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75-541: During the early 1980s the top level of rallying was dominated by the Group B formula, for which Lancia produced the rear-drive 037 and then, when that became obsolete, the Delta S4 . The entire formula was abolished at the end of the 1986 season, however, after a string of fatal accidents, leaving Group A as the top formula for the 1987 and subsequent seasons. The sudden change in the rules left many manufacturers without

150-464: 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

225-600: 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

300-662: 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

375-690: A record. Outside the World Championship the Delta was used by several private teams, with varying degrees of backing from the works team. Jolly Club ran as a second-string team throughout the Group A era, before taking over from the official works team for 1992-3. Other teams using the car included Astra Motorsport and HF Grifone. Drivers using Deltas run by teams such as these won the European title in every year between 1987 and 1991, and also in 1993,

450-464: A relatively small improvement over the 4WD. Markku Alen went out with transmission failure early in the event, giving rise to some concern about the strength of the transmission and causing the team to undertake a great deal of precautionary maintenance to Biasion's car. However, the Italian driver suffered no serious mechanical problems and continued to take victory. A new and stronger six-speed gearbox

525-422: A suitable car, with the partial exception of Lancia. The Delta HF 4WD (Abarth SE043), with its front mounted two-litre turbocharged engine and four-wheel-drive, was clearly a more suitable Group A rally car than its rivals, the underpowered Mazda 323 and Ford Sierra XR4x4, the powerful but rear-drive Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and BMW M3 , and the front-drive Opel Kadett GSi and Renault 11 Turbo. However, it

600-717: 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}

675-593: 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

750-651: The FIA World Rally Championship schedule from 1973 to the 2003 . It was a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and is currently a round of the Italian national rally championship . The first "Rallye Internazionale di Sanremo" was held in 1928. The rally name's French word "rallye", as opposed to Italian "rally", was inspired by Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo . After another successful rally in 1929,

825-717: 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 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

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900-745: 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

975-467: 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

1050-503: The 16v car. However, it represented the most that could be extracted from a design that was fundamentally outdated and, with no successor planned, Lancia officially withdrew from rallying at the end of 1991. For the next two seasons the cars would be run by the semi-private Jolly Club team, albeit initially with continuing support from the factory. For 1992 Toyota had an all-new Celica, in contrast to Lancia's updated Delta, leading to renewed speculation that Lancia would be outclassed. In fact

1125-478: 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

1200-481: 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

1275-610: The Catalunya Rally with electrical failure. The Jolly Club decided not to contest the final round of the series and withdrew, signalling the end of both the Delta's career as a top-line rally car and Lancia's involvement in the World Rally Championship. In total, the four evolutions of the Lancia Delta won 46 World Championship rallies, and Lancia's run of six consecutive manufacturers’ titles remains

1350-593: The Celica initially proved problematic and Auriol dominated the early part of the season for Lancia, taking a record six wins and pulling out a large championship lead. Kankkunen also scored consistent podium finishes and a win in Portugal, whilst guest driver Andrea Aghini won the Rallye Sanremo. Lancia therefore took the manufacturers’ title for a sixth consecutive year. Meanwhile, Sainz initially struggled with

1425-783: 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

1500-634: 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

1575-599: 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

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1650-609: 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

1725-633: The Pikes Peak version of the Audi Quattro. For the game's sequel, Gran Turismo 7 , an actual Group B car (the Peugeot 205) was added to the class. This list includes under-development and prototype cars that did not receive homologation. Notes Rallye Sanremo Rallye Sanremo is a rally competition held in Sanremo , Italy . Except for the 1995 event, the event was part of

1800-584: The RAC Rally. Lancia continued to use the HF integrale 16v throughout the 1990 season. Markku Alen left the team after nearly fifteen years whilst Juha Kankkunen rejoined, alongside Biasion and Auriol. The French driver won the Monte Carlo Rally and Tour de Corse whilst Biasion won in Portugal, giving Lancia an advantage it retained until the end of the season, by which time it had taken six wins and won

1875-454: The RAC with a series of accidents, including overturning the car in front of the television cameras on one of the opening day's short spectator stages. Lancia won seven of the eleven rounds which counted towards the manufacturers’ championship and with them the world title. However Kankkunen, reputedly disillusioned with team politics and the apparent favoritism shown towards Biasion, left the team at

