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74-737: A European championship for sports cars was created once more in 1983, now named the European Endurance Championship , and combined several events from the World Endurance Championship with other European rounds. The concept was however not continued the following year. In 2001 the European Endurance Championship was revived by IMSA for a single season as the European Le Mans Series, then in 2004 it

148-464: A car like windscreens or rear view mirrors. Article 256 covered the specific regulations for Group B with 5 paragraphs over half a page and includes most of the 7 pages of article 255 (Group A). The first two paragraphs of 256 covered the definition of (Sports) Grand Touring Cars (with a minimum of two seats) and the homologation requirements. The section, "3) FITTINGS AND MODIFICATIONS ALLOWED" states, "All those allowed for Group A..." These rules give

222-600: A car would have been required for homologation , rather than the 200 required for Group B. By the time of its cancellation, at least four Group S prototypes had been built: The Lancia ECV , the Toyota MR2 -based 222D, the Opel Kadett Rallye 4x4 (a.k.a. Vauxhall Astra 4S) and the Lada Samara S-proto, and new cars were also planned by both Audi (the 002 Quattro) and Ford (a Group S modification of

296-501: A championship specifically for these cars and serving as a junior formula for the International Championship. Races varied from 250 km (160 mi) to 500 km (310 mi), and ran either as a single event or in two heats. Grand tourer cars were also allowed to participate, although they were not included in the championship standings. Ford -powered Chevrons won the inaugural Championship for Makes in

370-662: A home in the World Endurance Championship , a new name for the World Sports Car Championship, though were secondary to the racing prototype Group C cars. The 1983 season had the first significant entry list including Porsche 930 , BMW M1 and Ferrari 308 GTB LM vehicles. Porsche won the FIA GT Cup in 1983, handing it over to BMW in 1984 and 1985. From 1986 the championship retired Group B in favor of IMSA regulated cars and

444-730: A major sports prototype series since the demise of the World Sportscar Championship in 1992. Following the success of the ALMS, Panoz attempting to bring sports prototype racing back to Europe. This led to the 2000 American Le Mans Series season , which included two races in Europe as the Nürburgring and Silverstone Circuit , as well as a round in Australia. These races would serve as a precursor to what would become

518-548: A name previously utilized by IMSA in 2001 . When he was allowed to bring the rules and racing formulae of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to North America with the creation of the Petit Le Mans in 1998, Don Panoz attempted to build a series inspired by the Petit Le Mans. The aged IMSA GT Championship was taken over and became the new American Le Mans Series, and met with much success in 1999 . Europe had lacked

592-583: A premature end to the championship. FISA however pressed forward with the creation of a World Championship for open-cockpit prototypes, combining not only 2-Litre entries from the European Championship, but also the prototypes with larger engines which had previously run in the World Championship for Makes. During the 1976 and 1977 seasons, FISA established new rules for a Group 6 category of prototypes. 2-Litre sports cars from

666-548: A series of major accidents, some fatal, were blamed on their outright speed with lack of crowd control at events. After the death of Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto in the 1986 Tour de Corse , the FIA banned the group from competing in the WRC from the following season, dropped its prior plans to introduce Group S , and designated Group A as the top-line formula with engine limits of 2000 cc and 300 bhp. In

740-497: A series run by themselves would be a better alternative for Europe. The ACO would instead attempt to attract factory backed teams with longer endurance races than ALMS and FIA SCC ran. The series would also be European based instead of international, thus it could be closer to the factories of many sportscar teams to help attract them to the series. In 2003, the ACO announced their intentions to create their own European-based series, named

814-717: Is a rotary or similar, then the capacity is considered to be "twice the volume determined between the maximum and minimum capacity of the combustion chamber." The equivalent capacity, C {\textstyle C} , for a turbine engine is much more complicated, derived with the formula C = S ( ( 3.10 × T ) − 7.63 ) 0.09625 {\textstyle C={\frac {S((3.10\times T)-7.63)}{0.09625}}} (1982) or C = S ( 3.10 × R ) − 7.63 0.09625 {\textstyle C={\frac {S(3.10\times R)-7.63}{0.09625}}} (1986), where S {\textstyle S}

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888-621: Is similar to the former American Le Mans Series (ALMS) based in the United States and Canada that was running with ACO and IMSA between 1999 and 2013. ELMS team champions and runners-up receive an automatic entry to the following year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Originally titled the Le Mans Endurance Series before becoming simply the Le Mans Series in 2006, the series was renamed once more in 2012, reusing

