Swedish Rally 1982
Round 2 of the 1982 World Rally Championship · 12–14 February 1982
Stig Blomqvist’s Swedish Rally win was the Quattro’s first victory on snow — exactly where four-wheel drive was expected to be decisive.
Episode 1 — Birth of a Monster: How Group B Began (1982)
The Swedish Rally 1982 features in this episode of our documentary series.
At a glance
The podium
Photo: Rally Paradise via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Jiří Sedláček via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: SG2012 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0Car photos are representative pictures of the model, not of this event.
Route and surface
Fast snow and ice roads through the Värmland forests; studded tyres and snowbanks that could either catch a car or launch it.
Key entries
The leading seeded crews (start numbers 1–8):
- #1 Hannu Mikkola / Arne Hertz — Audi Quattro (Audi Sport)
- #2 Ari Vatanen / Terry Harryman — Ford Escort RS (David Sutton Motorsport)
- #3 Walter Röhrl / Christian Geistdörfer — Opel Ascona 400 (Rothmans Opel Team)
- #4 Stig Blomqvist / Björn Cederberg — Audi Quattro (Team Audi Sport Sverige)
- #5 Michèle Mouton / Fabrizia Pons — Audi Quattro (Audi Sport)
- #6 Per Eklund / Ragnar Spjuth — Saab 99 Turbo (Per Eklund)
- #8 Björn Johansson / Sven-Erik Andersson — Opel Ascona 400 (Opel Team Sweden)
- #9 Lasse Lampi / Pentti Kuukkala — Ford Escort RS (Lasse Lampi)
Stig Blomqvist’s Swedish Rally win was the Quattro’s first victory on snow — exactly where four-wheel drive was expected to be decisive.
How the rally unfolded
Hannu Mikkola led from the first stage to stage 20, but then lost the lead and dropped out of the top ten. That opened the door for Blomqvist, driving for the Swedish Audi importer’s team. He won 16 of the 25 stages and finished 2 minutes 36 seconds ahead of Ari Vatanen in a rear-wheel-drive Ford Escort RS run by David Sutton.
Walter Röhrl took third in the Opel Ascona 400. Per Eklund was a notable fourth in a Group A Saab 99 Turbo, ahead of Michèle Mouton in the second works Quattro. The Swedish Rally counted only for the drivers’ championship in 1982.
The decisive moment
The lead changed hands on stage 21. From then on Blomqvist controlled the gap — the start of the partnership between the Swede and Audi that would bring him the 1984 world title.
Result — top 10
| Pos. | No. | Crew | Car | Entrant | Gp. | Time / gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Stig Blomqvist / Björn Cederberg | Audi Quattro | Team Audi Sport Sverige | G4 | 3:40:15 |
| 2 | 2 | Ari Vatanen / Terry Harryman | Ford Escort RS | David Sutton Motorsport | G4 | +2:36 |
| 3 | 3 | Walter Röhrl / Christian Geistdörfer | Opel Ascona 400 | Rothmans Opel Team | G4 | +4:14 |
| 4 | 6 | Per Eklund / Ragnar Spjuth | Saab 99 Turbo | Per Eklund | A | +5:05 |
| 5 | 5 | Michèle Mouton / Fabrizia Pons | Audi Quattro | Audi Sport | G4 | +5:53 |
| 6 | 9 | Lasse Lampi / Pentti Kuukkala | Ford Escort RS | Lasse Lampi | G4 | +5:59 |
| 7 | 18 | Sören Nilsson / Anders Olsson | Nissan Violet | Philipsons/Datsun | G4 | +8:26 |
| 8 | 37 | Kalle Grundel / Rolf Melleroth | Volkswagen Golf GTI | VW Motorsport Sverige | G2 | +10:15 |
| 9 | 20 | Bengt Thorsell / Jan-Olof Bohlin | Ford Escort RS | Cibie Rally Team | G4 | +10:54 |
| 10 | 45 | Mikael Ericsson / Jan Sandström | Audi Coupé | Team Audi Sport Sverige | G2 | +12:33 |
Retirements of note
- #8 Björn Johansson / Sven-Erik Andersson (Opel Ascona 400) — head gasket, stage 20
- #11 Jens Sogaard / Jan-Egil Jensen (Opel Ascona) — engine, stage 4
- #12 Ingvar Carlsson / Christian Boden (BMW 323) — gearbox, stage 4
- #13 Ola Strömberg / Michael Lindberg (Saab 99EMS) — gearbox, stage 19
Results, retirements, stage wins and leaders are taken from Jonkka’s World Rally Archive. Names are given with their correct spelling; the archive itself omits diacritics.
Related pages
- 1982 season overview
- All 1982 rallies
- Previous round: Monte Carlo Rally 1982
- Next round: Rally de Portugal 1982
- Cars: Audi Quattro, Opel Manta 400
- Teams: Audi Sport, Opel
- Iconic moments · Timeline · Statistics
All rounds of 1982
In pictures 4 photos
Photos from this event where free-licensed pictures exist; otherwise the podium cars, photographed on the occasion stated in each caption.
Further resources
- Motor Sport (April 1982): The Swedish Rally EN · article · subscription
Contemporary report from Motor Sport magazine's April 1982 issue, written as the season unfolded. - WRC.com season archive 1982 EN · archive
Official summary of the 1982 season: calendar, winners and both championship tables. - Wikipedia: Swedish Rally EN · archive
History of the Swedish Rally with its list of winners over the decades. - Rally Sweden (official site) EN · event
Today's organiser of the Swedish Rally, with information about the current event.
The same rally in other Group B years
Sources
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), Swedish Rally 1982: event page — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1982.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, results — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1982_results.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, entry list — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1982_entries.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, stage winners and leaders — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1982_stage_winners.html
- Wikipedia (EN), 1982 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_World_Rally_Championship
All text is original writing for Grouve Sports Management Group, based on the sources above. Facts checked on 21 October 2026.
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