La temporada de WRC 1981, es la 9ª edición del Campeonato del Mundo de Rallies, un total de once pruebas puntuaron para la clasificación final del mismo.
PODIOS DE LAS PRUEBAS PUNTUABLES PARA EL CAMPEONATO DEL MUNDO DE RALLIES WRC 1981
| Rally | Etapas | Fecha | Piloto/Copiloto | Coche | Tiempo | |
| 1 | 49ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 32 Etapas 757.00 km Asfalto | 24-30 de Enero | 1 – Jean Ragnotti / Jean-Marc Andrié 2 – Guy Fréquelin / Jean Todt 3 – Jochi Kleint / Gunter Wanger | Renault 5 Turbo Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Opel Ascona 400 | 9h:55m:55s 9h:58m:49s 10h:02m:54s |
| 2 | 31st International Swedish Rally* | 25 Etapas 369.00 km Nieve/Hielo | 13-15 de Febrero | 1 – Hannu Mikkola / Arne Hertz 2 – Ari Vatanen / David Richards 3 – Pentti Airikkala / Risto Virtanen | Audi Quattro Ford Escort RS1800 Ford Escort RS1800 | 3h:48m:07s 3h:50m:00s 3h:51m:47s |
| 3 | 14º Rallye de Portugal – Vinho do Porto | 46 Etapas 681.00 km Tierra/Asfalto | 4-7 de Marzo | 1 – Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki 2 – Henri Toivonen / Fred Gallagher 3 – Björn Waldegård / Hans Thorszelius | Fiat 131 Abarth Rally Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Toyota Celica 2000GT | 8h:27m:26s 8h:36m:36s 8h:43m:47s |
| 4 | 29th Safari Rally | 77 Controles 5209.00 km Tierra | 16-20 de Abril | 1 – Shekhar Mehta / Mike Doughty 2 – Rauno Aaltonen / Lofty Drews 3 – Mike Kirkland / Dave Haworth | Datsun Violet GT Datsun Violet GT Datsun 160J | +3m:39s pen +3m:44s pen +4m:51s pen |
| 5 | 25ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 24 Etapas 1144.00 km Asfalto | 30 de Abril – 2 de Mayo | 1 – Bernard Darniche / Alain Mahé 2 – Guy Fréquelin / Jean Todt 3 – Tony Pond / Ian Grindrod | Lancia Stratos HF Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Datsun Violet GT | 14h:26m.23s 14h:42m:25s 14h:45m.29s |
| 6 | 28th Acropolis Rally | 57 Etapas 960.00 km Tierra | 1-4 de Junio | 1 – Ari Vatanen / David Richards 2 – Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki 3 – Attilio Bettega / Maurizio Perissinot | Ford Escort RS1800 Fiat 131 Abarth Rally Fiat 131 Abarth Rally | 13h:17m:25s 13h:22m:00s 13h:25m:19s |
| 7 | 3º Rally Codasur | 18 Etapas 1341.00 km Tierra | 18-23 de Julio | 1 – Guy Fréquelin / Jean Todt 2 – Shekhar Mehta / Mike Doughty 3 – Jorge Recalde / Jorge del Bouno | Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Datsun Violet GT Datsun 160J | 14h:22m:52s 15h:01m:04s 16h:01m:19s |
| 8 | 3º Marlboro Rallye do Brasil | 20 Etapas 714.00 km Tierra | 6-8 de Agosto | 1 – Ari Vatanen / David Richards 2 – Guy Fréquelin / Jean Todt 3 – Domingo De Vitta / Daniel Muzio | Ford Escort RS1800 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Ford Escort RS | 9h:39m:40s 9h:48m:11s 10h:19m:46s |
| 9 | 31st 1000 Lakes Rally | 46 Etapas 440.00 km Tierra | 28-30 de Agosto | 1 – Ari Vatanen / David Richards 2 – Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki 3 – Hannu Mikkola / Arne Hertz | Ford Escort RS1800 Fiat 131 Abarth Rally Audi Quattro | 4h:07m:27s 4h:08m:26s 4h:10m:19s |
| 10 | 23º Rallye Sanremo | 59 Etapas 751.00 km Tierra/Asfalto | 5-10 de Octubre | 1 – Michèle Mouton / Fabrizia Pons 2 – Henri Toivonen / Fred Gallagher 3 – Antonio Fassina / Rudy Roberto Dalpozzo | Audi Quattro Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Opel Ascona 400 | 8h:05m:50s 8h:09m:15s 8h:12:08s |
