The 1996 World Rally Championship was the 24th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 9 rallies. As a result of their 1995 disqualification, Toyota Team Europe were not allowed to compete in this year's championship, so only three works teams contested the championship. The drivers' world championship was won by Tommi Mäkinen in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3, ahead of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. The manufacturers' title was won by Subaru.

Calendar

Round	Dates	Race
1	9–11 February	Swedish Rally
2	5–7 April	Safari Rally
3	10–12 May	Rally Indonesia
4	2–4 June	Acropolis Rally
5	4–6 July	Rally Argentina
6	23–26 August	1000 Lakes Rally
7	13–16 September	Rally Australia
8	13–16 October	Rallye Sanremo
9	4–6 November	Rally Catalunya

Teams and drivers

Major Entries

Registered works teams
Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	No	Drivers	Rounds
555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru	Impreza 555	P	1	Colin McRae	All
				2	Kenneth Eriksson	All
				3	Didier Auriol	1
					Piero Liatti	2–9
				10	Piero Liatti	1
Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford	Escort RS Cosworth	M	4	Carlos Sainz	All
				5	François Delecour	1
					Stig Blomqvist	2
					Gwyndaf Evans	3
					Bruno Thiry	4–9
				6	Stig Blomqvist	1
					Dandy Rukmana	3
				14	Ari Vatanen	1
				16	Ari Mökkonen	4
				28	Per Svan	1
Mitsubishi Ralliart Petronas/Winfield Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo III	M	7	Tommi Mäkinen	All
				8	Kenneth Bäcklund	1
					Kenjiro Shinozuka	2
					Richard Burns	3, 5, 7, 9
					Uwe Nittel	4
					Lasse Lampi	6
					Didier Auriol	8
				9	Uwe Nittel	1, 5, 8
					Yoshihiro Kataoka	3
					Pascal Smets	4
					Jouko Puhakka	6
					Ed Ordynski	7
				18	Uwe Nittel	6–7, 9
				29	Yoshihiro Kataoka	7
				41	Pascal Smets	8

Privater Entries

Major privateer entries
Manufacturer	Car	Team	Drivers	Tyre	Rounds
Toyota	Celica GT-Four ST205 Celica Turbo 4WD ST185	Toyota Castrol Team	Thomas Rådström	M	1, 6, 9
			Juha Kankkunen		1, 3, 6
			Tomas Jansson		1
			Marcus Grönholm		1, 6
			Ian Duncan	M	2
			Reza Pribadli		3
			Freddy Loix		4, 8–9
			Teppo Leino		6
			Neal Bates		7
	Celica Turbo 4WD ST185	Toyotoshi	Marco Galanti		1–2, 4
		Tein Sport	Yoshio Fujimoto		3, 7
	Celica GT-Four ST205	H.F. Grifone	Thomas Rådström		4
			Rui Madeira		4–6, 8–9
			Gilberto Pianezzola		4–5, 8
			Andrea Dallavilla		6, 8
			Jánoth Tóth		8
			Matteo Luise		8
Ford	Escort RS Cosworth	Ford Team Finland	Sebastian Lindholm	M	1, 6
		Ford Motorsport Indonesia	Dolly Indra Nasution		3
		Yacco RAS Ford	Patrick Bernardini		4–5, 8–9
		Blue Rose Team	Jarmo Kytölehto		6, 8–9
		Promoracing Finland	Harri Rovanperä		6
		Jolly Club	Gianfranco Cunico		8
Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo III	Mitsubishi Ralliart Germany	Richie Holfeld		1
		Mitsubishi Ralliart Sweden	Stig-Olov Walfridsson		1
		Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland	Mika Korhonen		1, 6
			Minna Sillankorva		6
		Race-Rent Motorsport	Gustavo Trelles		3–9
		Mitsubishi Ralliart Indonesia	Bambang Hartono		3
			Oky Harwanto		3
			Arief Indiarto		3
		Top Run SRL	Jorge Recalde		4–9
		Jolly Club	Piergiorgio Bedini		6, 8
Audi	Coupe S2	Stohl Racing	Rudi Stohl		2, 4
			Manfred Stohl		2, 9
Subaru	Impreza Wagon	Subaru Rally Team Japan	Patrick Njiru		2
			Hideaki Miyoshi		2
	Impreza 555		Tanveer Alam		2
		A.R.T. Engineering	Angelo Medeghini		4–6, 8–9
			Andrea Navarra		6, 8
		F.Dor Rally Team	Frédéic Dor		4, 6, 8
Renault	Mégane Maxi	Renault Team Sweden	Jonas Kruse		6
		Husky Team	Diego Oldrati		8
			Piero Longhi		8
		Italian Promotor Sport	Paolo Andreucci		8
		Renault Sport España	Oriol Gómez		9