962-593: Is the "high pressure nozzle area" (cm ), and T {\textstyle T} / R {\textstyle R} is the "pressure ratio" of the compressor. Ultimately, there were few restrictions on technology, design or materials permitted. For example, fibreglass bodywork was used in the case of the Ford RS200 , a car without a commercially available counterpart, though silhouette race cars using space frame chassis were still common even when consumer car equivalents were mass produced, for example in

1036-574: The 4 Hours of Silverstone race would be dropped from the calendar due to a date not being able to be found. The 4 Hours of Barcelona would also be replaced by a second 4 Hours of Le Castellet race at Circuit Paul Ricard . New ACO Generation II LMP3 ruleset regulation built cars were also eligible for the LMP3 Class in the category featuring manufactured chassis's such as the Ginetta G61-LT-P3 , Ligier JS P320 , Duqueine D-08 , and

1110-597: The ADESS-03 Evo all of which use a VK56DE 5.6L Nissan V8 naturally aspirated engine. In the 2021 season of the ELMS a LMP2 Pro-Am Cup Trophy was introduced aimed at teams who have bronze rated contracted drivers. In the 2023 season of the ELMS, it marks as the last season of the LMGTE class as it will be replaced with a GT3-Specification class to be known as LMGT3 starting in the year 2024 season with Goodyear being

1184-715: The FIA World Endurance Championship was reestablished in 2012, the ELMS had a reduced car count including officially dropping the LMP1 Prototype class from the category and its calendar was reduced to three rounds in Paul Ricard, Donington Park and Road Atlanta (Petit Le Mans). For 2013, a twenty-nine car field was announced, with eleven in the LMP2 class, ten in the LM GTE class, and five in

1258-642: The Group C category was established. In 1981 , the World Championship for Makes was succeeded by the World Endurance Championship with the introduction of the Group C and Group B regulations. As part of this change, a Drivers Championship was introduced for the first time alongside the Manufacturers Championship. However, as the majority of teams concentrated on the European events which were

1332-745: The Pikes Peak Hillclimb in Colorado . Walter Röhrl's S1 Rally car won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1987 and set a new record at the time. Audi used their Group B experience to develop a production based racing car for the Trans-Am and IMSA GTO series in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Many ex-rally cars found homes in European Rallycross events from the beginning of 1987 until

1406-467: The "Lagoa Azul" stage of the Portuguese Rally near Sintra , Portuguese driver Joaquim Santos crested a rise, turning to his right to avoid a small group of spectators. This caused him to lose control of his RS200. The car veered to the right and slid off the road into another group of spectators. Thirty-one people were injured and three were killed. All the top teams immediately pulled out of

1480-478: The 1985 season. Although not without mishap: Vatanen plunged off the road in Argentina and was seriously injured when his seat mountings broke in the ensuing crash. Timo Salonen won the 1985 champion title with five wins. Although the crash was a sign that Group B cars had already become dangerously quick (despite Vatanen having a consistent record of crashing out while leading), several new Group B cars entered

1554-481: The 3000 cc class (2142.8 cc with turbo or supercharger), 960 kg minimum weight ( Audi Quattro , Lancia 037 ); and 2500 cc (1785 cc), 890 kg ( Peugeot 205 T16 , Lancia Delta S4 ). The original Renault 5 Turbo had a 1.4 L engine so it was in the 2000 cc class. Renault later increased the size of the engine somewhat for the Turbo Maxi, so as to be able to fit larger tires (at

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1628-560: The Championship. After the cancellation of the World Sports Car Championship, the European Sports Car Championship was created for 1978 in order to allow Group 6 prototypes to continue to compete for their own championship. Manufacturers no longer were granted their own championship, and emphasis was instead placed on drivers. The series was also separated into two categories, one for the 2-Litre cars and

1702-838: The Corsica rally. The final days of Group B were also controversial. The Peugeots were disqualified from the Rally Sanremo by the Italian scrutineers as the 'skirts' around the bottom of the car were found to be illegal. Peugeot immediately accused the Italians of favouring Lancia. Their case was strengthened at the next event, the RAC Rally , when the British scrutineers passed the Peugeots as legal in identical trim. FISA annulled

1776-470: The ELMS events that included ALMS teams, very few teams actually bothered to make the trip across the Atlantic to participate in races that appeared to have very few serious competitors. Thus the entry lists for each race fell from 25 at the beginning of the season to a mere 14 at season's end, with some classes only having one or two competitors. With a lack of involvement from teams, and less interest from