| 11 | 13ème Rallye Côte d’Ivoire | 56 Controles 5087.00 km Tierra | 26-31 de Octubre | 1 – Timo Salonen / Seppo Harjanne 2 – Per Eklund / Ragnar Spjuth 3 – Shekhar Mehta / Mike Doughty | Datsun Violet GT Toyota Celica 2000GT Datsun Violet GT | +9m:57s pen +11m:09s pen +11:22s pen |
| 12 | 30th Lombard RAC Rally | 65 Etapas 722.00 km Tierra/Asfalto | 22-25 de Noviembre | 1 – Hannu Mikkola / Arne Hertz 2 – Ari Vatanen / David Richards 3 – Stig Blomqvist / Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro Ford Escort RS1800 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus | 8h:30m:00s 8h:41m:05s 8h:43m:36s |
RESULTADOS Y CLASIFICACIÓN DEL MUNDIAL DE PILOTOS WRC 1981
| Pos | Piloto | S | LL | V | P | Puntos |
| 1 | [FIN] Ari Vatanen | 10 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 96 |
| 2 | [FRA] Guy Fréquelin | 10 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 89 |
| 3 | [FIN] Hannu Mikkola | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 62 |
| 4 | [FIN] Markku Alén | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 56 |
| 5 | [KEN] Shekhar Mehta | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 55 |
| 6 | [FIN] Timo Salonen | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 40 |
| 7 | [FIN] Henri Toivonen | 7 | 3 | – | 2 | 38 |
| 8 | [FRA] Michèle Mouton | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 30 |
| 9 | [FIN] Pentti Airikkala | 3 | 3 | – | 1 | 30 |
| 10 | [SWE] Per Eklund | 8 | 4 | – | 1 | 29 |
| 11 | [FRA] Jean Ragnotti | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| 12 | [FRA] Bernard Darniche | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 26 |
| 13 | [SWE] Stig Blomqvist | 3 | 3 | – | 1 | 23 |
| 14 | [ARG] Jorge Recalde | 2 | 2 | – | 1 | 22 |
| 15 | [SWE] Anders Kulläng | 7 | 4 | – | – | 22 |
| 16 | [DEU] Jochi Kleint | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | 20 |
| 17 | [GBR] Tony Estanque | 4 | 2 | – | 1 | 20 |
| 18 | [SWE] Björn Waldegård | 7 | 3 | – | 1 | 17 |
| 19 | [FIN] Rauno Aaltonen | 2 | 2 | – | 1 | 15 |
| 20 | [KEN] Mike Kirkland | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 12 |
| 21 | [ITA] Attilio Bettega | 4 | 1 | – | 1 | 112 |
| 22 | [URU] Domingo De Vitta | 2 | 1 | – | 1 | 12 |
| 23 | [ITA] Antonio Fassina | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 12 |
| 24 | [SWE] Björn Johansson | 3 | 2 | – | – | 12 |
| 25 | [GBR] Terry Kaby | 2 | 2 | – | – | 11 |
| 26 | [FRA] Ballet Jean-Pierre | 2 | 1 | – | – | 10 |
| 27 | [ARG] Ernesto Soto | 1 | 1 | – | – | 10 |
| 28 | [FRA] Michel Mitri | 1 | 1 | – | – | 10 |
| 29 | [ARG] Ricardo Albertengo | 1 | 1 | – | – | 8 |
| 30 | [POR] Carlos Torres | 2 | 2 | – | – | 8 |
| 31 | [ITA] Luigi Battistolli | 1 | 1 | – | – | 8 |
| 32 | [FIN] Lasse Lampi | 3 | 2 | – | – | 8 |
| 33 | [FRA] Jean-Claude Lefèbvre | 1 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 34 | [GRE] Iórgos Moschous | 1 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 35 | [URU] Luis Etchegoyen | 1 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 36 | [URU] Gustavo Trelles | 1 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 37 | [ITA] Miki Biasion | 1 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 38 | [FRA] Alain Ambrosino | 2 | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 39 | [SWE] Sören Nilsson | 2 | 2 | – | – | 5 |
| 40 | [ARG] Horacio Maglione | 2 | 2 | – | – | 5 |
