Henri Toivonen
Henri Toivonen (25 August 1956 – 2 May 1986), from Jyväskylä, was the son of European champion Pauli Toivonen. He may well have been the fastest of them all — and his death brought Group B to an end.
Episode 6 — Lancia Delta S4 & Henri Toivonen
The talent, the Delta S4 and the day in Corsica.
Opel, Porsche and Lancia
Toivonen had already won the 1980 RAC Rally in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus. In 1982 and 1983 he drove for Opel (with Rothmans sponsorship in 1983); in the Ascona 400 he finished third on the 1982 Acropolis and RAC rallies, with co-driver Fred Gallagher. In 1984 he contested the European championship in Prodrive’s Rothmans Porsche 911 SC RS, winning European rounds on the Costa Smeralda, at Ypres and on Madeira as well as the 1000 Pistes in the French championship, while also driving a limited world championship programme for Lancia. A back injury cost him several European rounds, and he finished runner-up to Carlo Capone. See the European Rally Championship page.
The Delta S4
Early in 1985 he broke vertebrae in his neck in a crash on the Rally Costa Smeralda. He returned later in the year and finished third in Sanremo, the 037’s last world rally. On the RAC Rally the Lancia Delta S4 made its debut: Toivonen won with co-driver Neil Wilson, with Alén second.
In January 1986, with Italian-American co-driver Sergio Cresto, he won the Monte Carlo Rally — twenty years after his father. ‘Now the Toivonen name has been cleared,’ Pauli said, referring to the controversial disqualifications of 1966. In Sweden he retired with engine failure; in Portugal the works teams withdrew after Joaquim Santos’s accident.
The 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.
Corsica, 2 May 1986
Toivonen started the Tour de Corse unwell, but won stage after stage. After the first leg he called the rally ‘crazy’. On the second day, around seven kilometres into the eighteenth stage (Corte–Taverna), the Delta S4 left the road at an unguarded left-hand bend and plunged into a ravine. The fuel tank beneath the driver’s seat ruptured and the car burned out completely. Toivonen and Cresto were killed. There were no close witnesses, and the cause has never been established.
Within days FISA, under president Jean-Marie Balestre, announced that Group B would be withdrawn. See iconic moments and Group S and the aftermath.
The story that Toivonen lapped Estoril in a Delta S4 in 1986 in a time that would have put him on the Formula 1 grid is often repeated. Later investigations (MTV3, ESPN) were sceptical; a former Lancia manager said the time was ‘in the top ten’ of an F1 test. We treat it as unconfirmed.
European and national championships
Toivonen won the 1983 Manx Rally with Fred Gallagher, ahead of Ari Vatanen. In 1984, besides his European wins in the Rothmans Porsche, he won the 1000 Pistes in the French championship with Ian Grindrod. On 16–18 April 1986 he and Sergio Cresto won the Costa Smeralda, an Italian and European round, in a Martini Delta S4 — their last victory before Corsica. See the European Rally Championship.
Career in the Group B years
World Rally Championship podiums of the driver, year by year (1982–1986). win 2nd 3rd
2 WRC wins · 6 podium finishes, 1982–1986
In pictures 2 photos
Further resources
- DirtFish podcast: Looking back on Henri Toivonen EN · video
Podcast on Toivonen's life, talent and legacy. - Motor Sport (1982): An interview with Henri Toivonen EN · article · subscription
Period interview with the young Finn in his Opel days. - Toivonen: Pauli, Henri & Harri — Esa Illoinen (McKlein, 2012) EN · book
Biography of Finland's fastest family, including Henri's Group B years. ISBN 9783927458611. - Motorsport Memorial: Henri Toivonen EN · archive
Sourced account of Henri Toivonen's life and fatal accident. - Motor Sport: 'King B' — Henri Toivonen EN · article · subscription
John Davenport on Henri Toivonen and the cars that made and ended his career.
More from Drivers
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN), Henri Toivonen — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Toivonen
- Wikipedia (EN), Group B — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_B
- Yle Areena, Henri Toivonen – Isän poika (2007) — https://areena.yle.fi/1-72468054
- Duke Video, Henri Toivonen – His Rally Days — https://www.dukevideo.com/prd4943/Henri-Toivonen-His-Rally-Days-DVD
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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SubscribeThumbnail photos on this page: Syrio (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Original: _morgado / Derivative work: Danyele (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Midnattssolsrallyt (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0); Sicnag (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Yaamboo (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Arnaud 25 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).