Stig Blomqvist
Stig Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) grew up with front-wheel-drive Saabs, in which he raised left-foot braking to an art form. That style turned out to suit the Audi Quattro perfectly.
Episode 4 — Short and Savage: Audi Sport quattro, S1 E2 & Audi’s European Titles
The Swede who made the Quattro sing.
From Saab to Audi
For years Blomqvist was Saab’s standard-bearer. When Saab stepped back, he joined Audi in 1982, initially for a limited programme. He promptly won in Sweden and Sanremo. In 1983 he finished fourth in the World Championship, won the RAC Rally and became British champion.
The 1984 title
In 1984 Blomqvist and co-driver Björn Cederberg contested every world rally for Audi. He won in Sweden, Greece, New Zealand, Argentina and the Ivory Coast — five wins, three of them in a row — and became world champion with 125 points. See 1984 season.
The 1984 world champion and, with eight wins, the driver who won the most world rallies between 1982 and 1986. A master of left-foot braking.
1985 and 1986
In 1985 he finished runner-up in the championship without a win, behind the all-conquering Peugeots. For 1986 he left Audi for Ford and drove the RS200. After Ford’s withdrawal he drove for Peugeot in Argentina and finished third, with Bruno Berglund as co-driver.
After Group B
Blomqvist kept rallying well into later life. At the Race of Champions he was crowned ‘Champion of Champions’ in 1989 and 1990. He is often named as one of the most technically gifted drivers of all time.
European and national championships
Blomqvist’s 1983 British title came in an Audi Quattro A2 with Björn Cederberg; they won the Scottish Rally ahead of Jimmy McRae. He also won the South Swedish Rally, a European round, in 1982 and 1986. See the British championship.
Career in the Group B years
World Rally Championship podiums of the driver, year by year (1982–1986). win 2nd 3rd
8 WRC wins · 19 podium finishes, 1982–1986
In pictures 3 photos
Further resources
- Audi Magazine: The year of The Stig EN · article
Stig Blomqvist's 1984 title season with Audi. - Motor Sport (1983): Stig Blomqvist EN · article · subscription
Period profile of the Swede before his title year. - WRC.com: Stig Blomqvist EN · archive
The WRC's official champion profile of Stig Blomqvist, with career statistics. - Motor Sport: Stigs of dynamite EN · article · subscription
Stig Blomqvist drives Group B's greatest cars back to back. - Audi: quattro in rallying EN · article
Audi's official account of the quattro rally years, from the first win to the Sport quattro S1 E2.
More from Drivers
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN), Stig Blomqvist — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stig_Blomqvist
- Wikipedia (EN), 1984 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_World_Rally_Championship
- eWRC-results — https://www.ewrc-results.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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SubscribeThumbnail photos on this page: Michelin LIVE UK from Stoke-On-Trent, UK (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); realname (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0); David Merrett from Daventry, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Thilo Parg (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Andrew Basterfield (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0); Osvaldo di Mando (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).