Would anyone mind (or notice) if I skipped 1988? At the time even dedicated Lanica fans like me found their effortless progress about as interesting as watching paint dry. The assault on the senses that was Group B had faded into memory, and had been replaced by slower cars and predictable results. Formula One was effectively a one make series too that year, but at least you had the interest of Senna and Prost trying to ram each other off the road.
Lancia were as unbeatable with the Delta HF Turbo on the stages as Mclaren were on the circuits, but just to make sure they upgraded the Delta into the immortal Integrale in time for Portugual. Fast enough to beat everyone else and strong enough to conquer even the Safari, they embarked on another record winning spree.
The only time they were beaten was in Corsica where Ford, in their only official appearance of the year, fielded a team of ultra-lightweight Sierra Cosworths with flame-spitting side exhausts. Loubet was again second and it was the then unknown French driver Didier Auriel who won.
We'd be hearing a lot more about him, but not a lot more about the beloved Cossie. A terrific circuit racer, and multiple winner of the British Open Rally Championship, this was it's only world victory. After becoming the last two wheel drive car to win a World Championship event, it then became a footnote to rallying history.
The World Champion driver was Massimo 'Miki' Biasion, now Lancia's top dog. He'd worked his way up from the Junior Team, which can be a tough place to serve an apprenticeship.
On the 1984 Sanremo, for example, team boss Fiorio tried a spot of psychology on his drivers. With the rally in the bag for Peugeot, Biasion's car, which was lying third behind the first team car of Bettega, was called in to have a more powerful, but less reliable, cylinder head fitted. Biasion was then told that as he had 30bhp more than Bettega he really ought to catch him - or look for a drive with someone else. Bettega meanwhile was told that if he couldn't hold off the young driver, maybe Fiorio should give Biassion his place.
The deaths of Bettega and Toivonen meant Biasion rose to be Lancia's number two through dead men's shoes. He'd won his first world rally in the mighty S4 Delta and when Kankkunen left at the end of '87 he had his chance to become Numero Uno. His crowning as king of the world of rallying also marked a transfer of the balance of power in the sport from Scandavia to southern Europe. The new kids on the block, apart from Biasion, where French drivers like Auriel and Bruno Saby, the Monte winner. Kankkunen excepted, the various 'Flying Finns' and Swedes were now looking rather long in the tooth.
The one ray of hope in an otherwise dull season came from the far east. Toyota unveiled their Celica 2000GT-four, a car which, in the hands of Kankkunen at least, could match the Lancias for pace. Toyota had been in world rallying since the beginning, and in the Celica Turbo had the ultimate African Group B car for African rallies, but they had only won outside of the continent twice (the 1975 1000 Lakes with the Corolla and the 1982 New Zealand with the Celica).
Toyota were pushing rallying technology forwards and thanks to its central differential the Celica, rather than understeering round the corners like the Lancia, handled like a real rally car. Alas in 1988 it was plainly not ready and was incapable of actually finishing a rally.
There really was only one exciting rally that year, and fortunately for British fans it was our own RAC. Snow meant it was a challenge even getting to the stages, but those of us who shivered through the night in our cars were rewarded by an classic event. The skiddy white stuff levelled the playing field, and also allowed the veterans to show up the youngsters. Tires were more important than power and it was Lancia and Mazda who had the edge over Toyota.
Alen disappeared off a cliff and Hannu Mikkola looked like taking a record fifth victory in his Mazda, but he came over a crest, was blinded by a low sun, and exitted the stage at speed. Trying to regain the road his transmission snapped and he was out, a victim once more of atrocious luck. This left Alen in his battered Integrale the winner of an event he'd been trying to win for years. He'd led in 1974 in a Mark One Escort, and over the years had headed the event in a Fiat 131 and and various Stratoses. Finally he'd done it.
In fourth place was Penti Airikkala in a private Lancia. He was seven minutes behind the winner, but he had been off the road for eight minutes......Next year he's only be driving a Group N Mitsubishi in the British Open, but he too was an old stager who we hadn't heard the last of yet.
We didn't know it at the time, but this was the last victory for 'Mr Maximum Attack'. World Champion for eleven days, winner of more stages than any other driver before or since, he would be around for a bit longer, but this was the nineteenth and final win for the highly strung Finn who became more Italian than the Italians.
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