Kenneth Eriksson

Kenneth Eriksson

Personal information
Nationality	Swedish
Born	13 May 1956 Äppelbo
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1980 – 2002
Co-driver	Christina Thörner Staffan Parmander Peter Diekmann
Teams	Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Škoda
Rallies	138
Championships	0
Rally wins	6
Podiums	21
Stage wins	214
Total points	489
First rally	1980 Swedish Rally
First win	1987 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire
Last win	1997 Rally New Zealand
Last rally	2002 Rally Great Britain

Kenneth Eriksson (born 13 May 1956 in Äppelbo, in the kommun of Vansbro) is a now retired World Rally Championship rally driver. He drove for several manufacturer teams, including the Subaru World Rally Team, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Škoda. He was the 1986 Group A Champion in the competition's only year, his best performance, overshadowed by the fatalities that occurred in that season.

His finest showing in the top-tier World Rally Championship was third place overall for Mitsubishi in 1995. He controversially won the Swedish Rally that year under pressure on the road from second-placed young team-mate Tommi Mäkinen, as well as winning directly ahead of the Champion-elect, Subaru World Rally Team's Colin McRae in Australia. He then switched to Subaru for the 1996 season to drive the Impreza WRC alongside McRae.^[1] He excelled for them as a second points-scorer on the championship's loose-surface rounds. Conversely, Italian Piero Liatti often took on the same responsibility for asphalt rounds. By the end of the 1997 season Eriksson and regular co-driver Staffan Parmander had collected six individual World Rally victories. These included a famous win aboard the Impreza in New Zealand in 1997, on which occasion he took advantage of the altercation with a sheep that befell long-time leader, Ford's Carlos Sainz. Between 1995 and 1997, he also notched up a hat-trick of Asia-Pacific rally titles.

Eriksson with a Hyundai Accent WRC at the 2001 Rally Finland.

After finishing fourth on the 1998 Swedish Rally, Eriksson was released from his contract at Subaru in order to pursue a kit-car and latterly a World Rally Car chance with Hyundai. He was joined as factory driver of both the Hyundai Coupe and eventual Hyundai Accent WRC by fellow eventual one-time Subaru driver, Alister McRae. 6th on the 2001 Rally Great Britain marked his solitary points finish for the team, on his very last outing with them. He then enjoyed his final season with Škoda, in 2002, alongside female navigator Tina Thörner in the light of Parmander's retirement and with his team-mate in the sister Octavia WRC being the young Finn Toni Gardemeister.

Eriksson departed the 'works' world rally scene at the end of 2002. He has since been competing in the Race to the Sky hillclimb event held in Cardrona Valley, New Zealand. He finished second in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	19ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire	1987	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V
2	40th International Swedish Rally	1991	Staffan Parmander	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
3	44th International Swedish Rally	1995	Staffan Parmander	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution II
4	8th Telstra Rally Australia	1995	Staffan Parmander	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III
5	46th International Swedish Rally	1997	Staffan Parmander	Subaru Impreza WRC 97
6	27th Smokefree Rally New Zealand	1997	Staffan Parmander	Subaru Impreza WRC 97

WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	WDC	Points
1980	Kenneth Eriksson	Saab 96 V4	MON	SWE 51	POR	KEN	GRC	ARG	FIN	NZL	ITA	FRA	GBR	CIV			-	0
1981	Kenneth Eriksson	Saab 96 V4	MON	SWE 31	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	ARG	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR			-	0
1982	Kenneth Eriksson	Saab 96 V4	MON	SWE 15	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR			-	0
1983	Kenneth Eriksson	Opel Ascona 400	MON	SWE 16	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	ARG	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR			-	0
1984	Opel Team Sweden	Opel Kadett GT/E	MON	SWE 7	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	ARG	BRA	FIN	ITA	CIV				36th	4
	Kenneth Eriksson	Opel Kadett GSI												GBR Ret
1985	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16	MON	SWE 10	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR			68th	1
1986	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi 16V	MON 9	SWE 7	POR Ret	KEN Ret	FRA 8	GRC 7	NZL 7	ARG 5	FIN 12	CIV	ITA 5*	GBR 11	USA		10th	25
1987	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi 16V	MON 5	SWE 8	POR 3	KEN Ret	FRA Ret	GRC Ret	USA	NZL 2	ARG 4	FIN	CIV 1	ITA	GBR 9		4th	70
1988	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Supra Turbo	MON	SWE	POR	KEN 4											12th	22
		Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165					FRA 6	GRC Ret	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN Ret	CIV	ITA 6	GBR Ret
1989	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165	SWE	MON	POR 3	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 4	AUS 2	ITA	CIV	GBR 4		6th	47
1990	Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	MON Ret	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN 3	AUS Ret	ITA	CIV	GBR 2			8th	27
1991	Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	MON Ret	SWE 1	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC 7	NZL	ARG	FIN 3	AUS 2	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 2	5th	66
1992	Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4	MON Ret	SWE	POR Ret	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	NZL	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR 7	41st	4
1993	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer RS	MON 4	SWE	POR 5	KEN	FRA	GRC Ret	ARG	NZL	FIN 5	AUS	ITA	ESP	GBR 2		6th	41
1994	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer RS	MON 5	POR	KEN	FRA											12th	18
		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II					GRC Ret	ARG	NZL 4	FIN	ITA	GBR
1995	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo II	MON	SWE 1	POR	FRA											3rd	48
		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III					NZL 5	AUS 1	ESP	GBR Ret
1996	555 Subaru WRT	Subaru Impreza 555	SWE 5	KEN 2	IDN Ret	GRC 5	ARG 3	FIN 5	AUS 2	ITA 5	ESP 7						4th	78
1997	555 Subaru WRT	Subaru Impreza WRC'97	MON	SWE 1	KEN Ret	POR Ret	ESP	FRA	ARG 3	GRC Ret	NZL 1	FIN Ret	IDN 3	ITA	AUS Ret	GBR Ret	5th	28
1998	555 Subaru WRT	Subaru Impreza WRC'97	MON	SWE 4	KEN												14th	3
	Hyundai Motor Sport	Hyundai Coupé Kit Car				POR Ret	ESP 21	FRA	ARG Ret	GRC Ret
		Hyundai Coupe Kit Car Evo2									NZL 20	FIN Ret	ITA Ret	AUS 22	GBR Ret
1999	Hyundai Motor Sport	Hyundai Coupe Kit Car Evo2	MON	SWE Ret	KEN	POR 14	ESP Ret	FRA	ARG	GRC 15	NZL 17	FIN Ret	CHN 11	ITA Ret	AUS 9	GBR 25	-	0
2000	Hyundai Castrol WRT	Hyundai Accent WRC	MON	SWE 13	KEN	POR Ret	ESP 23	ARG 8	GRC Ret	NZL 5	FIN 15	CYP	FRA Ret	ITA 45	AUS 4	GBR Ret	11th	5
2001	Hyundai Castrol WRT	Hyundai Accent WRC	MON	SWE 8													21st	1
		Hyundai Accent WRC2			POR 7	ESP	ARG Ret	CYP Ret	GRC Ret	KEN	FIN 12	NZL 10	ITA	FRA	AUS 12	GBR 6
2002	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Octavia WRC Evo2	MON 13	SWE Ret	FRA Ret	ESP 17	CYP 9	ARG 6	GRE 14	KEN Ret							18th	1
		Škoda Octavia WRC Evo3									FIN Ret	GER 10	ITA 11	NZL Ret	AUS 8	GBR 13

References

1. "Subaru in International Rallying: 1993-1996". Drive Performance Magazine. Retrieved 2008-02-23.