1950-670: 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

2025-696: 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 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

2100-463: 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

2175-681: The World Championship. In 1987 the Lancias were driven by Massimo Biasion , Juha Kankkunen and Markku Alén . Biasion opened with a victory in the Monte Carlo Rally and later in the season won the Argentina and Sanremo rallies. However, Juha Kankkunen's four podium places, coupled with victories on the Olympus Rally and the final round, the RAC Rally , saw him clinch the title ahead of Markku Alén, whose title hopes ended on

2250-402: 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

2325-596: The beginning of the season that development of the car would continue, and by mid-season it was clear that the Delta was now outclassed by newer competitors such as the latest Toyota and the Ford Escort RS Cosworth . Sainz took second on the Acropolis Rally , but that was the car's best placing. He finished second again at Sanremo, but the team was subsequently disqualified and docked points for fuel irregularities, and Sainz had by then retired from

Lancia Delta HF - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-481: The car's last major success. Astra continued to run Deltas on European and some World Championship events in 1994, the best result being fourth place for Alessandro Fiorio on the Acropolis Rally. Deltas also took many national titles in continental Europe. 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

2475-411: 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

2550-550: 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

2625-403: 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

2700-455: The driver's title. By this time Toyota and Lancia were reputedly working with blank cheques and win-at-all-costs budgets from their parent companies, and rumours abounded of creative interpretations of the rules, especially on the part of Lancia. However, nothing was ever proven, although it was common knowledge that all of the major Group A cars had far more power than the notional 300 bhp limit, probably closer to 400 in most cases. The Lancia

2775-411: 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

2850-526: 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

2925-611: The end of the season and rejoined Toyota. The Delta HF 4WD also won the first two events of the 1988 season, Bruno Saby taking the win at Monte Carlo and Markku Alén in Sweden, before the HF integrale "8v" (Abarth SE044) appeared at the third round in Portugal. Team boss Cesare Fiorio remarked in an interview before that event that the Integrale's larger wheels, bigger brakes, improved suspension and greater power would make it more competitive on asphalt, although on gravel it represented

3000-583: The event was given to new organisers who decided to set up a street race through the town of Sanremo instead. The first one, 1° Circuito Automobilistico Sanremo, was held in 1937 and won by Achille Varzi . Rallye Sanremo was restarted in 1961 as Rallye dei Fiori ("Rally of the Flowers") and has been held every year since. From 1970 to 1972, Rallye Sanremo was part of the International Championship for Manufacturers . From 1973 to 2003 ,

3075-572: 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

Lancia Delta HF - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-525: 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

3225-411: 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, 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

3300-416: 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

3375-531: The first part of the 1989 season, however, and Lancia, with Biasion, Alen and Auriol (whom the team had recruited after his performances in the Ford the previous year) the lead drivers, were able to pull out a substantial championship lead. By the time guest driver Mikael Ericsson took it to victory on the Rally Argentina, the 8v Integrale had won all of its previous twelve World Championship events. Later in

3450-514: 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

3525-515: The group made motorsport and the championships more accessible for car manufacturers before taking 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

3600-453: 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,

3675-413: 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

3750-466: The latter part of the 1991 season, Lancia developed the Delta HF integrale "Evoluzione" (Abarth SE050), sometimes nicknamed the "Deltona" or "Super Delta", which would début on the 1992 Monte Carlo. This final evolution, with its stiffer body, wider wheel arches, bigger wheels and brakes, improved suspension and aerodynamics and more powerful engine, was said to be 5-6% faster under most circumstances than

3825-589: 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

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3900-476: 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

3975-441: The manufacturers' title for the fourth time. However, the wins were shared between the team's three drivers, and in the drivers’ championship race Sainz, driving a Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 , secured a string of mid-season victories that gave him the title. It was first time since 1986 that Lancia had not won both drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships. The 1991 season saw another close battle between Toyota and Lancia. There

4050-483: 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 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

4125-590: The new car and slipped behind, even struggling at times to beat a resurgent Ford team with its rather unwieldy Sierra, but a late-season fight-back by the Spaniard, coupled with retirement in Sanremo and only tenth place in Catalunya for Auriol, saw Kankkunen, Auriol, and Sainz enter the RAC rally within three points of each other. The three-way title race was decided when Auriol's engine failed and Kankkunen went off

