| Tour de Corse | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Motorsporting event |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Corsica |
| Country | France |
| Inaugurated | 1956 |
TheTour de Corse is arally first held in 1956 on the island ofCorsica. It was the French round of theWorld Rally Championship from the inaugural1973 season until2008, was part of theIntercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and finally returned to WRC in2015. The name "Tour de Corse" refers to the fact that in the early days it was run around the island; nowadays it only features roads aroundAjaccio. The rally is held on asphalt roads, and is known as the "Ten Thousand Turns Rally" because of the twisty mountain roads.
Several drivers have been killed during the event, including fatalities at 3 consecutive events.Attilio Bettega, driving aLancia 037 Rally, died during the fourthspecial stage of the1985 rally,Zérubia-Santa Giulia. On May 21986, exactly a year later,Henri Toivonen and his co-driverSergio Cresto died in theirLancia Delta S4 during the 18th stage of the event,Corte-Taverna. Almost a year later in 1987, co-driver French Corsican Jean-Michel Argenti and driver Jean Marchini fatally crashed similarly to those before them.
The first running of the rally was won by the Belgian female driver Gilberte Thirion in aRenault Dauphine. Two drivers have won the event a record six times;Bernard Darniche (1970, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981) andDidier Auriol (1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995). The only non-French drivers to win the event more than once areSandro Munari,Markku Alén,Colin McRae andThierry Neuville.
It has been largely popularized that Toivonen and Cresto's deaths sealed the fate of Group B rallying due to the realization that the cars had too much pure power and lack of containment, proving to be dangerous and potentially fatal to spectators.
| Wins | Driver | Years won |
|---|---|---|
| 6 |  Bernard Darniche | 1970, 1975, 1977–1979, 1981 |
| Didier Auriol | 1988–1990, 1992, 1994–1995 | |
| 4 | Sébastien Loeb | 2005–2008 |
| 3 | Pierre Orsini | 1959, 1962, 1969 |
| Jean-Claude Andruet | 1968, 1972, 1974 | |
 Thierry Neuville | 2011, 2017, 2019 | |
| 2 | René Trautmann | 1961, 1963 |
 Sandro Munari | 1967, 1976 | |
| Jean Ragnotti | 1982, 1985 | |
 Markku Alén | 1983–1984 | |
| Philippe Bugalski | 1996, 1999 | |
 Colin McRae | 1997–1998 | |
| Gilles Panizzi | 2000, 2002 | |
| Sébastien Ogier | 2016, 2018 |
