Group B 1982–1986

Iconic rallies and moments

The 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.

Photo: _morgado via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Group B lasted only five seasons, yet it produced more legendary images than whole decades before or since. These are the moments that define the era — the glorious and the tragic.

Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 9 — 1986: Portugal, Corsica and the End of Group B

From the Turini to Corsica: the images that defined Group B.

The Col de Turini — Monte Carlo

The Monte Carlo Rally opened every season, and its highlight was the Col de Turini: a mountain pass of around 1,600 metres in the Alpes-Maritimes, usually run at night, with ice, snow and dry asphalt in quick succession. The night-time passage became known as the ‘Night of the Long Knives’. Thousands of spectators lined the road with flares and fireworks. Walter Röhrl won the Monte in 1982, 1983 and 1984 with three different makes; Ari Vatanen won in 1985 despite an eight-minute penalty; and Henri Toivonen won the last Group B Monte in 1986.

Mouton makes history — Sanremo 1981 and beyond

In October 1981 Michèle Mouton and Fabrizia Pons won the Rallye Sanremo in an Audi Quattro: the first world championship win ever by a woman. A year later she won in Portugal, Greece and Brazil and fought for the title all the way to the Ivory Coast. Just before that rally her father died; she crashed, and Röhrl became champion. See Michèle Mouton.

Five in a row — Vatanen 1984–1985

Between the 1984 1000 Lakes and the 1985 Swedish Rally, Ari Vatanen won five world rallies in a row in the Peugeot 205 T16. On the 1985 Monte Carlo Rally he was given an eight-minute penalty because co-driver Terry Harryman had checked in early at a time control; Vatanen made up the deficit on snow and ice and passed Röhrl.

Vatanen in Argentina, 1985

On the 1985 Rally Argentina, Vatanen’s 205 T16 E2 rolled several times at high speed. He suffered serious injuries and did not return to the World Championship until 1987. See Ari Vatanen.

Bettega, Corsica 1985

On 2 May 1985, on the fourth stage of the Tour de Corse (Zerubia), Attilio Bettega’s Lancia 037 left the road and hit a tree. He was killed instantly; co-driver Maurizio Perissinot was unhurt. See Attilio Bettega.

Toivonen and the Delta S4 — RAC 1985 and Monte 1986

On its debut on the November 1985 RAC Rally, the Lancia Delta S4 scored a one-two: Toivonen ahead of Alén. In January 1986 Toivonen and Sergio Cresto also won the Monte, twenty years after his father. He looked unbeatable.

Portugal, 5 March 1986

By 1986 rally crowds had become uncontrollable. Spectators stood in the road and leapt aside only at the last moment; Vatanen spoke of a ‘human corridor’. On the first stage of the Rally de Portugal, Lagoa Azul near Sintra, Portuguese driver Joaquim Santos crested a rise in his Ford RS200, swerved right to avoid a group of spectators and lost control. The car slid off the road into another group. Three people were killed and 31 injured.

All the leading teams withdrew at once. The drivers, among them world champion Timo Salonen, declared that it was ‘impossible to guarantee the safety of the spectators’, and that the accident had been caused not by the cars or their speed but by spectators standing in the road.

Corsica, 2 May 1986

Exactly a year after Bettega’s death, Henri Toivonen — ill and exhausted — was leading the Tour de Corse by a wide margin. Around seven kilometres into the eighteenth stage (Corte–Taverna), his Delta S4 flew off the road at an unguarded left-hand bend and plunged into a wooded ravine. The fuel tanks ruptured and the car burned out. Toivonen and Cresto were killed. There were no witnesses. Within days FISA announced the end of Group B, and Audi made its withdrawal from rallying final. Later that year Michel Wyder, co-driver to Marc Surer, was also killed in an RS200 on the Hessen Rally. See Henri Toivonen and regulations.

Sanremo 1986: the title that was taken back

On the Rallye Sanremo the Peugeots were excluded because the ‘skirts’ on their undersides were deemed illegal. Peugeot accused the Italians of favouring Lancia, and a few weeks later the British scrutineers at the RAC passed the very same cars. Eleven days after the final rally in the USA, FISA annulled the entire Sanremo result. The title passed from Markku Alén to Juha Kankkunen.

More from Group B

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 →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 →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 →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 →

Sources

1. Wikipedia (EN), Group B — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_B
2. Wikipedia (EN), Henri Toivonen — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Toivonen
3. Wikipedia (EN), Michèle Mouton — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mich%C3%A8le_Mouton
4. Wikipedia (EN), Ari Vatanen — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Vatanen
5. Wikipedia (EN), Attilio Bettega — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attilio_Bettega
6. Wikipedia (EN), Bernard Darniche (Col de Turini) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Darniche
7. Wikipedia (EN), 1985 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_World_Rally_Championship

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: Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Anthospace (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Ermell (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Tony Harrison (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0); Fabien Rochet (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).