Straying away from the Repco Garage’s regular content to honour the recent 40th anniversary of Finnish star Henri Toivonen’s death in the 1986 Tour de Corse driving a Lancia S4.
Toivonen’s death sent a ripple through the World Rally Championship and it occurred at the height of angst for organisers due to the rapid Group B regulations.
Popular with manufacturers, Group B was earning a fierce reputation due to the fast development and quick pace of these cars on the stages.
A disaster occurred on the Rally de Portugal when Joaquim Santos crashed into a group of spectators, injuring 31 and killing three.
Other incidents had occurred before such as Marc Surer’s televised crash driving a Ford RS200 that killed his co-driver Michel Wyder, which was followed by the death of Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto.
Toivonen was a superstar in the making having come from a rallying family s father Pauli was the 1968 European Rally Championship winner in a Porsche and younger brother Harri was a circuit racer.
Initially, Toivonen followed the traditional circuit racing path through karts and Formula Vee before his family advised him to go rallying due to safety concerns.
In fact, Toivonen’s old kart was purchased by the parents of a six-year-old Mika Hakkinen, who went on to win two World Formula 1 Drivers’ titles.
Toivonen was forced to wait until the age of 19 to rally due to regulations restricting speed for new drivers, but made his debut with co-driver Antero Lindqvist in the 1975 1000 Lakes Rally in a privately entered Simca.
By 1978, Toivonen had moved his full focus to rally and he finished third in that year’s first event, the Arctic Rally.
Ari Vatanen won the rally, but Toivonen finished in front of the year’s FIA Cup of Drivers winner Markku Alen.
A pair of further rallies with Citroen led to retirements and attracted further attention in 1979 to join the works Talbot team for the next season.
It was a perfect start to the Toivonen and Talbot relationship as the combination won the non-championship Arctic Rally, but his program was limited in some part to his exuberant driving style leading to crashes.
Toivonen surprised many when he won the season-ending 1980 Lombard RAC Rally by four minutes ahead of Hannu Mikkola.
In doing so, Toivonen became the youngest WRC event winner at 24 years and 86 days.
An expanded program came in 1981 and it was a winless season due to the new Audi, despite an upgrade Sunbeam Lotus. However, Toivonen and teammate Guy Frequelin delivered the Manufacturers’ Championship for Talbot.
It was time for a change in 1982 as Toivonen moved to the Opel squad co-managed by former co-driver David Richards.
Joining Toivonen was reigning champion Vatanen in the new Ascona 400s, but his four events were mixed in with a couple of dalliances in circuit racing.
A 10th in a guest British Formula 3 weekend was followed by a test with March leading to Toivonen lapping 1.4s faster than regular driver Raul Boesel.
Group B was introduced for 1983 and the Ascona 400 was at an advantage in most areas except power compared to the Audi and Lancia opposition.
Toivonen won a couple of non-championship rallies in a limited program, but also contested a European Endurance Championship round at Mugello, finishing third.
A move from Opel to Porsche led to again working with Richards resulting in finishing second in the European Rally Championship after a back injury led him to miss rounds.
Lancia signed up Toivonen for WRC events and finished on the podium on the 1000 Lakes Rally before signing up to be a full-factory driver in 1985.
Turmoil hit the Lancia team early when Attillo Bettega was killed in a crash on the Tour de Corse, but Toivonen was able to finish fourth and third before the 037 was retired.
In came the Delta S4 with its all-wheel-drive, turbo and supercharged engine, plus hatchback body. It was a beast, accelerating to 100km in 2.3s.
Toivonen won the S4’s debut at the 1985 RAC Rally on the way to sixth in the championship.
Lancia had unlocked the success of its rally program through the S4 and Toivonen was its leader. Toivonen won the Monte Carlo Rally in dominant fashion with new co-driver Cresto as he surged to title favouritism.
After retiring from the Swedish Rally, withdrawing from Portugal due to the tragic circumstances and not contending the Safari Rally, the fearsome Tour de Corse tarmac event followed.
Toivonen was eager to regain the championship lead and elected to compete despite having the flu.
It didn’t hamper him as Toivonen won many of the opening stages to lead the rally comfortably after the first leg.
An ominous comment was made by Toivonen at the start of stage 18 when he stated: “Today, we have driven more than the whole distance of the 1000 Lakes Rally (Finnish Rally). After 4 hours of driving- it’s hard to keep up with the speed. So, with a modern car like this, it’s just impossible to race here. It’s physically exhausting and the brains can’t keep up with it anymore.”
It was this stage where Toivonen and Cresto perished.
At the seventh kilometre of the stage, Toivonen’s Lancia left the road and plunged down a ravine due to a lack of guard rail. Crashing on its roof, the Lancia’s aluminium fuel tanks exploded and a fire took hold to make the S4 unrecognisable, aided by the Kevlar used in the Lancia’s construction.
In fact, teammate Miki Biasion stopped on stage and searched for help, but to no avail.
Rallying’s young superstar was dead and Group B was over.
FISA almost immediately banned Group B and cancelled the new Group S regulations, which allowed even more freedoms.
Ford and Audi withdrew from Group B immediately, while FISA received criticism for not heeding to prior warnings.
For the following year, Group A was the lead set of regulations.
In Toivonen’s memory, fierce rival Michele Mouton organised the Race of Champions event that has now risen to feature the world’s best drivers.
Toivonen left behind wife Erja, son Markus and daughter Aria.
A marble stone is placed at the corner Toivonen and Cresto crashed at featuring an unopened Martini bottle in reference to Lancia’s major sponsor.