World Rally Championship 2004

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The 2004 World Rally Championship was the 32nd edition of the World Rally Championship, an event recognized by the International Automobile Federation, and took place from 23 January to 14 November 2004.

The Iridata series, consisting of 16 tests placed in as many nations, was once again supported by the world championship for production cars (PWRC), dedicated to the Group N cars strictly derived from the series, and the Junior WRC (JWRC) championship, established in 2001, which assigned the trophy to the young drivers who competed in the Super 1600 class. Both support series consisted of seven stages each.

The driver's championship saw the French Sébastien Loeb triumph for the first time, leading a Citroën Xsara WRC, which dominated the season by inflicting a 36-point detachment against the Norwegian Petter Solberg on Subaru Impreza WRC2004, defending the 2003 title; third on the final podium was the Estonian Markko Märtin behind a Ford Focus RS WRC The title builders were won by the French coach Citroën Total World Rally Team, to his second consecutive laurel.

In the PWRC Championship, the British Niall McShea was defeated by Subaru Impreza WRX STi, while in the Junior WRC the Swedish Per-Gunnar Andersson behind a Suzuki Ignis S1600.

Calendar

The championship, with its sixteen events in all nations, touched five continents (all except Africa), with eleven races held in Europe, two in Oceania, one in North America, one in South America and one in Asia.

Changes in the calendar
The number of races passed from 14 to 16, being included in the calendar for the first time the Rally of Mexico, to be played in March as the third seasonal test as well as the first on earth, and the Rally of Japan, to be held in October as a eleventh appointment and also on dirt surface.

The most important change was the replacement of the Rally of Sanremo, a classic appointment that in 2003 reached the thirtyth presence in the world calendar, with the Rally of Sardinia, always to be run in October as the thirteenth race of the season on the dirt instead of the asphalt, inherit also the name of Rally d'Italia.

Secondary changes were the shift of the Rally of Argentina from May to July, of the Rally of Turkey from February to June, of the Rally of Germany from July to August and of the Rally of Australia from September to November as a final race; the Rally of Cyprus and that of Great Britain were anticipated respectively from June to May and from November to September.

Changes in the Regulation
Regarding the 2003 season, changes were made in sports and technical regulations.

Sports regulations
From this season he returned to the system according to which each team enrolled in the championship marches could line up to the maximum d