François Delecour

François Delecour

Nation:	France
World Rally Championship (WRC)
First rally:	Monte Carlo Rally 1984
Last rally:	Rally Monte Carlo 2016
Co-driver:	Dominique Savignoni Christian Gilbert Anne-Chantal Pauwels Daniel Grataloup Catherine Francois
Team:	Mitsubishi - Ralliart Ford Motor Co Ltd Peugeot Esso Peugeot Sport R.AS Ford Peugeot France
Vehicle:	Talbot Samba Mitsubishi Lancer WRC Peugeot 205 GTI Peugeot 309 GTI Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 Ford Escort RS Cosworth Peugeot 306 Maxi Peugeot 206 WRC Ford Focus RS WRC Porsche 997 GT3 Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Rallies Victories Podiums WP 104 4th 19th 215
Points:	334
Status: After rally 1 of 14, season 2016
Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC)
First rally:	Rally Monte Carlo 2011
Co-driver:	Dominique Savignoni
Team:	François Delecour
Vehicle:	Peugeot 207 S2000
Rallies: Victories: Podiums: WP 3 - 1 1
Points:	25th
Status: 04.10.2014

François Delecour (born August 30, 1962 in Hazebrouck ) is a French rally driver .

Career

Started his career as a private driver

François Delecour began his rally career in 1981. In a Talbot Samba Rallye he denied in 1984 the Monte Carlo Rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC). In the following years he took part in the Monte Carlo Rally as a private driver with a Peugeot 205 GTI and a Peugeot 309 GTI . During this time he started regularly in the French rally championship and reached fourth championship rank in 1989 and third in 1990. In the same year Delecour achieved ninth place and the first two world championship points at the Monte Carlo Rally.

Works team contract with Ford

In 1991 Delecour became a works driver at Ford . He made several appearances in the World Rally Championship with a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 . At the season opener in Monte Carlo, he achieved his first podium finish with third place. Another third place followed in the Rally Catalonia , he finished the drivers' world championship in seventh place. From the 1992 season , Daniel Grataloup was his co-driver for several years. In the drivers' world championship, Delecour finished sixth with 45 points.

For the 1993 season , Ford switched to the Ford Escort RS Cosworth model . This season turned out to be the most successful in Delecour's career. Second place in Monte Carlo was followed by his first victory at the Rally Portugal and he then led the drivers' world championship. Although Delecour won two more rallies this year, the Corsica Rally and the Catalonia Rally , he had to admit defeat to Juha Kankkunen from Finland in the fight for the world championship . Classified by the experts as a favorite for the world title, Delecour started the 1994 season . At the beginning of the season he won the Monte Carlo Rally for the first time. At the Rally Portugal he was also the fastest driver until he retired. A few weeks later, Delecour was involved in a traffic accident. He had to pause half the season due to injuries, which meant that his chances of winning the drivers' title were no longer available. He made his comeback at the third to last rally of the season and Delecour finally finished eighth in the drivers' world championship.

After the serious road accident, Delecour could not quite build on the successes of the last two years. He finished the 1995 season, with two second places once in the Monte Carlo Rally and the Corsica Rally as the best results, in fourth place in the world championship.

Factory driver at Peugeot

After the 1995 season, Delecour left Ford and went to Peugeot . He was back in the French rally championship with a Peugeot 306 Maxi . In 1996 and 1997 he won three rallies there and finished the championship in third place. Peugeot only competed in individual races in the World Rally Championship , so Delecour was unable to fight for top positions in the overall standings. In this phase of his career, his best result in the world championship was second at the 1998 Corsica Rally .

The Monte Carlo Rally contested Delecour 1999 as a privateer with a Ford Escort WRC and finished this fourth. For the Corsica Rally, Peugeot brought the Peugeot 206 WRC to the start for the first time , with which Delecour completed the rest of the season. For Delecour it was gradually getting more difficult to assert himself against his teammates Gilles Panizzi and Marcus Grönholm . In the 2000 season he was in their shadow. Delecour reached the top three podium in four rallies, but victories were prevented by technical defects and stall orders. While Grönholm won the world championship, Delecour only finished sixth. Because of differences of opinion with Panizzi and the team management, which in his opinion put him at a disadvantage, he left Peugeot after the season.

Return to Ford and unsuccessful end of career

François Delecour in the Ford Focus WRC at the 2001 Rally Finland

For the 2001 season , Delecour returned to Ford, whose works outings have now been organized by Team M-Sport . François Delecour drove a Ford Focus RS WRC . He started the season with a third place in the Monte Carlo Rally. This success was his only podium result this season and he continued to score points regularly. After the end of the season, he finished ninth in the drivers' world championship.

After a year at Ford, Delecour moved to Mitsubishi in 2002 . The Mitsubishi Lancer WRC , which was new at the time, was not competitive and did not allow Delecour any results in the points. In an accident in the penultimate World Championship round in Australia, co-driver Daniel Grataloup was so seriously injured that he was unable to take part in the season finale in Great Britain. Dominique Savignoni took the place in the passenger seat. After the 2002 season, he temporarily ended his career in international rallying.

