1985 World Rally Championship

The 1985 World Rally Championship was the 13th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies following the same schedule as the previous season. Peugeot Sport's Timo Salonen beat Audi Sport's Stig Blomqvist and Walter Röhrl to the drivers' title. Peugeot won their first manufacturers' title, ahead of Audi and Lancia.

Summary[]

Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 in 2008

Peugeot Talbot Sport, having made a successful late-season entry to the Group B with their new Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 car, returned in 1985 for a full season with the car. Ari Vatanen, who had won three of the last four rallies of 1984 in the car, also returned with the team and in the first rally of the season, passed Walter Röhrl's Quattro in the snowy and icy terrain after incurring an eight-minute penalty caused by co-driver 's error. At the Swedish Rally, Vatanen won again, establishing himself as the early favorite for a driver's title, as well as putting Peugeot ahead of Audi.

A disaster struck in May at the Tour de Corse. On the 4th stage of the rally, Italian driver Attilio Bettega crashed his Lancia 037 into a tree and was killed instantly. His co-driver Maurizio Perissinot survived the crash uninjured. The crash raised questions about the safety aspects of Group B cars. Exactly one year later at the same event Henri Toivonen suffered a similar fatal accident forcing FIA to ban Group B.

Unfortunately, Vatanen had a major accident in Argentina while speeding down a long, straight road in top gear when his car crashed and rolled end-over-front. The flimsy exterior of the car shattered, but the strong rollcage absorbed most of the impact. The drivers were airlifted to hospital by Peugeot's helicopter, and Vatanen's injuries were severe and seemed life-threatening. Although he would recover and return to the sport, the Peugeot team was forced to turn to its other driver, Timo Salonen. Salonen had already taken the points lead and finished with the driver's championship on the strength of five rally wins.

Audi Sport Quattro driven in 1985

Audi Sport faced the dual pressure of Peugeot's strong 205 car in competition, and waning company commitment to the Quattro rally program. With the danger of Group B rally becoming a more publicized issue, the company was questioning its involvement in the sport unless major changes were made to improve safety. While both Stig Blomqvist and Walter Röhrl were retained as drivers, they suffered generally at the hands of the Peugeot team although they would ultimately place second and third respectively. Their season however only included a single rally win between them, with Röhrl's triumph at Sanremo proving to be Audi's last Group B victory in the World Rally Championship.

The Lancia Martini team's season was an even greater disappointment than Audi's. The rear-wheel drive Lancia Sport 037 met with little success, even in the hands of such drivers as Markku Alén, Massimo Biasion, and Henri Toivonen. Toivonen would suffer an accident, breaking three vertebrae in his neck early on and missing most of the season.^[1] The team awaited the arrival of the Delta S4, a four-wheel-drive car, hoping it would give them a competitive advantage. Arriving for the final rally of the season, the RAC Rally, it succeeded in collecting the victory and giving the team hope for competing in the following season.

made its entrance to the rally scene with the new MG Metro 6R4 and its 3.0L V6 engine, taking a podium position at the RAC. Austin's success would be brief however, as the Metro would struggle in the final season of Group B competition in 1986. As with previous seasons, while all 12 events were calculated for tallying the drivers' scores, only 11 of the events applied to the championship for manufacturers. The event in 1985 which applied only to driver standings was Rallye Côte d'Ivoire.

Teams and drivers[]

Team	Constructor	Car	Tyre	Drivers	Rounds
Audi Sport	Audi	Quattro Sport	M	Stig Blomqvist	1–4, 6–9
				Walter Röhrl	1–3, 5–7, 10, 12
				Hannu Mikkola	2, 4, 9, 12
				Per Eklund	2, 9, 12
					2, 9
				Malcolm Wilson	2
				David Llewellin	2
					7
					8
				Michèle Mouton	11
					11
Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot	205 Turbo 16 205 Turbo 16 E2	M	Ari Vatanen	1–8
				Timo Salonen	1–10, 12
				Bruno Saby	1, 4–5, 10
				Carlos Reutemann	8
				Kalle Grundel	9, 12
					10
				Mikael Sundström	12
Martini Racing	Lancia	Rally 037 evo Delta S4	P	Henri Toivonen	1, 9–10, 12
				Markku Alén	4–5, 9–10, 12
				Attilio Bettega	4–5
				Vic Preston Jr	4
Jolly Club	Lancia	Rally 037 evo	P	Miki Biasion	1, 3, 5, 10
				Dario Cerrato	10
Citroën Compétitions	Citroën	Visa	M	Jean-Claude Andruet	1
					1
					1
					1
					1
					5
					10
Mazda Rally Team Europe	Mazda	RX-7	M	Ingvar Carlsson	2, 6, 12
				Achim Warmbold	6
					7
					7
					9
				Rod Millen	12
Opel Euro Team	Opel	Manta 400	M	Rauno Aaltonen	4
				Erwin Weber	4, 12
				Guy Fréquelin	5
				Russell Brookes	12
				Jimmy McRae	12
					12
Toyota Team Europe	Toyota	Celica TCT	P	Björn Waldegård	4, 7, 9, 11–12
					4
				Juha Kankkunen	4, 7, 9, 11–12
Team Nissan Europe	Nissan	240RS	D	Shekhar Mehta	4, 6–8
					4, 6, 8
				Mike Kirkland	4, 6, 11
				Alain Ambrosino	4, 11
					6
					6
					7
					7
					9
					12
Renault Elf Philips	Renault	R5 Maxi Turbo	M	Jean Ragnotti	5
					5
				Didier Auriol	5
Rothmans Porsche Rally Team	Porsche	911SC RS	M	Bernard Béguin	5
				Billy Coleman	5
				Saeed Al-Hajri	6
West Lancia Team	Lancia	Rally 037 evo	P		6
					6
Austin Rover World Rally Team	MG	Metro 6R4	M	Tony Pond	12
				Malcolm Wilson	12
Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	Golf GTi	P		3, 5–6, 10
				Franz Wittmann	3, 5–6, 10
Subaru Motor Sport	Subaru	RX Turbo	P	Mike Kirkland	7
				Possum Bourne	7
					7

