The drivers

Markku Alén

Photo: Sicnag via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Markku Alén (born 15 February 1951) was the face of Lancia. He drove for Fiat and Lancia from the 1970s to the end of the 1980s and won more stages than anyone else of his era. Only the world title eluded him.

Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 6 — Lancia Delta S4 & Henri Toivonen

Maximum attack: the stage-win king who never became world champion.

The 037 years

With co-driver Ilkka Kivimäki, Alén led the Lancia Martini team. In 1983 he won the Tour de Corse and the Rallye Sanremo in the Lancia 037, helping Lancia to the manufacturers’ title. In 1984 he gave the 037 its last world championship win, again in Corsica.

1986: champion for eleven days

After Henri Toivonen’s death, Alén became the team’s undisputed leader. In the Delta S4 he won the Rallye Sanremo — later annulled — and the Olympus Rally in the USA, the final event of the season. For a moment he was world champion. But Peugeot appealed against its exclusion in Sanremo; FISA then annulled the entire result, and the title went to Juha Kankkunen. See 1986 season.

‘Now maximum attack.’ Lancia’s most loyal driver, holder of the record for stage wins, and world champion in 1986 — for eleven days.

After Group B

Alén stayed with Lancia and won a string of further rallies in Group A, including in the Delta HF 4WD. Later he drove for Subaru and Toyota. His record of 801 stage wins stood until Sébastien Loeb broke it in 2011.

Career in the Group B years

World Rally Championship podiums of the driver, year by year (1982–1986). win 2nd 3rd

1982

0wins

0 podiums

1983

2wins

5 podiums

• Tour de Corse
• Rallye Sanremo

1984

1win

5 podiums

• Tour de Corse

1985

0wins

2 podiums

1986

1win

7 podiums

• Olympus Rally (USA)

4 WRC wins · 19 podium finishes, 1982–1986

In pictures 1 photos

Further resources

• Classic & Sports Car: Maximum attack — Markku Alén EN · article
  Long interview with Markku Alén about his Fiat and Lancia years.
• Motor Sport: Markku Alén, champion in all but name EN · article · subscription
  Alén's career, from the Stratos to the Delta S4 and the 1986 title that slipped away.
• Motor Sport: Lancia Group B warriors remember rallying's darkest hour EN · article · subscription
  Lancia drivers recall the 037, the S4 and the 1986 Tour de Corse.
• DirtFish: The WRC's most controversial title decider EN · article
  The 1986 Olympus Rally, the last Group B round, and the title that changed hands afterwards.

All Group B resources →

More from Drivers

Henri ToivonenThe prodigy of Group B. Won the 1985 RAC and the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally in the Delta S4, and was killed with Sergio Cresto in Corsica on 2 May 1986.Read more →Attilio BettegaLancia works driver from Molveno with four world championship podiums. Killed on 2 May 1985 on the Tour de Corse — a year before Toivonen.Read more →Miki Biasion1983 European champion in the 037, winner in Argentina in 1986 in the Delta S4, and later a two-time Group A world champion.Read more →Juha KankkunenThe last Group B champion (1986) and, at 27, the youngest world champion up to that point. His first world rally win came on the Safari, for Toyota.Read more →Timo Salonen1985 world champion with five wins. Calm, bespectacled, often steering with one hand — and with seven wins, the most successful driver of 1983–1986.Read more →Ari Vatanen1981 world champion, the man who gave the Peugeot 205 T16 its first wins, survivor of a huge crash in Argentina.Read more →

Sources

1. Wikipedia (EN), Markku Alén — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markku_Al%C3%A9n
2. Wikipedia (EN), 1986 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_World_Rally_Championship
3. Wikipedia (EN), Lancia Rally 037 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Rally_037

All text is original writing for Grouve Sports Management Group, based on the sources above. Facts checked on 21 October 2026.

Thumbnail photos on this page: Michel Cromer (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Syrio (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Original: _morgado / Derivative work: Danyele (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Yaamboo (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Arnaud 25 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); David Merrett from Daventry, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0).