Portuguese Rally Championship (Group B era)

Portugal’s national championship was won by an old Ford Escort for the first three Group B seasons, before Joaquim Moutinho brought Group B to the title in a Renault 5 Turbo. The island rally of Madeira, a major European championship round, drew the European title contenders each year.

3
titles for Santos’ Escort RS1800
2
for Moutinho’s R5 Turbo
4
Madeira’s ERC coefficient from 1983
1986
Moutinho’s second title

Champions

Year Driver Car
1982 Joaquim Santos Ford Escort RS1800 Mk II
1983 Joaquim Santos Ford Escort RS1800 Mk II
1984 Joaquim Santos Ford Escort RS1800 Mk II
1985 Joaquim Moutinho Renault 5 Turbo ‘Tour de Corse’
1986 Joaquim Moutinho Renault 5 Turbo ‘Tour de Corse’

Santos’ Escort and Moutinho’s Renault 5 Turbo, plus the Madeira rally: Portugal’s championship in the Group B years.

Events and stories

  • Joaquim Santos and Miguel Oliveira won the Algarve rally (an ERC round) in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1986, and the Volta a Portugal in 1985, in their Escort. For the 1986 Rally de Portugal, the world championship round, Santos drove a Ford RS200; his crash into spectators there is covered on the Rally Portugal 1986 page.
  • Joaquim Moutinho, with Fortes, drove a Renault 5 Turbo ‘Tour de Corse’ entered by Renault Galp; he was second to Santos on the 1985 Algarve rally and won the 1986 Volta a Portugal.
  • Madeira was the big international event. It was won by Fassina (1982), Miki Biasion (1983), Henri Toivonen in the Rothmans Porsche (1984) and Fabrizio Tabaton in a Lancia Delta S4 (1986).
  • Carlos Bica, later Portuguese champion, finished second on the 1986 Volta a Portugal in a Lancia 037, and second on that year’s Rally de Portugal.

Champions follow Portuguese Wikipedia’s list, the only source we found for it. Event results come from eWRC-results.com; Moutinho’s and Santos’ co-drivers are given only by surname there, except Miguel Oliveira. We have not confirmed which events counted for the Portuguese championship each year.

In pictures 2 photos

A Renault 5 Maxi Turbo at Rétromobile 2017.
A Renault 5 Maxi Turbo at Rétromobile 2017.Photo: Thesupermat via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Renault 5 Turbo Group B at a Bonhams sale, Paris, 2017
Renault 5 Turbo Group B at a Bonhams sale, Paris, 2017Photo: Thesupermat via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

More from Championships

Austrian Rally Championship (Group B era)Wittmann, Wiedner and the Audi Quattro on the snow of the Jänner Rallye: Austria’s championship from 1982 to 1986.Read more →Swiss Rally Championship (Group B era)Balmer against Ferreux, and the Rallye du Valais: Switzerland’s championship until Group B was banned there.Read more →European Rally Championship (Group B era)Fifty rallies a season, points coefficients and four straight Lancia titles: the ERC from 1982 to 1986, season by season.Read more →Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (Group B era)Coleman, McHale and the Opel Manta 400 on the narrow asphalt of Galway, the Circuit of Ireland and the Lakes.Read more →Finnish Rally Championship (Group B era)A separate Group B class from 1983, won every year by an Audi Quattro: Lampi, Laine and Heinonen on Finnish snow and gravel.Read more →Dutch Rally Championship (Group B era)Van der Marel’s Manta 400 and Andervang’s RS200: the Dutch championship, most of it raced in Belgium and Germany.Read more →

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (PT), Campeonato Nacional de Ralis — https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campeonato_Nacional_de_Ralis
  2. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1982 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1982/6-erc/
  3. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1983 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1983/6-erc/
  4. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1984 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1984/6-erc/
  5. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1985 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1985/6-erc/
  6. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1986 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1986/6-erc/

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: Eddi Laumanns aka RX-Guru (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); estoril (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Florian Volk from Deutschland (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); BWard 1997 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).