1850-491: The FISA restructured the production car category of Appendix J to consist of three new groups. The outgoing Group 1 and Group 2 were replaced with Group N and Group A for unmodified and modified production touring cars respectively. These cars had to have four seats (although the minimum size of the rear seats was small enough that some 2+2 cars could qualify) and be produced in large numbers. Their homologation requirement

1924-577: The GTC class was dropped from the series and moved to a new support series, the GT3 Le Mans Cup . This tournament was held on the same weekends as the European Le Mans Series 4-hour events, as well as on the same week as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with shorter races than the ELMS. In 2017, it was established by ACO that the lower teams from LMP3 would drop to the year's Michelin Le Mans Cup , while

1998-634: The Group B era as the Golden Age of Rallying. Many racing video games feature Group B cars for the player to drive. The 2017 video game Gran Turismo Sport features a rally car category known as "Gr. B", an obvious homage to Group B. This particular category features predominantly fictional rally cars based on newer models, such as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and the Subaru WRX STI , although it does include

2072-599: The Group N, A and B rules were decided, the weight/engine displacement restrictions were thought the only way to control speed. Nowadays, the power of turbo engines is limited by mandating a restrictor in the intake, and the Groups Rally hierarchy for example, each have limits on weight/engine power (kg/hp). Within all the groups, there were 15 classes based on engine displacement with a 1.4 equivalence factor applied for forced induction engines. Each class had weight limits and wheel sizes. Notable classes for Group B were

2146-609: The Lancia had the upper hand on tarmac , but the Audi remained superior on looser surfaces such as snow and gravel). Nevertheless, the 037 performed well enough for Lancia to capture the manufacturers title, which was generally considered more prestigious at the time, with a rally to spare. In fact, so low was Lancia's regard for the Drivers Championship, they did not enter a single car into the season finale RAC Rally, despite

2220-631: The Le Mans Endurance Series, which would be similar to the original European Le Mans Series, but feature only 1000 km races instead of the shorter, 2 hour 45 minute races used by the ELMS, and fewer races in a season than the ALMS and FIA SCC to help keep costs down. Winners of the LMES championship would go on to earn automatic entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , similar to the American Le Mans Series. The series

2294-509: The Manufacturer's Championship. Osella once again led the 2-Litre category in 1977 while Alfa Romeo 's 3-Litre cars won all eight rounds. At the end of the 1977 season, FISA chose to cancel the World Sports Car Championship in order to concentrate on the World Championship for Makes. The Group 6 category would however be allowed to compete in World Championship for Makes events once again, however they were not allowed to score points towards

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2368-621: The RS200). The cancellation of Group S angered many rally insiders who believed the new specification to be safer than Group B and more exciting than Group A. The Group S concept was revived by the FIA in 1997 as the World Rally Car specification, which persisted until 2021. WRC cars were limited to 380 hp (280 kW) and required 2500 examples of a model but, unlike Group S, also had to share certain parts with their base production models. From their introduction in 1982 Group B found

2442-463: The World Championship level, although Toyota won the 1983 Ivory Coast Rally after hiring Swedish desert driving specialist, the late Björn Waldegård . In 1984, Audi beat Lancia for both the manufacturers' title and the drivers' title, the latter of which was won by Stig Blomqvist , but received an unexpected new competition midway through the year: Peugeot had joined the rallying scene with its Group B 205 T16 . The T16 also had four wheel drive and

2516-540: The World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. The number of cars required for homologation, 200, was just 4% of the other groups' requirement and half what was previously accepted in Group 4. As the homologation periods could be extended by producing only 10% of the initial requirement each subsequent year, 20 in Group B's case compared to 500 for A and N, the group made motorsport and the championships more accessible for car manufacturers before taking

2590-402: The base rule sets of what is allowed to be modified, how it can be modified, and what can be removed from the homologation road cars. (Specific tyre widths are not specified for 2,500cc, but it falls into the 3,000cc category) If a car has a supercharger (this includes turbochargers), then the engine capacity is considered 1.4 times larger for its other restrictions stated above. If the engine

2664-478: The best LMP3 teams from this competition would be promoted to ELMS. During this year's season new ACO LMP2 Prototype Class regulations were introduced with licensed manufacturers such as Dallara , Onroak Automotive (Ligier), Oreca and the joint-venture Riley Tech / Multimatic with Gibson Technology being the exclusive engine supplier. In 2020, with the season heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic ,

