François Delecour

WRC driver
Name = François Delecour


Caption =
Nationality = flagicon|France French
Years = 1984 - 2002
Teams = Ford, Peugeot, Mitsubishi
Races = 96
Championships = 0
Wins = 4
Podiums = 19
Stagewins = 214
Points = 326
First race = 1984 Monte Carlo Rally
First win = 1993 Rallye de Portugal
Last win = 1994 Monte Carlo Rally
Last race = 2002 Rally Great Britain

François Delecour (born on 30 August 1962 in Cassell northern France) is a rally driver.

In the employ of Ford Motor Company as a driver of the factory-fettled Ford Escort RS Cosworth, he finished as runner-up in drivers' standings in the 1993 World Rally Championship season. He was still driving for Ford by January 1994, when he won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally for the team. After this victory he was regarded as the title favourite, but injury in a road traffic accident forced him to miss most of the rest of the season [ [http://www.rallye-info.com/driverprofile.asp?driver=29 Francois Delecour - WRC Driver Profile] Rallye-Info.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-11] .

After leaving Ford, he then acquitted himself in a subsequent stint for Peugeot, piloting the French firm's array of various machinery for much of the rest of the 1990s and often continuing to make a points-scoring impact, particularly on asphalt world championship level rallies in the two-litre kit-car classification. It culminated in his involvement in the opening years of the works Peugeot 206 WRC project, where amid much publicity he was to find himself, on the hard-surface rounds of the 2000 World Rally Championship season which Peugeot otherwise dominated, in conflict with fellow French tarmac ace and team-mate, Gilles Panizzi.

Delecour switched back to Ford for 2001. The Blue Oval's effort, however, was by now being masterminded not from long-time headquarters Boreham, but by Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport in Cumbria, which ran a third, alternatively liveried Ford Focus WRC for Delecour. A shunt, crippling for co-driver Daniel Grataloup, on his final outing in Australia threatened to marr his time at the team. But despite otherwise again proving a regular scorer, he was once again to change teams come the following year, this time to Mitsubishi to drive their still young first World Rally Car, he and Alister McRae being drafted in as joint replacements for outgoing four-time World Champion, Tommi Makinen.

Unfortunately, both he and McRae were to suffer as the Japanese marque's competitiveness continued to wane. After a comparatively unsuccessful season, Mitsubishi announced a sabbatical from the series until 2004, effectively bringing Delecour's world championship career to a close.

WRC victories

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References