Events[]

Map[]

Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Snow/ice	Red = Mixed surface

Schedule and results[]

Round	Rally name	Stages	Podium finishers
			Rank	Driver	Co-driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Monte Carlo Rally (26 January–1 February)	34 stages 852 km Tarmac	1	Ari Vatanen		Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16	10:20:49
			2	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro	10:26:06
			3	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16	10:30:54
2	Swedish Rally (15–17 February)	29 stages 505 km Snow/Ice	1	Ari Vatanen		Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16	4:38:49
			2	Stig Blomqvist	Björn Cederberg	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro	4:40:38
			3	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16	4:42:15
3	Rally de Portugal (6–9 March)	47 stages 733 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16	8:07.25
			2	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Jolly Club	Lancia 037 Rally evo	8:12:12
			3	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro	8:13:23
4	Safari Rally (4–8 April)	88 controls 5167.6 km Gravel	1	Juha Kankkunen	Fred Gallagher	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica TCT	+5:18 pen
			2	Björn Waldegård		Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica TCT	+5:52 pen
			3	Mike Kirkland		Team Nissan Europe	Nissan 240RS	+6:01 pen
5	Tour de Corse (2–4 May)	29 stages 1078 km Tarmac	1	Jean Ragnotti		Renault Elf Philips	Renault R5 Maxi Turbo	12:54:15
			2	Bruno Saby		Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	13:06:47
			3	Bernard Béguin		Rothmans Porsche Rally Team	Porsche 911 SC	13:20:04
6	Acropolis Rally (27–30 May)	47 stages 807.8 km Gravel	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	10:20:19
			2	Stig Blomqvist	Björn Cederberg	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro	10:24:34
			3	Ingvar Carlsson		Mazda Rally Team Europe	Mazda RX-7	11:08:25
7	Rally New Zealand (29 June–2 July)	46 stages 894 km Gravel	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	8:29:16
			2	Ari Vatanen		Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	8:30:33
			3	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro	8:31:42
8	Rally Argentina (31 July–3 August)	23 stages 959 km Gravel	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	10:04:33
			2			Audi Sport	Audi Quattro A2	10:18:29
			3	Carlos Reutemann		Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	10:35:47
9	1000 Lakes Rally (23–25 August)	50 stages 479 km Gravel	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	4:10:35
			2	Stig Blomqvist	Björn Cederberg	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro S1	4:11:23
			3	Markku Alén		Martini Racing	Lancia 037 Rally evo	4:14:14
10	Rallye Sanremo (29 September–4 October)	45 stages 650 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro S1	7:10:10
			2	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 T16 E2	7:16:39
			3	Henri Toivonen		Martini Racing	Lancia 037 Rally evo	7:18:02
11	Rallye Côte d'Ivoire[2] (30 October-3 November)	63 controls 4187 km Gravel	1	Juha Kankkunen	Fred Gallagher	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica TCT	+4:46 pen
			2	Björn Waldegård		Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Celica TCT	+4:46 pen
			3	Alain Ambrosino		Team Nissan Europe	Nissan 240RS	+6:19 pen
12	RAC Rally (24–28 November)	63 stages 880 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Henri Toivonen		Martini Racing	Lancia Delta S4	9:32.05
			2	Markku Alén		Martini Racing	Lancia Delta S4	9:33.01
			3	Tony Pond		Austin Rover World Rally Team	MG Metro 6R4	9:34.32

Standings[]

Drivers[]

Rank	Driver	Event												Total points
		MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV	GBR
1	Timo Salonen	12	12	20	4	-	20	20	20	20	15	-	-	127
2	Stig Blomqvist	10	15	10	-	-	15	10	-	15	-	-	-	75
3	Walter Röhrl	15	-	12	-	-	-	12	-	-	20	-	-	59
4	Ari Vatanen	20	20	-	-	-	-	15	-	-	-	-	-	55
5	Juha Kankkunen	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	8	48
6	Henri Toivonen	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	12	-	20	48
7	Markku Alén	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	10	-	15	37
8	Björn Waldegård	-	-	-	15	-	-	-	-	4	-	15	-	34
9	Mike Kirkland	-	-	-	12	-	4	-	-	-	-	10	-	26

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1985 in World Rally Championship.

• FIA World Rally Championship 1985 at ewrc-results.com