Xavier Pons
Pons at the 2005 Cyprus Rally.
Personal information
NationalitySpanish
Full nameXavier Pons Puigdillers
Born (1980-01-21) 21 January 1980
Vic, Spain
World Rally Championship record
Active years2003–2007, 2010–2011, 2014
TeamsCitroën, Mitsubishi, Subaru
Rallies72
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins7
Total points52
First rally2003 Swedish Rally
Last rally2014 Rally Catalunya

Xavier "Xevi" Pons Puigdillers[lower-alpha 1] (born 21 January 1980) is a Spanish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2003 to 2014.

Career

Pons started his racing career on motorcycles and won the Spanish enduro national championship in 1998. That same year, he competed with the Spanish junior team at the International Six Days Enduro and won the Junior World Trophy. He was part of the victorious Spanish team again in 2000. He continued riding in the Spanish enduro championship and was the runner-up in 2000 and 2001, also achieving success in the European and the World Enduro Championship.

In 2002, Pons switched to rallying, capturing the Spanish national Group N gravel title the following year. In the national asphalt championship, he finished second. He also debuted in the World Rally Championship at the 2003 Swedish Rally. In 2004, Pons competed in both the Junior World Rally Championship and the Production World Rally Championship. In the production car championship, he took two wins and finished fourth overall in the standings. In the junior class, he was ninth overall, with best placement being third at the Acropolis Rally. He also scored his first points in the World Rally Championship by finishing sixth at the Rally Australia.[1]

Pons at the 2006 Cyprus Rally.

Pons' 2005 season included 11 rallies with a World Rally Car and four with a production class rally car. Driving a Peugeot 206 WRC and a Citroën Xsara WRC, he finished in the points twice. His best result was fourth, at the Rally Catalunya. Seven points resulted in a 16th place in the overall championship.

For the 2006 season, Pons signed up for a full WRC season with Kronos Total Citroën, partnering the two-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb. By the ninth event of the season, Rallye Deutschland, he had gathered only 11 points so the team decided to replace him with Dani Sordo as the second driver to collect manufacturers' points. Pons still failed to impress the team, and when Loeb was injured and could not compete at the Rally of Turkey, Kronos hired Colin McRae to stand in. However, at Turkey, Pons finished fourth. He was then promoted to Kronos' second seat again and he went on to finish fourth in Australia and New Zealand and fifth in the final race of the season; the Wales Rally Great Britain. With 32 points, he placed seventh overall in the championship.

Pons driving his Subaru Impreza WRC at the 2007 Wales Rally GB.

Pons' best result in a world rally remains fourth, which he has achieved five times: In 2005 at the Rally Catalunya, and in 2006 at the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Rally of Turkey, Rally Australia and Rally New Zealand.[2]

After failing to land a drive in a competitive team for the 2007 season, Pons announced that he will be withdrawing from competing in the WRC. However, he vowed to stay in shape, should an opportunity arise for 2008 or for the later 2007 season.[3] The opportunity soon came halfway through the 2007 season as the Subaru World Rally Team signed on Xevi Pons to drive a third car on the remaining events on the 2007 schedule, and contest a full schedule for Subaru in 2008 with an option for Subaru to keep his services in 2009.[4] Despite this, Pons never did return to the Subaru for 2008. Instead, he competed on Spanish national rallies.

