The 2003 season is now almost at an end, with just the Wales Rally GB to run, and it's an even closer championship than ever. The drivers championship is wide open, with any of the top 4 drivers still able to win it, and in the manufacturers series Citroen and Peugeot are still leading the way, well ahead of Subaru in 3rd. But who will win the drivers and manufacturers titles?
| Rules - Drivers | Rules - Manufacturers | |
| WRC Drivers | WRC Manufacturers | |
1. Rules for WRC Drivers Championship
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There are 14 rounds of the World Rally Championship, starting in January at the Rally Monte Carlo, and finishing in November at the Rally of Great Britain. Any driver who finishes in the top eight places (new for 2003) in the overall classification at the end of each rally score points towards the drivers championship as shown in the table, and count all results over the whole season. |
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| 1st | 10 points | ||
| 2nd | 8 points | ||
| 3rd | 6 points | ||
| 4th | 5 points | ||
| 5th | 4 points | ||
| 6th | 3 points | ||
| 7th | 2 points | ||
| 8th | 1 point | ||
2. Rules for WRC Manufacturers Championship
| Manufacturers which register with the FIA
must nominate two cars for each of the 14 rallies, and count the points
scored by both of them. Each manufacturer may nominate any number of drivers
during the season, as long as only two are nominated for each rally. For
example they may wish to nominate a tarmac specialist on the Rally of Corsica,
or a snow specialist on the Swedish Rally. All results count.
Points awarded for position in the overall classification at the end of each rally are set out in the table below. When allocating points in the Manufacturers Championship only nominated cars are recognised in the finishing order. Therefore if the first six finishing positions are held by nominated cars, followed by two unnominated cars, seventh and eighth overall, with two nominated cars in ninth and tenth places the two nominated cars are deemed to be seventh and eighth and score 2 and 1 points respectively. |
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| 1st | 10 points | ||
| 2nd | 8 points | ||
| 3rd | 6 points | ||
| 4th | 5 points | ||
| 5th | 4 points | ||
| 6th | 3 points | ||
| 7th | 2 points | ||
| 8th | 1 point | ||
3. WRC Drivers Championship 2003 Latest Standings (after R13 - Spain)
| 1st | Sebastien Loeb | 63 |
| 2nd | Carlos Sainz | 63 |
| 3rd | Petter Solberg | 62 |
| 4th | Richard Burns | 58 |
| 5th | Markko Martin | 49 |
| 6th | Marcus Gronholm | 46 |
| 7th | Colin McRae | 40 |
| 8th |
Gilles Panizzi |
27 |
| 9th | Francois Duval | 26 |
| 10th | Tommi Makinen | 24 |
| 11th | Harri Rovanpera | 18 |
| 12th | Toni Gardemeister | 9 |
| 13th | Didier Auriol | 4 |
| 14th= | Mikko Hirvonen | 3 |
| 14th= | Alister McRae | 3 |
| 14th= | Cedric Robert | 3 |
| 14th= | Armin Schwarz | 3 |
| 18th | Janne Tuohino | 2 |
| 19th= | Philippe Bugalski | 1 |
| 19th= | Alistair Ginley | 1 |
| 19th= | Sebastian Lindholm | 1 |
| 19th= | Freddy Loix | 1 |
4. WRC Manufacturers Championship 2003 Latest Standings (after R13 - Spain)
| 1st | Citroen | 147 |
| 2nd | Peugeot | 142 |
| 3rd | Subaru | 93 |
| 4th | Ford | 89 |
| 5th | Skoda | 21 |
| 6th | Hyundai | 12 |