Results and standings

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver SWE KEN INA GRE ARG FIN AUS ITA ESP  Pts  1 Tommi Mäkinen 1 1 Ret 2 1 1 1 Ret 5 123 2 Colin McRae 3 4 Ret 1 Ret Ret 4 1 1 92 3 Carlos Sainz 2 Ret 1 3 2 Ret 3 2 Ret 89 4 Kenneth Eriksson 5 2 Ret 5 3 5 2 5 7 78 5 Piero Liatti 12 5 2 4 7 DNS 7 Ret 2 56 6 Bruno Thiry 6 5 11 6 3 3 44 7 Juha Kankkunen 4 3 2 37 8 Freddy Loix 7 4 4 24 9 Richard Burns Ret 4 5 Ret 18 10 Marcus Grönholm 7 4 14 11 Gilberto Pianezzola 8 6 7 13 12= Ian Duncan 3 12 12= Jarmo Kytölehto 3 Ret Ret 12 14 Yoshio Fujimoto 4 9 12 15 Thomas Rådström 6 Ret 6 Ret 12 16 Patrick Bernardini 9 9 10 6 11 17 Reza Pribadi 5 8 18 Stig Blomqvist 8 7 Ret 7 19 Rui Madeira Ret 8 9 Ret 9 7 20= Kenjiro Shinozuka 6 6 20= Michael Lieu 6 Ret 6 20= Franco Cunico 6 6 23= Shigeyuki Konishi 7 25 4 23= Sebastian Lindholm Ret 7 4 25 Didier Auriol 10 8 4 26 Angelo Medeghini Ret 12 10 9 10 4 27= Hideaki Miyoshi 8 29 3 27= Irvan Gading 8 3 27= Lasse Lampi 8 3 27= Peter 'Possum' Bourne 8 3 27= Oriol Gómez 8 3 32= Tomas Jansson 9 2 32= Patrick Njiru 9 2 32= Chandra Alim 9 2 35= Jonathan Toroitich 10 1 35= Bambang Hartono 10 1 35= Jean-Pierre Richelmi 10 1 35= Uwe Nittel 16 14 10 16 DSQ Ret 16 1 35= Ed Ordynski 10 1 Pos Driver SWE KEN INA GRE ARG FIN AUS ITA ESP  Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Each works team had to nominate up to three drivers 30 days before each event; only two best placed nominated drivers were eligible to score points for the manufacturers' championship.

Pos. Manufacturer No. SWE KEN INA GRE ARG FIN AUS ITA ESP Points 1 Subaru 1 3 4 Ret 1 Ret Ret 4 1 1 401 2 5 2 Ret (5) 3 5 2 5 (7) 3 (10) (5) 2 4 7 (7) Ret 2 2 Mitsubishi 7 1 1 Ret 2 1 1 1 Ret 5 322 8 14 6 Ret 14 4 8 5 8 Ret 9 Ret (10) Ret (10) Ret 3 Ford 4 2 Ret 1 3 2 Ret 3 2 Ret 299 5 (11) 7 Ret 6 5 11 6 3 3 6 8 Ret Pos. Manufacturer No. SWE KEN INA GRE ARG FIN AUS ITA ESP Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Events

1996 World Rally Championship event map

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

Rally Name	Start-End Date	Podium Drivers (Finishing Time)	Podium Cars
Swedish Rally	9–11 February	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:37m:10s) Carlos Sainz (4h:37m:33s) Colin McRae (4h:38m:15s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Ford Escort RS Cosworth Subaru Impreza 555
Safari Rally	5–7 April	Tommi Mäkinen (12h:41m:24s) Kenneth Eriksson (12h:55m:40s) Ian Duncan (13h:23m:24s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Subaru Impreza 555 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Rally Indonesia	10–12 May	Carlos Sainz (5h:30m:00s) Piero Liatti (5h:30m:23s) Juha Kankkunen (5h:31m:02s)	Ford Escort RS Cosworth Subaru Impreza 555 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Acropolis Rally	2–4 June	Colin McRae (5h:33m:12s) Tommi Mäkinen (5h:34m:02s) Carlos Sainz (5h:36m:33s)	Subaru Impreza 555 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rally Argentina	4–6 July	Tommi Mäkinen (5h:48m:42s) Carlos Sainz (5h:50m:17s) Kenneth Eriksson (5h:53m:21s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Ford Escort RS Cosworth Subaru Impreza 555
1000 Lakes Rally	23–26 August	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:04m:13s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:04m:59s) Jarmo Kytölehto (4h:06m:50s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rally Australia	13–16 September	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:08m:50s) Kenneth Eriksson (4h:10m:07s) Carlos Sainz (4h:10m:11s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Subaru Impreza 555 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rallye Sanremo	13–16 October	Colin McRae (4h:26m:57s) Carlos Sainz (4h:27m:19s) Bruno Thiry (4h:29m:06s)	Subaru Impreza 555 Ford Escort RS Cosworth Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Rally Catalunya	4–6 November	Colin McRae (4h:14m:20s) Piero Liatti (4h:14m:27s) Bruno Thiry (4h:15m:38s)	Subaru Impreza 555 Subaru Impreza 555 Ford Escort RS Cosworth

FIA 2 Litre World Cup For Manufacturers

() Denotes dropped score