Tour de Corse 1982

Jean Ragnotti gave the mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo a home win on asphalt, the surface where the Quattro was still vulnerable.

Round 5
of 12 in 1982
Ragnotti
winner
27
special stages
47/177
finishers/starters
Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 7 — The Underdogs: Toyota, Opel, Nissan, Mazda, Renault, Citroën, Porsche & Ferrari

The Tour de Corse 1982 features in this episode of our documentary series.

At a glance

Round5 of 12 — 1982 World Rally Championship
Dates6–8 May 1982
BaseAjaccio, Corsica
CountryFrance (Corsica)
SurfaceTarmac
Competitive distance27 special stages, 1,176.10 km
Starters / finishers177 / 47
Counted forDrivers’ and manufacturers’ championships
WinnerJean Ragnotti / Jean-Marc Andrié — Renault 5 Turbo
Most stage winsRagnotti 12, Andruet 10, Béguin 3, Fréquelin 1
LeadersAndruet (stages 1–5); Ragnotti (stages 6–27)

The podium

Ferrari 308 GTBPhoto: Thesupermat via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
2Jean-Claude AndruetBicheFerrari 308 GTB
Renault 5 TurboPhoto: _morgado via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
1Jean RagnottiJean-Marc AndriéRenault 5 Turbo
Porsche 911 SCPhoto: Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
3Bernard BéguinJean-Jacques LennePorsche 911 SC

Car photos are representative pictures of the model, not of this event.

Route and surface

The ‘rally of 10,000 corners’: narrow, twisting mountain tarmac across the island, with more than 1,100 km of special stages.

Key entries

The leading seeded crews (start numbers 1–8):

Jean Ragnotti gave the mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo a home win on asphalt, the surface where the Quattro was still vulnerable.

How the rally unfolded

Jean-Claude Andruet led the first five stages in Charles Pozzi’s Ferrari 308 GTB, but Ragnotti took over on stage 6 and was never headed again. He won by 5 minutes 38 seconds. Bernard Béguin’s Porsche 911 was third, Walter Röhrl fourth for Opel.

The new Lancia Rally 037 had a troubled event: Attilio Bettega crashed out on stage 10, while Markku Alén finished ninth. Hannu Mikkola’s Quattro retired with gearbox failure on the very first stage; Mouton was seventh.

The decisive moment

Ragnotti’s lead from stage 6 onward was never seriously threatened. The result underlined that a light, nimble two-wheel-drive car could still beat four-wheel drive on tarmac.

Result — top 10

Pos. No. Crew Car Entrant Gp. Time / gap
1 7 Jean Ragnotti / Jean-Marc Andrié Renault 5 Turbo Renault Sport G4 14:11:19
2 12 Jean-Claude Andruet / Michèle Petit Ferrari 308 GTB Charles Pozzi Ferrari G4 +5:38
3 16 Bernard Béguin / Jean-Jacques Lenne Porsche 911 Bernard Beguin G4 +8:52
4 5 Walter Röhrl / Christian Geistdörfer Opel Ascona 400 Rothmans Opel Team G4 +9:22
5 14 Bruno Saby / Françoise Sappey Renault 5 Turbo Sodicam Elf G4 +16:12
6 2 Guy Fréquelin / Jean-François Fauchille Porsche 911 Esso G4 +23:57
7 9 Michèle Mouton / Fabrizia Pons Audi Quattro Audi Sport G4 +32:29
8 17 Francis Vincent / Francis Calvier Porsche 911 Esso G4 +32:36
9 6 Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki Lancia Rally 037 Martini Racing B +41:59
10 69 Robert Simonetti / Jean-Michel Simonetti Renault 5 Turbo Robert Simonetti G4 +1:24:24

Retirements of note

Period reports say Bettega was injured in this crash; we have not confirmed the details in a second source, so we give only the retirement (SS10, per Jonkka’s World Rally Archive).

Results, retirements, stage wins and leaders are taken from Jonkka’s World Rally Archive. Names are given with their correct spelling; the archive itself omits diacritics.

Related pages

All rounds of 1982

Round 1Monte Carlo RallyWalter Röhrl · Opel Ascona 400Round 2Swedish RallyStig Blomqvist · Audi QuattroRound 3Rally de PortugalMichèle Mouton · Audi QuattroRound 4Safari Rally (Kenya)Shekhar Mehta · Datsun Violet GTRound 5Tour de CorseJean Ragnotti · Renault 5 TurboRound 6Acropolis Rally (Greece)Michèle Mouton · Audi QuattroRound 7Rally New ZealandBjörn Waldegård · Toyota Celica 2000GTRound 8Rally of BrazilMichèle Mouton · Audi QuattroRound 91000 Lakes Rally (Finland)Hannu Mikkola · Audi QuattroRound 10Rallye SanremoStig Blomqvist · Audi QuattroRound 11Ivory Coast RallyWalter Röhrl · Opel Ascona 400Round 12RAC Rally (Great Britain)Hannu Mikkola · Audi Quattro

In pictures 4 photos

Photos from this event where free-licensed pictures exist; otherwise the podium cars, photographed on the occasion stated in each caption.

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
Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen in the 205 T16 E2 on 17 October 1986 — before the Peugeots were excluded.
Juha Kankkunen and Juha Piironen in the 205 T16 E2 on 17 October 1986 — before the Peugeots were excluded.Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Timo Salonen and Seppo Harjanne in the 205 T16 E2 on the 1985 Rallye Sanremo, where they finished second.
Timo Salonen and Seppo Harjanne in the 205 T16 E2 on the 1985 Rallye Sanremo, where they finished second.Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Jean Todt as Ferrari team principal at the 1997 British Grand Prix.
Jean Todt as Ferrari team principal at the 1997 British Grand Prix.Photo: Tony Harrison via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Further resources

All Group B resources →

The same rally in other Group B years

1983Tour de Corse 1983Lancia's greatest day of 1983: a one-two-three-four in Corsica, led by Markku Alén.Read more →1984Tour de Corse 1984Markku Alén won in Corsica — but the bigger news was the world championship debut of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, which led for twelve stages.Read more →1985Tour de Corse 1985A rally overshadowed by tragedy: Attilio Bettega was killed when his Lancia 037 hit a tree. Jean Ragnotti won in the Renault 5 Maxi Turbo.Read more →1986Tour de Corse 1986Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto were killed when their Lancia Delta S4 left the road on stage 18 and caught fire. Bruno Saby won; within hours, the sport's governing body announced the end of Group B.Read more →

Sources

  1. Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), Tour de Corse 1982: event page — https://www.juwra.com/corsica_1982.html
  2. Jonkka's World Rally Archive, results — https://www.juwra.com/corsica_1982_results.html
  3. Jonkka's World Rally Archive, entry list — https://www.juwra.com/corsica_1982_entries.html
  4. Jonkka's World Rally Archive, stage winners and leaders — https://www.juwra.com/corsica_1982_stage_winners.html
  5. Wikipedia (EN), 1982 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_World_Rally_Championship

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: Thesupermat (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); _morgado (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Nicky Clarke (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Morio (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Rutger van der Maar (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Alberto-g-rovi (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Steffs88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Kevauto (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Kieran White from Manchester, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC0).