Group B — rallying’s wildest era (1982–1986)

Between January 1982 and December 1986, rallying ran at a pace it would never reach again. A new and remarkably permissive rulebook — Group B — let manufacturers build out-and-out competition machines with a few hundred road cars as their alibi. The result: cars with 450 to well over 500 horsepower, four-wheel drive, bodies of Kevlar and carbon fibre, and drivers threading their way through crowds that stood in the middle of the road.

5
WRC seasons
61
world championship rallies
16
wins for the Peugeot 205 T16
8
WRC wins for Stig Blomqvist
200
road cars needed for homologation

This section is built as a reference work. You can read it from start to finish, or dive straight into one season, one car or one driver. Every page links to the others, and every page lists its sources at the bottom. Results and standings have been checked against the season summaries on Wikipedia, eWRC-results and Jonkka’s World Rally Archive.

Want to go further? Group B Resources collects the best Group B material elsewhere on the web, checked link by link: official archives, homologation records, manufacturer heritage, period reports, books, official video, clubs and events where the cars still run.

Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 1 — Birth of a Monster: How Group B Began (1982)

The opening episode of the Grouve Sport documentary series: what Group B was, why it got so fast so quickly, and why it had to stop.

Why Group B still captures the imagination

Group B was never a planned revolution. In 1982 FISA, then the sporting arm of the FIA, mainly wanted to tidy up a jungle of categories. But the low production requirement (200 cars) and the absence of any power limit set off a technological arms race that took less than four years. Audi brought four-wheel drive; Lancia answered with lightness and a supercharger; Peugeot moved the engine behind the seats and won with a car that resembled a 205 in name only. By 1986 Lancia, Peugeot and Audi were all running cars that, according to most sources, produced more than 450 hp.

That speed came at a price. In 1985 Attilio Bettega was killed in Corsica. In March 1986 Joaquim Santos ploughed into the crowd in Portugal, and on 2 May 1986 Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto died on the same Tour de Corse. Within days FISA decided that Group B would no longer be allowed in the World Championship after 1986. The story of that decision is told under the regulations and iconic moments.

Two opposites from the final Group B year: the MG Metro 6R4 with its naturally aspirated V6, and the turbocharged Peugeot 205 T16.
Two opposites from the final Group B year: the MG Metro 6R4 with its naturally aspirated V6, and the turbocharged Peugeot 205 T16.Photo: Andrew Basterfield via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

How this section is organised

What was Group B? Rules, homologation and the endHow FISA reorganised motorsport in 1982, why 200 road cars were enough, how ‘evolutions’ worked and why the rules disappeared after 1986.Read more →The seasons 1982–1986Five world championships, 61 world rallies and five different champions. For every season: the winners, the standings and the stories.Read more →World Championship rallies 1982–1986All 61 world championship rallies of the Group B era, each with its own page — searchable and filterable by season, surface and winning make.Read more →European and national championshipsThe European Rally Championship and the national championships where Group B cars raced most: how they worked, who won them and links to every championship page.Read more →The cars of Group BFrom the Audi Quattro to the Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione: every significant Group B car, with engineering, history, results and an interactive comparison tool.Read more →The drivers of Group BChampions, prodigies and co-drivers: the people who tamed the fastest rally cars ever built. With profiles, results and a sortable record of every world rally win.Read more →Teams and team managersAudi Sport, Lancia Martini, Peugeot Talbot Sport, Ford, Austin Rover, Toyota Team Europe, Opel, Rothmans Porsche/Prodrive and the private teams: who ran them, where were they based and what did they win?Read more →Iconic rallies and momentsThe Col de Turini, Mouton in Sanremo, Vatanen in Argentina, Bettega and Toivonen in Corsica, the tragedy of Portugal 1986 and the Sanremo title that was taken back.Read more →The end of Group BPortugal, Corsica and FISA’s decision of May 1986: how Group B was removed from the World Rally Championship, why Group S died with it, and how the 1986 season played out.Read more →Group B timelineFrom the introduction of the rules in 1982 to the ban in 1986 and its aftermath: every key moment on one interactive timeline.Read more →Statistics and recordsSortable tables of every world rally win and podium from 1982 to 1986 by driver, co-driver, car, make and team, plus championship charts, a car comparison tool and records.Read more →Group B documentariesVerified official Group B documentaries — free and paid — plus Grouve Sport’s own documentary series, Group B — The Rally Years.Read more →GlossaryFrom homologation to pace notes and from evolution cars to Group S: the key terms from the world of Group B, explained in plain English.Read more →Group B ResourcesThe best Group B material elsewhere on the web, checked link by link: archives, manufacturer heritage, longreads, books, official video, clubs and events.Read more →Sources and image creditsEvery source, page by page, plus full credits for the photographs used: author, file and free licence.Read more →Search Group BSearch every page about drivers, cars, teams, seasons and moments.Read more →