In 2010, Pons returned to the WRC in the newly formed SWRC class, driving a Ford Fiesta S2000 for the Nupel Global Racing team.[5] He won his debut S2000 event in Rally Mexico.[6] Pons also won second S2000 event in row by winning in Jordania.[7] In both occasions, he also finished on WRC points. Pons finally won the Super 2000 World Rally Championship in 2010.[8]

Complete WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
2003 Xavier Pons Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V MON SWE
52		 TUR NZL ARG GRE CYP GER NC 0
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII FIN
Ret		 AUS ITA FRA
Ret		 ESP
15		 GBR
22
2004 Xavier Pons Fiat Punto S1600 MON
Ret		 CYP GRE
16		 TUR
Ret		 FIN
28		 JPN GBR
24		 ITA
Ret		 19th 3
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII SWE
42		 MEX
16		 NZL
16		 ARG
Ret		 FRA
12
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII GER
15		 AUS
6
Renault Clio S1600 ESP
Ret
2005 Xavier Pons Peugeot 206 WRC MON
Ret		 MEX
10		 ITA
Ret		 JPN 15th 7
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII SWE
38		 NZL
13		 CYP
38		 TUR
17
OMV World Rally Team Citroën Xsara WRC GRC
10		 ARG
10		 FIN
12		 GER
9		 GBR
11		 FRA
7		 ESP
4		 AUS
Ret
2006 Kronos Total Citroën WRT Citroën Xsara WRC MON
9		 SWE
7		 MEX
Ret		 ESP
Ret		 FRA
6		 ARG
17		 ITA
4		 GRE
8		 GER
14		 FIN
Ret		 JPN CYP
7		 TUR
4		 AUS
4		 NZL
4		 GBR
5		 7th 32
2007 Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 MON
25		 SWE
Ret		 NOR
16		 MEX POR ARG ITA GRE 16th 4
Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC 2006 FIN
6		 GER
18		 NZL
Ret		 ESP
9		 FRA
8		 JPN
35		 IRE
Ret		 GBR
9
2010 Nupel Global Racing Ford Fiesta S2000 SWE MEX
8		 JOR
10		 TUR NZL
10		 POR
12		 BUL FIN GER
15		 JPN FRA
15		 ESP GBR 15th 6
2011 RMC Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN GER AUS FRA ESP
Ret		 GBR NC 0
2014 Xavier Pons Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MON SWE MEX POR ARG ITA
22		 POL FIN NC 0
ACSM Rallye Team Ford Fiesta R5 GER
12		 AUS FRA
20		 ESP
Ret		 GBR

JWRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 JWRC Points
2004 Xavier Pons Fiat Punto S1600 MON
Ret		 GRE
3		 TUR
Ret		 FIN
7		 GBR
5		 ITA
Ret		 9th 12
Renault Clio S1600 ESP
Ret

PWRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PWRC Points
2004 Xavier Pons Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII SWE
15		 MEX
5		 NZL
6		 ARG
Ret		 GER
1		 FRA
1		 AUS
1†		 4th 27
2005 Xavier Pons Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII SWE
4		 NZL
1		 CYP
10		 TUR
4		 ARG GBR JPN AUS 5th 20

† Did not score points at the 2004 Rally Australia.

SWRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SWRC Points
2010 Nupel Global Racing Ford Fiesta S2000 SWE MEX
1		 JOR
1		 NZL
2		 POR
2		 FIN GER
5		 JPN FRA
4		 GBR
3		 1st 123

Notes

  1. ↑ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pons and the second or maternal family name is Puigdillers.

References

  1. ↑ "Xavier Pons". RallyBase. Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  2. ↑ "Xavier Pons". World Rally Archive. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  3. ↑ "Pons admits defeat: I won't have WRC drive in 07". Crash.net. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  4. ↑ "Xavier Pons to join the Subaru World Rally Team from Rally Finland". swrt.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  5. ↑ "Xevi Pons to make WRC return in 2010". wrc.com. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
  6. ↑ World Rally Championship - News - S-WRC: Pons steals class win on his Fiesta S2000 debut Archived March 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 3-8-2010.
  7. ↑ World Rally Championship - News - S-WRC wrap: Purposeful Pons wins again in the Super 2000 category Retrieved 4-4-2010
  8. ↑ World Rally Championship - News - S-WRC Wrap: Win for Mikkelsen but Pons takes the title Archived 2010-11-18 at the Wayback Machine 14 Nov 2010
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