4200-517: 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 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

4275-455: The organisers did not allow the team to continue the rally. FIA later confirmed that the exclusion had been illegal as the Peugeot cars were legal, and decided to annul the results of the whole event. Rallye Sanremo was originally a mixed surface event (tarmac and gravel) but from 1997 on it was organised as an all-tarmac rally. After being dropped from the WRC schedule (in favor of Rally di Sardegna in 2004), Rallye Sanremo has been part of

4350-475: The production-derived special builds of Group 5 used in circuit racing. Group 5 had never been permitted in 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,

4425-472: 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

4500-524: The rally was on the World Rally Championship schedule, except for 1995 when the event was only part of the FIA 2-Litre World Championship for Manufacturers. The rally became the centre of controversy in 1986 after the stewards disqualified the factory Peugeot team at the end of the third day for using illegal side skirts, handing the victory to Lancia . Peugeot had used the same configuration in earlier rallies without any scrutineering problems and had also passed pre-rally scrutineering. Peugeot appealed but

4575-527: 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

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4650-542: 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

4725-661: The road, leaving Sainz to take an unexpected second driver's title. For 1993, Auriol and Kankkunen both left Lancia and joined the Toyota team, while Sainz moved to the Jolly Club, where he was supported by Aghini and Gustavo Trelles . Lancia's sponsorship from Martini also ended, and the Jolly Club Deltas ran in the colours of Sainz's sponsor, oil firm Repsol. With the end of the factory's involvement technical developments were minor, despite assurances given to Sainz at

4800-532: The season, however, developmental difficulties with the Mitsubishi Galant were overcome and Ericsson, now driving for Mitsubishi, won the 1000 Lakes Rally, where no Lancias finished in the top three. Kankkunen then took the Toyota to a maiden victory in Australia, with his teammate Kenneth Eriksson second and Alén third. The Integrale was beginning to slip behind its key competitors, but by then Lancia

4875-560: The title on the penultimate round. Markku Alén rounded off the season with victory on the RAC Rally, a personal first for the Finn. During 1989 serious challengers to Lancia's dominance began to emerge, including the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 , which in the hands of Juha Kankkunen had run Markku Alén close on the previous year's 1000 Lakes Rally before retiring with mechanical failure. The Toyota remained unreliable for

4950-435: 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

5025-404: Was already under development and was introduced for the next event. Lancia then dominated the rest of the season. Only once were they beaten in a straight fight, on the dry asphalt of Corsica by Didier Auriol in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. By the season's end Lancia had won ten of the eleven rounds which counted for the manufacturers’ series, and Biasion was drivers’ World Champion, having clinched

5100-408: Was already working on the next evolution. The Integrale 16v made its début on the 1989 Rallye Sanremo where, for the first and only time, it ran in Italian racing red. Didier Auriol went out early in the event after a high-speed crash, but Biasion went on to win. Having won both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles for the third year running, Lancia declined to contest the final round of the season,

5175-497: Was among the most powerful, which, along with its reliability, accounts partly for its continued success in the face of handicaps such as poor weight distribution (the Delta was always nose-heavy) and a transmission system less sophisticated than that of the Toyota. The 1991 RAC Rally saw a close battle in the British forests between Kankkunen and Sainz, which was settled late in the event when the head gasket blew on Sainz's Toyota, giving Kankkunen his third driver's championship. During

5250-440: 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

5325-403: 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

5400-445: Was not without flaws. The wheel arches were restrictive, the wheels and therefore the brakes were too small, and the suspension travel was limited. Access to key components for servicing was also restricted by the car's compact size and transverse-engined layout, the one defect that subsequent evolutions could not fully rectify. Even so, little doubt was expressed before the 1987 season began that Lancia, and one of its drivers, would win

5475-506: 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

5550-555: Was some pre-season speculation that the Delta was now outclassed by the Celica, an impression reinforced by Carlos Sainz's win on the opening round, the Monte Carlo. However, in the hands of Juha Kankkunen the Delta took wins in Kenya, Argentina, Finland and Australia, and Didier Auriol also won at Sanremo, giving Lancia the manufacturers’ title for a record fifth time. Meanwhile, Sainz crashed out in Australia and retired with electrical failure in Catalunya, putting Kankkunen in contention for

5625-413: 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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