Ivory Coast Rally 1983
Round 11 of the 1983 World Rally Championship · 25–30 October 1983
Björn Waldegård gave the Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo its first world championship win, in Abidjan.
Episode 7 — The Underdogs: Toyota, Opel, Nissan, Mazda, Renault, Citroën, Porsche & Ferrari
The Ivory Coast Rally 1983 features in this episode of our documentary series.
At a glance
The podium
Photo: Jiří Sedláček via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Alf van Beem via Wikimedia Commons, Public domainPhoto: Alf van Beem via Wikimedia Commons, Public domainCar photos are representative pictures of the model, not of this event.
Route and surface
Around 4,500 km of West African roads and tracks, timed between controls.
Key entries
The leading seeded crews (start numbers 1–8):
- #1 Hannu Mikkola / Arne Hertz — Audi Quattro A2 (Audi Sport)
- #2 Lasse Lampi / Otto Harsch — Audi Quattro A2 (Audi Sport)
- #3 Björn Waldegård / Hans Thorszelius — Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo (Premoto Toyota)
- #4 Per Eklund / Ragnar Spjuth — Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo (Premoto Toyota)
- #5 Eugene Salim / Clément Konan — Mitsubishi Lancer 2000 Turbo (Eugene Salim)
- #6 Juha Kankkunen / David Whittock — Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo (Premoto Toyota)
- #7 Alain Ambrosino / Daniel le Saux — Peugeot 505 (Alain Ambrosino)
- #9 Jacques Durieu / Pierre Tastet — Toyota Celica (Jacques Durieu)
Björn Waldegård gave the Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo its first world championship win, in Abidjan.
How the rally unfolded
Lancia skipped the last two rounds, and the Ivory Coast counted only for the drivers’ championship. Waldegård and Hans Thorszelius beat Hannu Mikkola by 11 minutes; Per Eklund was third in a second Toyota. Only eight cars finished.
Mikkola’s second place strengthened his lead in the drivers’ standings. Juha Kankkunen, in a third Toyota, was excluded for lateness.
The decisive moment
The Celica’s reliability on rough African tracks laid the foundation for Toyota’s reputation as the Africa specialists of the Group B era.
Result — top 10
| Pos. | No. | Crew | Car | Entrant | Gp. | Penalty time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Björn Waldegård / Hans Thorszelius | Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo | Premoto Toyota | B | 5 h 18 min |
| 2 | 1 | Hannu Mikkola / Arne Hertz | Audi Quattro A2 | Audi Sport | B | +11 min |
| 3 | 4 | Per Eklund / Ragnar Spjuth | Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo | Premoto Toyota | B | +1 h 40 min |
| 4 | 10 | Samir Assef / Solange Barrault | Toyota Celica | Samir Assef | G4 | +6 h 51 min |
| 5 | 7 | Alain Ambrosino / Daniel le Saux | Peugeot 505 | Alain Ambrosino | A | +9 h 04 min |
| 6 | 5 | Eugene Salim / Clément Konan | Mitsubishi Lancer 2000 Turbo | Eugene Salim | B | +10 h 50 min |
| 7 | 46 | Claude Thibault / Elizabeth Clave | Mitsubishi Colt Lancer | Claude Thibault | G2 | +17 h 44 min |
| 8 | 12 | Michel Molinie / Marc Molinie | Datsun 160J | Michel Molinie | G2 | +17 h 52 min |
On the Safari and the Ivory Coast Rally, crews were ranked by penalty time accumulated on timed road sections, not by special-stage times.
Retirements of note
- #2 Lasse Lampi / Otto Harsch (Audi Quattro A2) — withdrew, time control 8
- #6 Juha Kankkunen / David Whittock (Toyota Celica Twin-Cam Turbo) — excluded (over the time limit), time control 8
- #9 Jacques Durieu / Pierre Tastet (Toyota Celica) — halfshaft, time control 19
- #11 Adolphe Choteau / Nicolas Claverie (Audi Quattro A2) — rear transmission, time control 48
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
- 1983 season overview
- All 1983 rallies
- Previous round: Rallye Sanremo 1983
- Next round: RAC Rally 1983
- Cars: Toyota Celica TCT, Audi Quattro
- Teams: Audi Sport
- Iconic moments · Timeline · Statistics
All rounds of 1983
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.
Further resources
- WRC.com season archive 1983 EN · archive
Official summary of the 1983 season: calendar, winners and both championship tables. - Wikipedia: Rallye Côte d'Ivoire EN · archive
History of the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire with its list of winners over the decades.
The same rally in other Group B years
Sources
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), Ivory Coast Rally 1983: event page — https://www.juwra.com/ivory_coast_1983.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, results — https://www.juwra.com/ivory_coast_1983_results.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, entry list — https://www.juwra.com/ivory_coast_1983_entries.html
- Wikipedia (EN), 1983 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_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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