WRC.com
Personality
of the Year
nominees:
Albert
Llovera

But while Llovera might not have ranked as one of the frontrunners in the S-WRC, he did win a significant battle behind the wheel of his Abarth Grande Punto Super 2000 on his way to 13th in the final table.

Prior to embarking on his career as a rally driver, Llovera was a talented downhill skier. He competed in the Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo in 1984 as a 17-year-old but, one year later he suffered a serious accident in a European Cup event and was left paralysed from the waist down.

He switched to rallying in 1987 using a car adapted with hand controls and took part in the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001 and 2002 before switching to four-wheel drive machinery ahead of his eventual participation in this season’s S-WRC.

Llovera, who hails from Andorra, appeared on six rounds of the S-WRC in 2010, netting a season-best fifth on Rally Mexico back in March. He should have completed his campaign on the gravel-based Wales Rally GB but withdrew before the start on medical grounds.

In total, Llovera scored points on four occasions, including an eighth-place finish on Rallye Deutschland in August, despite being in constant pain when his hands became blistered negotiating the event’s tight and twisty 48-kilometre Arena Panzerplatte stage.

One of the highlight's of Llovera's campaign was linking up with co-driver Marc Marti on Rally de Espana. Marti had split with long-term driver Dani Sordo and Llovera had always harboured ambitions of working with the WRC event winner. They finished ninth in class.

Voting begins for the WRC.com Personality of the Year on Friday. Llovera has battled adversity in 2010. Will that be enough for your vote?

Missed our other nominees?

Here’s who we’ve had so far:

1: Sebastien Loeb

2: Petter Solberg

3: Jari-Matti Latvala

4: Ken Block

5: Kimi Raikkonen

6: Sebastien Ogier

7: David Richards

8: Albert Llovera