BJORN WALDEGARD

Björn Waldegård’s career spans five decades; he first competed in the early 1960s and, while he no longer campaigns at World Championship level, he remains a determined competitor in historic rallies and an enormously popular guest at demonstration events, such as the world-famous Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.
Between 1975 and 1990, he won 16 World Championship rallies driving for the Ford, Lancia, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota factory teams, and claimed a further 17 podium finishes; in 1979, he was crowned the first World Rally Champion and finished in the championship’s top eight in five of the following seven years.
In December 2007, he won the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic in a Ford Escort Mk I with son Mathias co-driving, 30 years after he had claimed the first of his four victories on the original event, when it was recognised as the most gruelling in the calendar. He won in 1977 (Ford Escort RS1800), 1984 & ‘86 (Toyota Celica TCT) and again in 1990 (Toyota Celica GT4), becoming the oldest driver to win a round of the WRC, a record he still holds; on his 16th outing on the event in 1992, however, he crashed the works Lancia Delta HF Integrale, suffering a broken arm, which resulted in his retirement from the World Championship.
Born in November 1943 at Solna in Sweden, Waldegård was a spectator from childhood (his father was a club competitor) and made his debut in 1962; he soon became a force to be reckoned with, winning the Swedish Rally Championship in 1967 in a Porsche 911. He won again in 1968 and went on to claim his first international victory came in the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally, also in a 911.
In his early days, he also rallied cars as varied as a BMW 2002tii and Volkswagen 1303S, his determination and style attracting the attention of the factory Lancia team, for whom he won four times in the iconic Stratos HF in 1975-76. An argument about team orders resulted in a move to Ford, where he finished third on his debut for the team in the Escort RS1800 on Britain’s Lombard RAC Rally in 1976.
Six wins for Ford included three of the world's most punishing rallies - the Safari, the Acropolis and the RAC – in the same year, 1977, and he was the first World Champion in 1979, when two of his outings were in the mighty Mercedes-Benz 450SLC. He switched to Toyota in 1981, winning and placing regularly for the next 10 years.
Alongside television commentary commitments, he continues to compete in historic rallies and demonstration events, his approachable nature always a hit with the fans.