2738-466: The case of the Peugeot 205 T16 or Lancia Delta S4. The rules provided for manufacturers who wanted to compete in rallying with mid-engine and RWD or 4WD , but their RWD production models had been gradually replaced by FWD counterparts. By reducing the homologation minimum from 400 in Group 4 to 200, FISA enabled manufacturers to design specialized RWD or 4WD rally car homologation specials without

2812-550: The championship became known as the World Sports-Prototype Championship the same year. The Porsche 961 prototype, intended to be the basis for a Group B homologation, won the GTX class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1986 race but crashed and caught fire in 1987. The Ferrari 288 GTO was built and sold the minimum requirement of cars to the public, but never saw action in its category. The WSPC grids it

2886-403: The development of a class of cars whose performance has not yet been surpassed within their category, even three decades later. In reference to their dubious safety record, the class has also earned an unsavory nickname among rally enthusiasts: "Killer B's". Group B also became synonymous with high-performance and danger amongst the motorsport community. In contrast to this, many enthusiasts refer

2960-411: The early 1960s, but in the early and mid-1980s engineers learnt how to extract extraordinary amounts of power from turbo engines. Some Group B manufacturers went further, Peugeot for example, installed an F1-derived Turbo Lag system to their engine, although the technology was new and not very effective. Lancia twincharged their Delta S4, adding both a supercharger and turbocharger to their engine. When

3034-613: The end of 1992. The MG Metro 6R4 and Ford RS200 became frequent entries in national championships. For 1993, the FIA replaced the Group B models in the European Rallycross Championship with prototypes that had to be based on existing Group A models. The cancellation of Group B, coupled with the tragedies of 1986, brought about the scrapping of Group B's proposed replacement: Group S . Group S rules would have limited car engine power to 300 hp (225 kW). To encourage innovative designs, ten examples of

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3108-490: The exclusive tyre supplier. Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar Championship alongside the more popular racing prototypes of Group C , Group B are commonly associated with

3182-572: The expense of somewhat higher weight). The Ferrari 288 GTO and the Porsche 959 were in the 4000 cc (2857 cc), 1100 kg class, which would have probably become the normal class for track racing if Group B had seen much use there. Classes in Group B: The existing Groups 1–4 were still permitted in the World Rally Championship during the first year of the new groups. Although some freshly homologated Group B cars were entered from

3256-525: The fact that driver Walter Röhrl was still in the hunt for the title. This may have been, in part, because Röhrl "never dreamed of becoming a world champion." The low homologation requirements quickly attracted manufacturers to Group B. Opel replaced their production-derived Ascona with the Group B Manta 400 , and Toyota built a new car based on their Celica . Like the Lancia 037, both cars were rear wheel drive, and while proving successful in national rallying in various countries, they were less so at

3330-416: The financial commitment of producing their production counterparts in such large numbers. There were no restrictions on boost , resulting in the power output of the winning cars increasing from 250 hp in 1981, to there being at least two cars producing in excess of 500 by 1986, the final year of Group B in rally. Turbocharged engines weren't common in commercial cars and had only been introduced since

3404-575: The first round in Monte Carlo, no car from the group podiumed at any of the season's 12 rallies. Although the Audi Quattro was still in essence a Group 4 car, it carried Hannu Mikkola to the driver's title in 1983. Lancia had designed a new car to Group B specifications, but the Lancia 037 still had rear wheel drive and was thus less stable than the Audi over different surfaces (generally

3478-599: The following years, ex-rally Group B cars found a niche in the European Rallycross Championship until being dropped in 1993. By 1991 the World Sportscar Championship had moved on from Group B and C, with the GT championships formed in the nineties preferring other classes such as the new Group GT . The last cars were homologated in Group B in 1993, though the FIA made provisions for national championships and domestic racing until as late as 2011. In 1982

3552-475: The former European Championship were part of the new Group 6 classification, competing alongside sports prototypes which used the 3-Litre and 5-Litre engine rules. The new World Sports Car Championship was created exclusively for the Group 6 category. Although a World Championship, only one race was held outside of Europe in 1976 season, and all events were within Europe in 1977. Porsche's 3-Litre cars won every event in 1976 while Osella's 2-Litre cars were second in

3626-453: The group quota rather than for sales) extremely rare, if they continued to exist beyond presentation to FIA officials in the first place. Group B could be used to homologate production sports cars which could not be homologated in Group N or A, because they did not have four seats or were not produced in large enough numbers (e.g. cars like the Ferrari 308 , the Porsche 911 , etc.). Further,