In the following years Delecour took part in individual national and international rallies. In the World Rally Championship, he repeatedly competed in individual rallies with a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup RGT or in a Peugeot 207 S2000. The focus was not on the results, but on the idea of ​​participating and having fun.

Comeback in IRC 2011

At the end of 2010 , the four-eight- year -old Delecour announced in the media that he was making his comeback at the 2011 Monte Carlo Rally . This was held as part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Delecour drove a Peugeot 207 S2000 and his co-driver was again Dominique Savignoni. Delecour was able to keep up with the pace of the competition straight away. With the right choice of tires, he won a special test on snow-covered roads and was temporarily in second place overall. He finished the rally in fifth place. He then announced that he wanted to take part in further races of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge .

statistics

WRC victories

No.	season	rally	Co-driver	vehicle
1	1993	Rally Portugal	Daniel Grataloup	Ford Escort RS Cosworth
2		Rally Corsica	Daniel Grataloup	Ford Escort RS Cosworth
3		Rally Catalonia	Daniel Grataloup	Ford Escort RS Cosworth
4th	1994	Rally Monte Carlo	Daniel Grataloup	Ford Escort RS Cosworth

Individual results WRC

year	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	Points	rank
1984	François Delecour	Talbot Samba Rally	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR			0	-
			67
1985	François Delecour	Peugeot 205 GTI	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR			0	-
			DNF
1986	François Delecour	Peugeot 205 GTI	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR	United States		0	-
			DNF
1987	François Delecour	Peugeot 205 GTI	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	United States	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR		0	-
			16
1989	François Delecour	Peugeot 309 GTI	SWE	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	GBR		0	-
							DNF
1990	Peugeot France	Peugeot 309 GTI	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	GBR			2	54
			9			DNF
1991	Q8 Team Ford	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR	40	7th
			3		DNF		DNF				DNF		4th		3	6th
1992	Ford Motor Co Ltd.	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR	45	6th
			4th		DNF		2	5			DNF		3		DNF
1993	Ford Motor Co Ltd.	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN	OUT	ITA	ESP	GBR		112	2
			2		1		1	DNF				3	DNF	1	4th
1994	Ford Motor Co Ltd.	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	POR	KEN	ESP	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN	ITA	GBR				30th	8th
			1	DNF							4th	DNF	DNF
1995	RAS Ford	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	MON	SWE	POR	FRA	NZL	OUT	ESP	GBR							46	4th
			2	DNF	DNF	2	6th	DNF	4th	DNF
1996	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	SWE	KEN	IDN	GRE	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	ESP						0	-
			11
1997	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 306 Maxi	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	IDN	ITA	OUT	GBR	3	19th
							DSQ	4th
1998	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 306 Maxi	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	ITA	OUT	GBR		6th	10
			10				8th	2					DNF
1999	François Delecour	Ford Escort WRC	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	CHN	ITA	OUT	GBR	3	16
			4th
	Peugeot Esso	Peugeot 206 WRC
								DNF		DNF		9		DNF	DNF	DNF
2000	Peugeot Esso	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	CYP	FRA	ITA	OUT	GBR	24	6th
			DNF	7th	13	5	7th	13	9	DNF	6th	3	2	2	3	6th
2001	Ford Motor Co Ltd.	Ford Focus RS WRC	MON	SWE	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRE	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA	FRA	OUT	GBR	15th	9
			3	5	5	6th	7th	DNF	5	4th	DNF	12	6th	10	DNF
2002	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC	MON	SWE	FRA	ESP	CYP	ARG	GRE	KEN	FIN	DEU	ITA	NZL	OUT	GBR	0	-
			9	34	7th	9	13	DNF	11	DNF	DNF	9	10	9	DNF	DNF
2012	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	DEU	GBR	FRA	ITA	ESP		8th	17th
			6th
2014	François Delecour	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	DEU	GBR	FRA	ITA	ESP		0	-
			DNF
		Porsche 997 GT3
														32
2015	François Delecour	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup RGT	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POLE	FIN	DEU	OUT	FRA	ESP	GBR		0	-
			23								53		19th
2016	François Delecour	Peugeot 207 S2000	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POLE	FIN	DEU	CHN	FRA	ESP	GBR	OUT	0	-
			19th

Source:

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Web links

• WRC statistics on juwra.com
• Biography on rallye-info.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Monte Carlo: Delecour relies on a Peugeot (Motorsport-Total.com on December 7, 2010)
2. ↑ Tire poker in the snow: Bouffier leads the "Monte" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 20, 2011)
3. ↑ Had fun: Delecour is planning further IRC missions (Motorsport-Total.com on February 10, 2011)
4. ↑ ewrc-results.com: Starts - WRC , February 6, 2016