Lars-Erik Torph

Lars-Erik Torph started only three world championship rallies in 1986, finished on the podium in two of them and ended the year sixth in the drivers’ championship. Few young drivers made a stronger impression in the final Group B season.

2
podiums 1986
3
starts in 1986
6th
1986 championship
1961–1989
lifespan
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Toyota Team Europe’s Celica in Africa.

Rise

Torph (11 January 1961 – 23 January 1989) came through the Swedish national scene. He was fifth on the 1984 Swedish Rally in a Group A Opel Ascona and ninth on the 1985 1000 Lakes in a Volkswagen Golf GTI.

The 1986 season

Toyota Team Europe gave him a Celica Twin-Cam Turbo for the long-distance rallies, with Bo Thorszelius as co-driver:

His 30 points gave him sixth place in the final standings.

Two second places in three starts in 1986: Toyota’s young Swede in the final Group B season.

Death at the 1989 Monte Carlo Rally

In 1987 Torph finished third on the Safari Rally in a factory Toyota Supra, his fourth world championship podium. On 23 January 1989, while taking a break from reconnaissance duties at the Monte Carlo Rally, he and his co-driver Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt went to watch a stage. Alex Fiorio’s Lancia Delta Integrale went off the road and struck them at about 145 km/h, killing both. Torph was 28.

Statistics on this page cover world championship rallies from January 1982 to December 1986, excluding the annulled 1986 Rallye Sanremo, and are counted from the entry lists and results in Jonkka’s World Rally Archive. ‘Starts’ means appearances on an entry list.

Career in the Group B years

World Rally Championship podiums of the driver, year by year (1982–1986). win 2nd 3rd

1982
0wins
0 podiums
1983
0wins
0 podiums
1984
0wins
0 podiums
1985
0wins
0 podiums
1986
0wins
2 podiums

0 WRC wins · 2 podium finishes, 1982–1986

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Sources

  1. Wikipedia (EN), Lars-Erik Torph — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars-Erik_Torph
  2. Wikipedia (EN), 1986 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_World_Rally_Championship
  3. Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), results and entry lists 1982–1986 — 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.

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Thumbnail photos on this page: Carlomarzetti (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Brendan Mullan from Glasgow, Scotland (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0); Y.Leclercq (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); estoril (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Liftarn (Wikimedia Commons, Public domain).