3700-415: The group's technicalities and performance into account. 'Evolutions' could be included within the original homologation without needing to produce a new initial run, allowing manufacturers to tweak various aspects of their competing car within the requirement to produce only 20 'evolved' cars. Together, these homologation rules resulted in Group B 'homologation specials' (cars that were only produced to satisfy

3774-413: The impact. The combination of a red hot turbocharger, Kevlar bodywork, and the ruptured fuel tank ignited the car and set fire to the dry undergrowth. Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto died in their seats. With no witnesses to the accident it was impossible to determine what caused the crash other than Toivonen had left the road at high speed. Some cite Toivonen's ill health at the time (he reportedly

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3848-481: The international rallying scene during 1982 to 1986 in popular culture, when they were the highest class used across rallying, including the World Rally Championship , regional and national championships. The Group B regulations fostered some of the fastest, most powerful, and most sophisticated rally cars ever built and their era is commonly referred to as the golden era of rallying. However,

3922-589: The limited options of permitted Group B cars were not as competitive or ubiquitous as newer Group A cars. Porsche's 959 never entered a WRC event, although it did compete in the Middle East championship and won the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1986. Peugeot adapted their T16 to run in the Dakar Rally . Ari Vatanen won the event in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Improved Peugeot and Audi cars also competed in

3996-425: The low production requirement encouraged manufacturers to use space frame chassis instead of bodyshells typically used in most series-production road cars. Existing cars within Group 2, Group 3 and Group 4 homologation could be transferred to Group B, with many being automatically transferred by the FISA secretariat. Group B followed Article 252 and 253, which covered such things as safety cages or parts defining

4070-433: The majority of the schedule, a third Championship was created in 1983, known as the European Endurance Championship. The European Endurance Championship was composed of five events which were part of the Manufacturers Championship, as well as three races which were not counted towards the Manufacturers Championship but were well attended by the teams. Porsche driver Bob Wollek won the 1983 Endurance Championship, although he

4144-481: The media due to the lack of teams, the European Le Mans Series folded following the 2001 season. The ACO was not completely satisfied with the fact that IMSA did not fully comply with the ACO's regulations in order to help attract privateer teams, as well as the failure of the FIA Sportscar Championship to succeed in Europe. Seeing the success of the American Le Mans Series, the ACO decided that

4218-487: The new GTC class, which used GT3 technical rules. The calendar featured five races with a duration of 3 hours. In 2014, the LMPC class was dropped and all races were expanded to 4 hours. The 2015 season saw the introduction of the new LMP3 prototype class with cars built from Ligier , Ginetta , ADESS & Norma . Each of these cars chassis are powered by 5.0L Nissan V8 naturally aspirated engines ( VK50VE ) In 2016,

4292-465: The opening 1970 season, leading Lola by a single point. Lola triumphed in 1971, followed by Osella entering the series in partnership with Abarth and dominated the 1972 championship with five victories. Lola won the championship once more in 1973 before the new Alpine A441- Renault swept the 1974 season with nine wins in nine races. The 1975 season was cancelled shortly after it had begun, only two rounds being completed before rising fuel costs forced

4366-619: The other for the larger capacity cars. Osellas once again led the 2-Litre field, led by drive " Gimax " who won the 2-Litre Drivers Championship. Porsche driver Reinhold Joest won the other Drivers Championship. Diminishing support for sports prototypes and the large number of drivers which chose to compete in the Italian Group 6 Championship led FISA to cancel the European Championship outright after 1978. Group 6 cars continued to compete as guests in World Championship for Makes events until 1982 when regulations were once again changed and

4440-628: The racing very exciting. 2005 saw the series expand to a five race format with the addition of the Istanbul Racing Circuit . In 2007 , the Le Mans Series held its first and single overseas race in the continent of South America with Mil Milhas Brasil as the sixth round. In 2010, the Formula Le Mans Cup was integrated into the Le Mans Series, running alongside Le Mans Prototype cars and GT cars. As

4514-422: The rally and Group B was placed in jeopardy. Disaster struck again in early May at the Tour de Corse . Lancia's Toivonen was the championship favorite, and once the rally got underway he was the pace setter. Seven kilometers into the 18th stage, Toivonen's S4 flew off the unguarded edge of a tightening left hand bend and plunged down a steep wooded hillside. The car landed inverted with the fuel tanks ruptured by

