Swedish Rally 1986
Round 2 of the 1986 World Rally Championship · 14–16 February 1986
Juha Kankkunen won his first rally for Peugeot, and the Ford RS200 finished third on its world championship debut.
Episode 5 — The British Challengers: MG Metro 6R4 & Ford RS200
The Swedish Rally 1986 features in this episode of our documentary series.
At a glance
The podium
Photo: MrWalkr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Calreyn88 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MrWalkr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Car photos are representative pictures of the model, not of this event.
Route and surface
Snow and ice roads in the Värmland forests.
Key entries
The leading seeded crews (start numbers 1–8):
- #1 Stig Blomqvist / Bruno Berglund — Ford RS200 (Ford Motor Company)
- #2 Timo Salonen / Seppo Harjanne — Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 (Peugeot Talbot Sport)
- #3 Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki — Lancia Delta S4 (Martini Lancia)
- #4 Juha Kankkunen / Juha Piironen — Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 (Peugeot Talbot Sport)
- #5 Henri Toivonen / Sergio Cresto — Lancia Delta S4 (Martini Lancia)
- #6 Ingvar Carlsson / Jan-Olof Bohlin — Mazda Familia 4WD (Mazda Rallye Team Europe)
- #7 Per Eklund / David Whittock — MG Metro 6R4 (Austin Rover World Championship Team)
- #8 Kalle Grundel / Benny Melander — Ford RS200 (Ford Motor Company)
Juha Kankkunen won his first rally for Peugeot, and the Ford RS200 finished third on its world championship debut.
How the rally unfolded
Salonen led the first six stages, then retired with an oil leak. Toivonen took over, but his Delta S4’s engine failed on stage 13. That left Kankkunen in front, and he beat Markku Alén by 1 minute 54 seconds.
Kalle Grundel and Benny Melander were third in the new RS200; Stig Blomqvist’s RS200 retired with engine failure. Jean-Claude Andruet finished sixth in the new Citroën BX 4TC. Both works Metro 6R4s retired with engine trouble.
The decisive moment
The retirements of Salonen (stage 7) and Toivonen (stage 13) handed the lead to Kankkunen, who controlled it from there.
Result — top 10
| Pos. | No. | Crew | Car | Entrant | Gp. | Time / gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Juha Kankkunen / Juha Piironen | Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 | Peugeot Talbot Sport | B | 5:09:19 |
| 2 | 3 | Markku Alén / Ilkka Kivimäki | Lancia Delta S4 | Martini Lancia | B | +1:54 |
| 3 | 8 | Kalle Grundel / Benny Melander | Ford RS200 | Ford Motor Company | B | +6:16 |
| 4 | 12 | Mikael Ericsson / Reinhard Michel | Audi 90 Quattro | Audi Sport | A | +15:20 |
| 5 | 13 | Gunnar Pettersson / Arne Pettersson | Audi Coupé | Audi Sport | A | +15:38 |
| 6 | 10 | Jean-Claude Andruet / Annick Peuvergne | Citroën BX 4TC | Citroën Competition | B | +23:46 |
| 7 | 15 | Kenneth Eriksson / Peter Diekmann | Volkswagen Golf GTI | Volkswagen Motorsport | A | +25:11 |
| 8 | 19 | Roger Ericsson / Per Rosendahl | Subaru RX Turbo | Team Subaru 4WD | A | +28:42 |
| 9 | 27 | Björn Johansson / Anders Olsson | Opel Kadett GSI | Opel Team Sweden | A | +32:03 |
| 10 | 18 | Sören Nilsson / Åke Gustavsson | Audi 90 Quattro | Team Swedseruds Gummi | A | +33:32 |
Retirements of note
- #1 Stig Blomqvist / Bruno Berglund (Ford RS200) — engine, stage 12
- #2 Timo Salonen / Seppo Harjanne (Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2) — oil leak, stage 7
- #5 Henri Toivonen / Sergio Cresto (Lancia Delta S4) — engine, stage 13
- #6 Ingvar Carlsson / Jan-Olof Bohlin (Mazda Familia 4WD) — electronics, stage 15
- #7 Per Eklund / David Whittock (MG Metro 6R4) — engine, stage 2
- #9 Malcolm Wilson / Nigel Harris (MG Metro 6R4) — engine, stage 14
- #11 Philippe Wambergue / Jean-Bernard Vieu (Citroën BX 4TC) — engine, stage 25
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
- 1986 season overview
- All 1986 rallies
- Previous round: Monte Carlo Rally 1986
- Next round: Rally de Portugal 1986
- Cars: Peugeot 205 T16, Lancia Delta S4, Ford RS200
- Teams: Peugeot Talbot Sport, Lancia Martini, Ford Motorsport
- Iconic moments · Timeline · Statistics
All rounds of 1986
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
- Motor Sport (April 1986): Rally review EN · article · subscription
Contemporary report from Motor Sport magazine's April 1986 issue, written as the season unfolded. - WRC.com season archive 1986 EN · archive
Official summary of the 1986 season: calendar, winners and both championship tables. - Wikipedia: Swedish Rally EN · archive
History of the Swedish Rally with its list of winners over the decades. - Rally Sweden (official site) EN · event
Today's organiser of the Swedish Rally, with information about the current event.
The same rally in other Group B years
Sources
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), Swedish Rally 1986: event page — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1986.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, results — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1986_results.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, entry list — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1986_entries.html
- Jonkka's World Rally Archive, stage winners and leaders — https://www.juwra.com/sweden_1986_stage_winners.html
- Wikipedia (EN), 1986 World Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_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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