Tour de Corse
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The Tour de Corse - Rallye de France is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 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 roads around Ajaccio. The rally is held on asphalt roads, and it is known as the "Ten Thousand Turns Rally" because of the twisty mountain roads.
Several drivers have been killed during the event, including fatalities at 3 consecutive events. Attilio Bettega, driving a Lancia 037 Rally, died during the fourth special stage of the 1985 rally, Zérubia-Santa Giulia. In 1986, exactly a year later, Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto died in their Lancia Delta S4 during the 18th stage of the event, Corte-Taverna. And in 1987 co-driver French Corsican Jean-Michel Argenti, who was assisting Jean Marchini, was killed after Marchini crashed.
The first running of the rally was won by the Belgian female driver Gilberte Thirion in a Renault Dauphine. Two drivers have won the event a record six times; Bernard Darniche (1970, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981) and Didier Auriol (1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995). The only non-French drivers to win the event more than once are Sandro Munari, Markku Alén and Colin McRae. Sébastien Loeb won the last four WRC runnings of the event.
Winners
In 1996, due to the World Rally Championship's event rotation system used from 1994–96, the rally counted only for the FIA 2-Litre World Championship for Manufacturers. The 2009 event was part of the France Cup.[2]
*, denotes years when Tour de Corse was not part of the World Rally Championship
Multiple winners
| Wins | Driver | Years won |
|---|---|---|
| 6 |  Bernard Darniche |
1970, 1975, 1977-1979, 1981 |
| Didier Auriol |
1988-1990, 1992, 1994-1995 | |
| 4 | Sébastien Loeb |
2005-2008 |
| 3 | Pierre Orsini |
1959, 1962, 1969 |
| Jean-Claude Andruet |
1968, 1972, 1974 | |
| 2 | René Trautmann |
1961, 1963 |
 Sandro Munari |
1967, 1976 | |
| Jean Ragnotti |
1982, 1985 | |
 Markku Alén |
1983-1984 | |
| Philippe Bugalski |
1996-1999 | |
 Colin McRae |
1997-1998 | |
| Gilles Panizzi |
2000, 2002 |
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rallye de France. |