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Why on a driver management website?

Group B is the ultimate case study for anyone who works with performance. Nowhere else in motorsport did engineering, team management, risk control and a driver’s mental capacity collide so violently. Teams such as Jean Todt’s at Peugeot and Cesare Fiorio’s at Lancia were laboratories of systematic performance — and the tragedies of 1985 and 1986 show what happens when a system grows faster than its safety margins. Read on in teams and team managers.

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Five seasons at a glance

19821982 season — the year of transitionRöhrl takes the title in the rear-wheel-drive Opel Ascona 400, Audi wins the manufacturers' crown and Michèle Mouton wins three world rallies.Read more →19831983 season — Lancia versus AudiThe light, rear-wheel-drive Lancia 037 beats the Audi Quattro to the manufacturers' title, while Hannu Mikkola becomes world champion.Read more →19841984 season — the year of Audi and BlomqvistStig Blomqvist wins five rallies and the world title, Audi takes both championships — and Peugeot arrives with the 205 T16, which wins three of the last four rounds.Read more →19851985 season — Peugeot takes overSeven wins for the 205 T16, five for Timo Salonen and Peugeot's first titles. But also the year of Bettega's death and Vatanen's terrible crash.Read more →19861986 season — the peak and the endThe fastest rally cars ever built, tragedy in Portugal, the deaths of Toivonen and Cresto, the ban on Group B and a title decided only after the season had ended.Read more →

Group B in pictures 9 photos

An Audi Quattro A2 of 1983, the type that won the Finnish Group B class.
An Audi Quattro A2 of 1983, the type that won the Finnish Group B class.Photo: sv1ambo via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Lancia 037
Lancia 037Photo: Calreyn88 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A Lancia Delta S4 in Martini colours.
A Lancia Delta S4 in Martini colours.Photo: Calreyn88 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Peugeot 205
Peugeot 205Photo: Calreyn88 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ford RS200 (photographed 2016)
Ford RS200 (photographed 2016)Photo: Kieran White from Manchester, England via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
1984 Austin Metro 6R4 at Rétromobile 2017
1984 Austin Metro 6R4 at Rétromobile 2017Photo: Thesupermat via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo in its 1985 Safari Rally livery (No. 21), shown at the Tokyo Nostalgic Car Show 2007
Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo in its 1985 Safari Rally livery (No. 21), shown at the Tokyo Nostalgic Car Show 2007Photo: Rikita via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Opel Manta 400R (1985) at Capesthorne Hall, 2014
Opel Manta 400R (1985) at Capesthorne Hall, 2014Photo: SG2012 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Porsche 911 SC RS.
Porsche 911 SC RS.Photo: BWard 1997 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (EN), Group B — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_B
  2. Wikipedia (EN), World Rally Championship seasons 1982–1986 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_World_Rally_Championship
  3. eWRC-results, season summaries 1982–1986 — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1986/
  4. Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com) — https://www.juwra.com/

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: Nicky Clarke (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Carlom1961 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0); _morgado (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); estoril (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Ermell (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Fabien Rochet (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Tony Harrison (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0); Anthospace (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Mr.choppers (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Thesupermat (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Matthew Lamb (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0); NaBUru38 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).