The 10 Best Rally Cars Ever Built, Ranked By Wins

Rallying is one of the oldest motorsports on Earth, even though its premiere event — the World Rally Championship — was only officially launched in 1973. In its fifty years of existence, the series has played host to multiple generations of rally cars from the iconic but deadly Group B cars of the '80s to the hybrid Rally1 machines of today. Over the decades, there have been countless cars entered into the championship, but a few have stood out from the rest as exceptionally successful.

We've compiled a list of the top 10 most successful rally cars of all time, ranked by the number of WRC events they've won. It's worth noting that iconic rally cars like the Lancia Delta, Mitsubishi Lancer, and Subaru Impreza are all absent -– each of the three went through multiple distinct generations during their time in the WRC, and we've counted each generation separately. On their own, none of the separate generations make the top 10 for event wins, which might make some of the cars that do all the more surprising. Here are the 10 best rally cars ever made, ranked by their lifetime wins.

The Lancia Stratos HF had a remarkably long run in the World Rally Championship, proving itself to be competitive even years after the factory team stopped supporting it. It was first homologated in 1974 and won three events that year, the first of those with Sandro Munari. The Italian driver had already proved the Stratos had pace, winning the non-Championship Firestone Rally the previous year. The 1975 and 1976 seasons proved even more successful, with the car taking four wins each year.

By 1977, however, Fiat's factory team had pivoted to using the freshly developed 131 Abarth for most events, entering the Stratos at only a handful of events and winning just one. By 1978, the Stratos had been demoted to official use in the European Championship, with the Fiat taking the role of the primary WRC contender. However, the Sanremo Rally was included in both championships, and it was there that the Lancia took its sole WRC win that season.

From 1979 onwards, privateers continued racing the Stratos in WRC events, racking up a remarkable three wins that year and another in 1981. By that time, the emergence of Group B cars meant the Stratos no longer had the pace to reach the podium, and after the 1982 season, the car was retired.

The most successful car of its era by wins — beating fellow greats like the MkII Escort and Stratos — is the Fiat 131 Abarth. It took its first world championship event win in 1976 at the Rally of the 1000 Lakes with local star Markku Alén at the wheel. The 1977 season proved a breakthrough one for the car, with five event wins, and 1978 added another five to the tally. In both years, those successes saw Fiat take top honors in the manufacturers' title race.

The 1979 season saw mixed fortunes for the car and only one further event win, as it was unable to match the pace of the Escort MkII. However, the team pulled things back on track for 1980, taking another five wins as the Ford team struggled to match the Fiat's pace. German driver Walter Röhrl gave the car its first and only drivers' title that season as it reclaimed the manufacturers' crown.

The following year, however, the rapid development of the AWD Group B cars meant that the previously warring pair of the 131 Abarth and MkII Escort were faced with increasingly superior newcomers. Both respective teams turned their efforts to developing their Group B successors, but the 131 Abarth managed one final win at the Rally de Portugal before it was eventually phased out.

The most recent car to make the top 10 is the Toyota Yaris WRC. Toyota has a long history in rallying and won multiple world titles in the '90s, but pulled out of the competition after 1999 to focus its efforts on Formula 1. It returned to the sport for the 2017 season, with the Yaris WRC reaching the top step of the podium on only its second-ever outing. Jari-Matti Latvala, who is today the Toyota team principal, was the driver responsible for the win, but it would prove to be his only win of the season. Fellow Finn Esapekka Lappi gave the Yaris its second win later that year in Finland.

The 2018 season saw the team properly find its footing, taking five wins, four of those with Ott Tänak. It was enough to hand Toyota the manufacturers' title, with Tänak ultimately finishing third in the drivers' standings that year. The following year, a seemingly unstoppable Tänak won six rallies, dethroning reigning champion Sébastien Ogier and winning the drivers' title.

Ogier signed with Toyota for 2020 and reclaimed the drivers' crown. Alongside his teammate Elfyn Evans, the pair added four more victories to the car's ever-growing trophy cabinet. The 2021 season was the car's most successful, adding nine event wins to the total. Toyota took both the manufacturers' and drivers' titles thanks to Ogier, who announced his retirement from full-time competition at the end of the season.

The Citroën Xsara WRC is quite unusual among ultra-successful rally cars in that it took several seasons to really show its pace. It debuted in 2001 and took its first and only win of the season at the Tour de Corse with driver Jesús Puras. In 2002, another single win was achieved thanks to then-rising star Sébastien Loeb, and in 2003, Loeb and teammate Carlos Sainz topped the event standings another four times.

Loeb finished second in the championship driver standings that year, but the following year, claimed his first overall drivers' title. He and Sainz together took seven victories in the Xsara WRC across the season. The 2005 calendar saw Loeb deliver an even more dominant performance, taking 10 event wins and the team's third consecutive manufacturers' title. A further win by François Duval took the Xsara WRC's total up to 11 in the space of just 12 months.

Loeb again delivered the goods in 2006, handing Citroën eight more event wins plus the drivers' crown. The Xsara WRC was replaced after 2006 with the Citroën C4 WRC, which would rack up even more trophies than its predecessor.

Sébastien Ogier's move from Citroën to Volkswagen for the 2013 season proved to be an extremely wise one. Emboldened by a generous team budget –- thought to be around 100 million euros per season –- Volkswagen and Ogier delivered a partnership so dominant that the Polo WRC remains the most successful rally car ever. That's despite the car only competing in four seasons. Ogier, with assistance from his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, won ten events in the 2013 season, taking the drivers' and manufacturers' title.

In 2014 and 2015, the pair continued to dominate, with Ogier taking first and Latvala second in the overall drivers' standings both years. In each year, the Polo WRC took 12 wins, easily handing Volkswagen further consecutive manufacturers' trophies. Volkswagen's final season in 2016 saw Ogier take the top spot again, taking six event wins while Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen added three more wins to the total.

That made the team's last-minute withdrawal announcement even more shocking, but the financial crisis caused by the Dieselgate scandal meant Volkswagen had little choice. With such a dominant car, it's possible that the Polo WRC could have racked up even more wins had Volkswagen remained in the series, but even with its unceremonious exit, it remains the most successful rally car to date.