The teams

Rothmans Porsche and Prodrive

Photo: Bahnfrend via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Porsche had long won rallies with the 911, but in Group B it never entered its own works team in the World Championship. The marque still played a part through Rothmans and the young Prodrive company in the European championship.

Grouve Sport documentary

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

Rothmans, Prodrive and the 911 SC RS.

David Richards and Prodrive

David Richards became world champion co-driver alongside Ari Vatanen in 1981. He then co-ran the Rothmans Opel team, and in 1984 founded Prodrive in Banbury with Ian Parry. The company first ran Porsche 911 rally cars; it later became world-famous running Subaru in the World Championship (1989–2008).

Porsche never fought for the world title, but David Richards’ new Prodrive company ran the Rothmans 911 SC RS in the European championship and on world championship asphalt rallies.

The 911 SC RS in the European championship

In 1984 Henri Toivonen drove for Prodrive’s Rothmans Porsche team in the European championship. After a difficult start he won the Costa Smeralda, the Ypres 24 Hours and Madeira (plus the French championship’s 1000 Pistes), but a back injury cost him the title: he finished second to Carlo Capone (Lancia 037). See the European Rally Championship page. In the World Championship, Bernard Béguin finished third on the 1985 Tour de Corse in a Prodrive-run 911. See Porsche 911 SC RS.

In pictures 1 photos

Further resources

• Autocar: 40 years of Prodrive EN · article
  How the Rothmans Porsche programme grew into Prodrive.
• Porsche Newsroom: The conquerors of curves EN · article
  Porsche's history of its Tour de Corse cars, including the 911 SC RS from the museum.
• Prodrive: our history EN · article
  Prodrive's company history, which began with the Rothmans Porsche 911 SC RS in 1984.
• The Drive: Porsche SC/RS, a tale of two Rothmans EN · article
  The 911 SC RS rally car and the Rothmans programme run by David Richards.

All Group B resources →

More from Teams

Other teams and privateersCitroën, Nissan, Mazda Rally Team Europe, Renault, Jolly Club and the privateers who gave Group B its depth.Read more →Designers and engineersThe people behind the machines: Limone and Lombardi (Lancia/Abarth), de Cortanze and Welter (Peugeot), Southgate and Wheeler (Ford), Bensinger and Piëch (Audi), David Wood (Metro 6R4).Read more →Audi SportThe Ingolstadt team that changed rallying with four-wheel drive. Under Roland Gumpert: two manufacturers' titles (1982, 1984) and two drivers' titles (1983, 1984).Read more →Opel (Opel Motorsport and Rothmans Opel)Opel won the 1982 drivers' world title with the Ascona 400 (Röhrl). Tony Fall ran the German works team; David Richards co-ran the Rothmans-backed team.Read more →Toyota Team EuropeOve Andersson's Cologne team won six world rallies with the rear-wheel-drive Celica Twincam Turbo — all of them in Africa.Read more →Austin Rover (MG Metro 6R4)British, naturally aspirated and idiosyncratic: John Davenport had Williams Grand Prix Engineering develop a rally car based on the Metro. Third on its debut.Read more →

Sources

1. Wikipedia (EN), Prodrive — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodrive
2. Wikipedia (EN), David Richards (motorsport) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Richards_(motorsport)
3. Wikipedia (EN), Henri Toivonen (Porsche 1984) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Toivonen

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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