until 1992 when a broken arm suffered during a crash in the 1992 Safari Rally forced his retirement. His first international victory, at the wheel of a Porsche 911, came on the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally, while his last came for Toyota on the 1990 Safari. It made him the oldest driver to win a World Rally Championship event, a record he retained until the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally.

In the mid-1970s Waldegård took part in the newborn European Championship for Rallycross Drivers with a privately entered Porsche Carrera RSR. His best overall result was to become the Runner-up to Austrian Franz Wurz, father of Alexander Wurz, of the 1974 Embassy European Rallycross Championship.

The Alitalia-backed Lancia team of the 1970s frequently choose between star drivers Waldegård and Italian frontrunner Sandro Munari. Waldegård and Munari came head to head in the 1976 Rallye Sanremo. Waldegård had a four-second lead over Munari entering the final stage, only to be forced to squander that advantage in keeping with the team's hopes for an 'equal' shootout. Waldegård, however, emerged as victor by four seconds, having disobeyed team orders and overtaken Munari – as a result, Waldegård left Lancia and joined Ford in late 1976.

Driving Ford Escort RS1800 models, Waldegård won three of the world's most punishing rallies in 1977; the East African Safari Rally, the Acropolis Rally, and the RAC Rally.

He was later victor in the inaugural World Rally Championship series in 1979 for Ford and Mercedes-Benz, beating Hannu Mikkola in the final round at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire in the Ivory Coast, by finishing second behind his rival.

In September 2008, Waldegård took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth in Scotland. He was one of a number of ex-world champions to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007. On the event he drove a Porsche 911.

In addition to his rallying career, Waldegård also took part in the 1970 Targa Florio sports car endurance race on the Italian island of Sicily, the oldest motor race in the world at the time. He drove a factory supported, John Wyer-entered Porsche 908/3. The Targa Florio was more or less a rally-type race on a closed circuit made up of public roads, hence the reason for Waldegård's one-off drive with Porsche. Sharing driving duties with Briton Richard Attwood, he finished fifth.

Björn Waldegård died on 29 August 2014 of cancer at the age of 70.

International victories

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	25th International Swedish Rally	1975	Hans Thorszelius	Lancia Stratos HF
2	17º Rallye Sanremo	1975	Hans Thorszelius	Lancia Stratos HF
3	18º Rallye Sanremo	1976	Hans Thorszelius	Lancia Stratos HF
4	25th Safari Rally	1977	Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
5	24th Acropolis Rally	1977	Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
6	26th Lombard RAC Rally	1977	Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
7	28th International Swedish Rally	1978	Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
8	26th Acropolis Rally	1979	Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
9	7ème Critérium Molson du Québec	1979	Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
10	12ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire	1980	Hans Thorszelius	Mercedes 500 SLC
11	12th Motogard Rally of New Zealand	1982	Hans Thorszelius	Toyota Celica 2000GT
12	15ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire	1983	Hans Thorszelius	Toyota Celica TCT
13	32nd Marlboro Safari Rally	1984	Hans Thorszelius	Toyota Celica TCT
14	34th Marlboro Safari Rally Kenya	1986	Fred Gallagher	Toyota Celica TCT
15	18ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire	1986	Fred Gallagher	Toyota Celica TCT
16	38th Marlboro Safari Rally Kenya	1990	Fred Gallagher	Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165

Racing record

Complete IMC results

Complete WRC results

Complete FIA European Rallycross Cup results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Driver	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1971	Écurie Jean Sage	Bernard Chenevière	Porsche 911S	GT +2.0	263	NC	NC

Publications

Björn Waldegård – Rally blev mitt liv, by Waldegård, Björn & Karlsson, Gerhard, Årets Bilsport 1994, 212 pages, Swedish language, ISBN 9188540464

References

1. "First WRC champion Bjorn Waldegard dies at the age of 70". Archived from the original on 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2014-08-30.
2. Smith, Damien (26 January 2022). "Loeb shows that motor racing desperately needs its big-name heroes". Motor Sport magazine. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
3. "MAXRALLY - Tributes flood in for Bjorn Waldegard". Archived from the original on 2014-09-11. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
4. "First WRC champion Bjorn Waldegard dies at the age of 70". Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2014-08-30.

External links

• Björn Waldegård RallyBase profile

• 1943 births
• 2014 deaths
• World Rally Champions
• Swedish rally drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• World Rally Championship drivers
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• People from Solna Municipality
• Sportspeople from Stockholm County
• Porsche Motorsports drivers
• Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers