The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) is one of the most demanding and challenging motor sport competitions in the world. Each result of the 16 WRC rallies counts towards the end of year FIA World Rally Championship. Drivers and navigators travel at speeds of up to 200kph on asphalt, gravel, snow and mud, through temperatures that plummet to -30°C and soar to over 40°C, in ice storms, dense fog and dust clouds and in different countries around the world. Each Rally is competed over three days, each day is known as a leg with drivers and navigators competing in different stages over varying distances. Stages are the competitive section of a rally – where crews drive as fast as possible to achieve the fastest time. A typical WRC rally will have between 15 and 25 stages over three days. WRC Cars
Current cars in the championship include the Citroën Xsara , Ford Focus RS , Peugeot 307 , Škoda Fabia , Subaru Impreza , and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution . Citroën, Peugeot, Škoda and Mitsubishi have pulled out of the championship for 2006 and those cars, although in use by privateers, are not in further development. Citroën will be returning to WRC in 2007 using the C4 .
The driver's championship and manufacturer's championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. This means, for example, that Petter Solberg driving for Subaru can win the driver's championship but Citroën can win the manufacturer's championship, which is what happened in 2003 . The competition first received the designation of WRC in 1973 . The sport's commercial rights are administered by International Sportsworld Communicators .