The 1973 World Rally Championship was the inaugural season for the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC) format. It consisted of 13 events, each held in a different country of the world. Many of the events would be staples of the series through to today, including Monte Carlo, Sweden, Tour de Corse, and the RAC Rally, while others would soon be replaced in the schedule. As with following seasons, gravel events formed the majority of the schedule. Two pure tarmac and one snow and ice rally were also included, as well as three events held on a mixture of soft and hard surface roads.

The first award of the Championship for Manufacturers was firmly won by Alpine-Renault, which had already gained fame competing for the earlier International Championship for Manufacturers. Fiat successfully placed second ahead of challenger Ford, but could not seriously challenge the winning Alpine. However, this would also prove to be the last award for the Alpine, as it gave way in subsequent years to Italian firms Lancia and Fiat. A French manufacturer would not regain the Championship again until Peugeot successfully captured the 1985 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers.

From 1973 to 1978, the WRC only awarded a season championship for the winning manufacturer. Scoring was given for the highest placing entry for each manufacturer. Thus if a particular manufacturer was to place 2nd, 4th, and 10th, they would receive points for 2nd place only. However, the manufacturer would still gain an advantage in scoring from its other entries, as the points for the 4th and 10th place entries would be denied to other manufacturers.

Calendar

For the first ever World Rally Championship, there were thirteen rallies.

Round	Rally name	Surface	Dates
1	Rallye Monte-Carlo	Mixed (Tarmac - Snow)	19–26 January
2	Swedish Rally	Snow	15–18 February
3	Rallye de Portugal	Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel)	13–18 March
4	Safari Rally	Gravel	19–23 April
5	Rallye du Maroc	Gravel	8–13 May
6	Acropolis Rally	Gravel	23–28 May
7	Rajd Polski	Gravel	12–15 July
8	1000 Lakes Rally	Gravel	3–5 August
9	Österreichische Alpenfahrt	Gravel	12–14 September
10	Rallye Sanremo	Mixed (Tarmac - Gravel)	10–13 October
11	Press-on-Regardless Rally	Gravel	31 October–4 November
12	RAC Rally	Gravel	17–21 November
13	Tour de Corse	Tarmac	1–2 December
Sources:[1][2]

Events

1973 World Rally Championship event map

Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Snow/Ice	Red = Mixed Surface

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
		Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	Rallye Monte-Carlo (19–26 January) — Results and report	1	Jean-Claude Andruet	Alpine Renault A110 1800	5:42:04	18	456,50 km	278	51
		2	Ove Andersson	Alpine Renault A110 1800	5:42:30
		3	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110 1800	5:43:39
2	Swedish Rally (15–18 February) — Results and report	1	Stig Blomqvist	Saab 96 V4	9:18:31	36	760,00 km	73	42
		2	Per Eklund	Saab 96 V4	9:20:53
		3	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110 1800	9:34:12
3	Rallye de Portugal (13–18 March) — Results and report	1	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110 1800	5:42:16	32	397,50 km	79	23
		2	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110 1800	5:48:57
		3	Francisco Romãozinho	Citroën DS21	6:07:48
4	Safari Rally (19–23 April) — Results and report	1	Shekhar Mehta	Datsun 240Z	+ 6:46 pen	56	5300.00 km	89	18
		2	Harry Källström	Datsun 1800 SSS	+ 6:46 pen
		3	Ove Andersson	Peugeot 504	+ 8:47 pen
5	Rallye du Maroc (8–13 May) — Results and report	1	Bernard Darniche	Alpine Renault A110	15:01:22	11	1258.00 km	66	12
		2	Bob Neyret	Citroën DS23	15:20:04
		3	Richard Bochnicek	Citroën DS23	15:34:37
6	Acropolis Rally (23–28 May) — Results and report	1	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	7:37:58	47	556.35 km	83	11
		2	Rauno Aaltonen	Fiat Abarth 124	7:44:59
		3	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	7:45:56
7	Rajd Polski (12–15 July) — Results and report	1	Achim Warmbold	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	8:28:14	55	742.30 km	62	3
		2	Egon Culmbacher	Wartburg 353	11:15:16
		3	Maciej Stawowiak	Polski Fiat 125p	12:08:31
8	1000 Lakes Rally (3–5 August) — Results and report	1	Timo Mäkinen	Ford Escort RS1600	4:53:50	43	517.20 km	109	55
		2	Markku Alén	Volvo 142	4:55:59
		3	Leo Kinnunen	Porsche 911	4:57:12
9	Österreichische Alpenfahrt (12–14 September) — Results and report	1	Achim Warmbold	BMW 2002Tii	3:58:55	30	324.50 km	74	25
		2	Bernard Darniche	Alpine Renault A110	4:00:10
		3	Per Eklund	Saab 96 V4	4:00:11
10	Rallye Sanremo (10–13 October) — Results and report	1	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	8:01:32	37	369.30 km	107	54
		2	Maurizio Verini	Fiat Abarth 124	8:07:34
		3	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	8:21:37
11	Press-on-Regardless Rally (31 October–4 November) — Results and report	1	Walter Boyce	Toyota Corolla	6:58:28	85	552.61 km	58	23
		2	Jim Walker	Volvo 142S	7:22:43
		3	John Smiskol	Datsun 240Z	7:33:36
12	RAC Rally (17–21 November) — Results and report	1	Timo Mäkinen	Ford Escort RS1600	6:47:08	80	540.02 km	198	91
		2	Roger Clark	Ford Escort RS1600	6:52:23
		3	Markku Alén	Ford Escort RS1600	6:55:26
13	Tour de Corse (1–2 December) — Results and report	1	Jean-Pierre Nicolas	Alpine Renault A110	5:06:31	21	511.70 km	50	22
		2	Jean-François Piot	Alpine Renault A110	5:14:37
		3	Jean-Luc Thérier	Alpine Renault A110	5:18:46
Sources:[1][3]

Championship

Points were awarded to the best placed vehicle of each manufacturer.^[4]

Manufacturers' championship

Pos.	Manufacturer	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	MAR	GRC	POL	FIN	AUT	ITA	USA	GBR	FRA	Points
1	Alpine-Renault	1	3	1		1	1	Ret		2	1	Ret	(5)	1	147
2	Fiat	7	5	4	(8)	6	2	1	(8)	6	2		(10)		84
3	Ford	4		9	14		7	Ret	1			4	1	4	76
4	Volvo		9			9			2			2	4		44
5	Saab	37	1						4	3			Ret		42
6	Datsun	9	19	11	1	11			Ret			3	14	22	34
7	Citroën			3		2	6			Ret					33
8	BMW	17	7	13			Ret	Ret	17	1	51		7		28
9	Porsche	46		5	Ret			Ret	3	7			22	8	27
10	Toyota		23	Ret			9	Ret		8		1	12		25
11	Opel	12	10	7		DSQ	11		5	13	9	Ret	6	7	25
12	Polski Fiat	35						3				6			18
13	Lancia	8	4								7		Ret		17
14	Wartburg	38						2	39						15
15	Volkswagen		6	19		12	5			10					15
16	Peugeot	Ret			3	10			22						13
17	Mitsubishi				7										4
18	Škoda		8						15						3
19	Alfa Romeo	19	17		Ret				13					9	2
20	Audi	51					10							10	2
Pos.	Manufacturer	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	MAR	GRC	POL	FIN	AUT	ITA	USA	GBR	FRA	Points
Sources:[1][5]

• Positions in parentheses did not count to championship totals