Safari Rally 1985

Juha Kankkunen won his first world championship rally, on his first Safari, with Björn Waldegård making it a Toyota one-two.

Round 4
of 12 in 1985
Kankkunen
winner
71
starters
20
finishers
Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 7 — The Underdogs: Toyota, Opel, Nissan, Mazda, Renault, Citroën, Porsche & Ferrari

The Safari Rally 1985 features in this episode of our documentary series.

At a glance

Round4 of 12 — 1985 World Rally Championship
Dates4–8 April 1985
BaseNairobi, Kenya
CountryKenya
SurfaceGravel
Competitive distanceNo special stages; timed sections on open roads between controls
Starters / finishers71 / 20
Counted forDrivers’ and manufacturers’ championships
WinnerJuha Kankkunen / Fred Gallagher — Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo
The Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo, winner of the Safari three times in a row (1984–1986).
The Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo, winner of the Safari three times in a row (1984–1986).Photo: Rutger van der Maar via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The podium

Toyota Celica TCTPhoto: Alf van Beem via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
2Björn WaldegårdHans ThorszeliusToyota Celica TCTToyota Team Europe
Toyota Celica TCTPhoto: Alf van Beem via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
1Juha KankkunenFred GallagherToyota Celica TCTToyota Team Europe
Nissan 240RSPhoto: 先従隗始 via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
3Mike KirklandAnton LevitanNissan 240RSTeam Nissan Europe

Car photos are representative pictures of the model, not of this event.

Route and surface

Open Kenyan roads and tracks, timed between controls.

Key entries

The leading seeded crews (start numbers 1–8):

Juha Kankkunen won his first world championship rally, on his first Safari, with Björn Waldegård making it a Toyota one-two.

How the rally unfolded

Kankkunen and Fred Gallagher, entered by Westlands Motors, beat Waldegård by 34 minutes. Mike Kirkland was third for Nissan, Rauno Aaltonen fourth for Opel.

The favourites fell away: Vatanen (head gasket), Mikkola, Blomqvist, Alén and Bettega all retired with mechanical failures, and Saby crashed. Timo Salonen was seventh — useful points for the eventual champion.

A Lancia 037 shown as a 1985 Safari Rally car at the Classic Motor Show, Birmingham, 2023. None of the three Martini 037s reached the finish that year.
A Lancia 037 shown as a 1985 Safari Rally car at the Classic Motor Show, Birmingham, 2023. None of the three Martini 037s reached the finish that year.Photo: Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The decisive moment

Toyota’s preparation for Africa paid off again. Kankkunen became the first driver to win the Safari at his first attempt.

Result — top 10

Pos. No. Crew Car Entrant Gp. Penalty time
1 21 Juha Kankkunen / Fred Gallagher Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo Westlands Motors B 53 h 04 min
2 3 Björn Waldegård / Hans Thorszelius Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo Westlands Motors B +34 min
3 17 Mike Kirkland / Anton Levitan Nissan 240RS D.T. Dobie & Co. B +43 min
4 2 Rauno Aaltonen / Lofty Drews Opel Manta 400 Opel Euro Team B +54 min
5 18 Erwin Weber / Günther Wanger Opel Manta 400 Opel Euro Team B +1 h 46 min
6 20 Alain Ambrosino / Daniel le Saux Nissan 240RS D.T. Dobie & Co. B +2 h 40 min
7 6 Timo Salonen / Seppo Harjanne Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 Peugeot Talbot Sport B +3 h 51 min
8 19 Yasuhiro Iwase / Sudhir Vinayak Opel Ascona 400 Yasuhiro Iwase B +7 h 04 min
9 30 Ashok Patel / Dalbir Kandola Nissan 240RS Ashok Patel B +8 h 50 min
10 29 Carlo Vittuli / Robin Nixon Subaru RX Turbo N. Koseki A +10 h 10 min

On the Safari and the Ivory Coast Rally, crews were ranked by penalty time accumulated on timed road sections, not by special-stage times.

Retirements of note

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

All rounds of 1985

Round 1Monte Carlo RallyAri Vatanen · Peugeot 205 T16Round 2Swedish RallyAri Vatanen · Peugeot 205 T16Round 3Rally de PortugalTimo Salonen · Peugeot 205 T16Round 4Safari Rally (Kenya)Juha Kankkunen · Toyota Celica TCTRound 5Tour de CorseJean Ragnotti · Renault R5 Maxi TurboRound 6Acropolis Rally (Greece)Timo Salonen · Peugeot 205 T16Round 7Rally New ZealandTimo Salonen · Peugeot 205 T16 E2Round 8Rally ArgentinaTimo Salonen · Peugeot 205 T16 E2Round 91000 Lakes Rally (Finland)Timo Salonen · Peugeot 205 T16 E2Round 10Rallye SanremoWalter Röhrl · Audi Sport Quattro S1Round 11Ivory Coast RallyJuha Kankkunen · Toyota Celica TCTRound 12RAC Rally (Great Britain)Henri Toivonen · Lancia Delta S4

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.

1986 Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo (TA64) Group B rally car in the Louwman Museum, The Hague (photographed 2017)
1986 Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo (TA64) Group B rally car in the Louwman Museum, The Hague (photographed 2017)Photo: Alf van Beem via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo Group B rally car at the Bremen Classic Motorshow 2025
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo Group B rally car at the Bremen Classic Motorshow 2025Photo: More Cars via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo Group B rally car (No. 3) at the Bremen Classic Motorshow 2025
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo Group B rally car (No. 3) at the Bremen Classic Motorshow 2025Photo: More Cars via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo (TA64) in its 1985 Ivory Coast Rally livery (No. 1), photographed 2009
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo (TA64) in its 1985 Ivory Coast Rally livery (No. 1), photographed 2009Photo: Robin Corps via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Further resources

All Group B resources →

The same rally in other Group B years

1982Safari Rally 1982Shekhar Mehta won his fourth Safari in a row — and the fifth of his career — in a Datsun/Nissan Violet.Read more →1983Safari Rally 1983Ari Vatanen and Terry Harryman won the Safari in the Opel Ascona 400 — the Rothmans Opel team's only win of 1983.Read more →1984Safari Rally 1984Björn Waldegård won the Safari in a Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo — his second Safari win, seven years after his first in a Ford Escort.Read more →1986Safari Rally 1986Björn Waldegård led a Toyota one-two in Kenya, with Lars-Erik Torph second and Markku Alén third.Read more →

Sources

  1. Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), Safari Rally 1985: event page — https://www.juwra.com/safari_1985.html
  2. Jonkka's World Rally Archive, results — https://www.juwra.com/safari_1985_results.html
  3. Jonkka's World Rally Archive, entry list — https://www.juwra.com/safari_1985_entries.html
  4. Wikipedia (EN), 1985 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_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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Thumbnail photos on this page: 先従隗始 (Wikimedia Commons, CC0); Thesupermat (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); _morgado (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); _morgado (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Thesupermat (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Mr.choppers (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Michael Barera (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); MrWalkr (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC0); Rally Paradise (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Rutger van der Maar (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Morio (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Steffs88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Brian Snelson (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0).