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4588-472: The rallying world in 1985: For the 1986 season, defending champion Timo Salonen had the new Evolution 2 version of Peugeot's 205 T16 with ex Toyota driver, Juha Kankkunen . Audi's new Sport Quattro S1 boasted over 600 hp (450 kW) and a huge snowplow-like front end. Lancia's Delta S4 would be in the hands of the Finnish prodigy Henri Toivonen and Markku Alén , and Ford was ready with its high tech RS200 with Stig Blomqvist and Kalle Grundel . On

4662-416: The result of the Sanremo Rally eleven days after the final round in the United States. As a result, the championship title was passed from Lancia's Markku Alén to Peugeot's Juha Kankkunen. Timo Salonen had won another two rallies during the 1986 season and became the most successful group B era driver with a total of seven wins. Although 1987 saw the end of Group B rally car development and their appearance on

4736-500: The same time, the ELMS races at Donington Park and Jarama were considered optional for ALMS teams. This allowed for the possibility of boosting the draw from international teams to either series. The series was unable to earn much attention from European sportscar teams, especially since the final FIA Sportscar Championship and FIA GT Championship series used similar cars, but different rules which would require teams to modify their cars or buy new cars to comply with ELMS rules. For

4810-538: The separate European Le Mans Series in 2001. The European Le Mans Series was launched for 2001 with five races, including a premier 1000 km race at Estoril , which would be the European equivalent of the 1000 mile Petit Le Mans and earn automatic entries to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for each class winner. To aid in the development of the ELMS, the 2001 season shared some races between both ALMS and ELMS. The 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans , normally ALMS races, were considered optional races for ELMS teams. At

4884-435: The world rally scene, they did not disappear. They were still permitted in regional championships providing they met the limit of 1600cc for four-wheel-drive or were homologated prior to 1984. Future FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem was one privateer who contested rounds of the 1987 Middle East Rally Championship in an Audi Quattro A2 and Opel Manta 400. Independent teams would enter the European Championship too, though

4958-442: Was 5000 units in a 12 month period between 1982 and 1992. From 1993 the requirement reduced to 2500 units. Group B was for grand touring (GT) cars with a minimum two seats, redefined as sports grand touring cars in 1986. It combined and replaced Group 3 and Group 4 , two grand touring groups already used in rallying, and the production-derived special builds of Group 5 used in circuit racing. Group 5 had never been permitted in

5032-402: Was initially previewed in an open race run under the LMES banner in 2003 at the 1000km of Le Mans , a one-off event before the season started in 2004. For the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series , the series participated in four events, including resurrecting classic races like the 1000km Monza , 1000km Nürburgring , 1000 km Silverstone and the Spa 1000 km . Many competitors participated, making

5106-440: Was intended for was filled up by a batch of Group C cars (there would be no production sports car-based racers in European racing, including Le Mans, until 1993 ), but it saw limited use in an IMSA GTO race in 1989. The era of Group B is often considered one of the most competitive and compelling periods in rallying. The combination of a lightweight chassis, sophisticated aerodynamics and massive amounts of horsepower resulted in

5180-403: Was largely blamed on the unforgiving Corsican scenery (and bad luck, as his co-driver, Maurizio Perissinot , was unharmed), Toivonen and Cresto's deaths, combined with the Portugal tragedy and televised accident of F1 driver Marc Surer in another RS200 which killed co-driver Michel Wyder , compelled the FIA to ban all Group B cars immediately for 1987. Audi decided to quit Group B entirely after

5254-451: Was ranked fifth in the World Championship standings. After 1983, FISA eliminated the European Endurance Championship, choosing to keep the World Championship for drivers instead. European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS ) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series

5328-478: Was revived by the ACO as the Le Mans Endurance Series . By 1970, light open-cockpit sports prototypes which used engines under 2,000 cc (120 cu in) were becoming popular cars in the International Championship for Makes . Chassis manufacturers Lola , Chevron , Abarth , and Porsche all offered cars to customers which were designed for this category, leading FISA to create

5402-506: Was smaller and lighter than the Audi Quattro. At the wheel was the 1981 driver's champion Ari Vatanen , with future Ferrari Formula One team manager and FIA President Jean Todt overseeing the operation. A crash prevented the T16 from winning its first rally but the writing was on the wall for Audi. Despite massive revisions to the Quattro, including a shorter wheelbase , Peugeot dominated

5476-413: Was suffering from flu); others suggest mechanical failure, or simply the difficulty of driving the car, although Toivonen, like Vatanen, had a career full of crashing out while leading rallies. Up until that stage he was leading the rally by a large margin, with no other driver challenging him. The crash came a year after Lancia driver Attilio Bettega had crashed and died in his 037. While that fatality

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