| 41 | [ESP] Rafael Cid | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| 42 | [JPN] Yoshio Iwashita | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| 43 | [ITA] Jean-Michel Tichadou | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| 44 | [GRE] ‘Carlo’ | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| 45 | [URU] Federico Occidental | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| 46 | [LBN] Samir Assef | 1 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| 47 | [SWE] Ola Strömberg | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 48 | [POR] Manuel Queirós Pereira | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 49 | [KEN] Jayant Shah | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 50 | [FRA] Gérard Swaton | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 51 | [CZE] Václav Blahna | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 52 | [ARG] Luís Romero | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 53 | [URU] Julio Berges | 1 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| 54 | [ITA] Dario Cerrato | 3 | 2 | – | – | 3 |
| 55 | [CIV] Jacques Durieu | 2 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 56 | [FRA] Jacques Alméras | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 57 | [POR] Joaquim Moutinho | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 58 | [USA] Malcolm Smith | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 59 | [FRA] Camille Bartoli | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 60 | [GRE] Pavlos Moschoutis | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 61 | [ARG] Miguel de Trompas | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 62 | [BRA] María del Carmen Zacarías | 2 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| 63 | [FRA] Alain Coppier | 2 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 64 | [JPN] Kenjiro Shinozuka | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 65 | [USA] Vara Hall | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 66 | [FRA] Jean-Félix Farrucci | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 67 | [FRA] Claude Laurent | 6 | 3 | – | – | 1 |
| 68 | [FIN] Antero Laine | 4 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 69 | [ITA] Federico Ormezzano | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 70 | [GBR] Roger Clark | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
RESULTADOS Y CLASIFICACIÓN DEL MUNDIAL DE CONSTRUCTORES WRC 1981
| Pos | Constructor | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Puntos |
| 1 | Talbot | 17 | 17 | – | 17 | 15 | 18 | – | – | 17 | – | 16 | 117 |
| 2 | Datsun | – | 13 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 17 | – | 12 | – | 18 | – | 106 |
| 3 | Ford | – | 9 | – | 12 | 18 | – | – | 18 | 7 | – | 16 | 80 |
| 4 | Opel | 15 | 11 | 12 | 8 | – | – | – | 8 | 15 | – | – | 69 |
| 5 | Audi | – | 131 | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 18 | – | 18 | 63 |
| 6 | Fiat | 8 | 18 | – | – | 16 | – | – | 16 | 5 | – | – | 63 |
| 7 | Renault | 18 | – | – | 7 | 10 | 15 | – | – | – | – | 11 | 61 |
| 8 | Toyota | – | 15 | – | 11 | – | – | – | 3 | – | 16 | 9 | 54 |
| 9 | Peugeot | – | – | 10 | – | 4 | 12 | – | – | – | 11 | – | 37 |
| 10 | Lancia | 10 | – | – | 18 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 37 |
| 11 | Porsche | 4 | – | – | 15 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19 |
| 12 | Škoda | – | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 |
| 13 | Dogde | – | – | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 |
| 14 | Mitsubishi | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 3 | 4 |