Here we go again. Lancia again won the World Rally Championship and Biasion was again crowned top driver. So far, so predictable. However the signs for the future were more promising than they'd been for years. Okay, so Lancia again got a maximum score and the most exciting rally of the year was one they missed, but despite that they didn't quite have everything to their own way.
The first couple of years of Group A rallying had shown the teams the limitations of their cars. Rally cars need bigger brakes and oil coolers than road cars and the only way to homologate these parts was to fit them to 5000 road cars. Selling cars with expensive components that are never going to be needed was tricky.
The only people who could do it were Lancia, who were finding that success was reinvigorating their moribund marque and who were shifting Integrales as fast as they could make them, and the Japanese who had found a large domestic market for cars that could never be driven in anger on their crowded island.
With Ford and BMW concentrating on circuit racing, where the 'evolution' rules allowed them to make 500-off special versions of the Sierra Cosworth and M3, the WRC became Lancia versus the Japanese.
The season started with Lancia seemingly achieving full spectrum dominance. The won the Safari again, and in Corsica the Delta overcame its final bogey and came home first ahead of a specially prepared BMW M3.
Mark Duez had entered an M3 on most of the European rounds, to the delight of fans who would wait to see him barrel past on opposite lock before skedaddling to the next stage, but despite such crowd pleasing heroics fifth was the best he could manage. The days of the conventional car were well and truly over.
The days of 'horses for courses' in rallying were also gone for good. Never again would team managers skip events if they didn't suit their machinery and the championship would be fought by the top teams on every round.
It also unfortunately meant the end of cameo appearances by smaller manufacturers. In the past teams like Porsche, Saab and Mercedes had popped up once or twice a year on rallies that suited their specialised cars, adding colour to the championship. Apart from a few years in the mid 1990s when lightweight Formula Two cars were a viable proposition on tarmac, those days were gone too.
However the opposition to the Italian steamroller was mounting. In Monte Carlo Toyota managed to get the Celica to the end of its first rally since its debut in Corsica the year before. It was a while before it finished its second, but it was a start.
The rally was also remembered for a curiosity and a tragedy.
The curiosity was why Michelin suffered so many punctures. A spectator who swiped an abandoned wheel was bribed with a free ride in rally car to bring it back so it could be studied. The answer to the puzzle was that the cars were pulling 1.6g on the corners, causing the tires to just roll of the rims.
The tragedy was Alex Fiorio's accident. Crowd control on the southern European rallies was once again becoming a problem and the news that Fiorio had gone off and killed two spectators was heard with grim resignation. The shock set in when the identities of the deceased were revealed; they turned out to be Swedish rally driver Lars-Erik Torph and his co driver Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt. They had completed some ice notes for a fellow Swedish driver and were just ordinary spectators when tragedy struck.
Lancia took the first three places in the rally and continued in majestic form, but the Japanese deluge was nearly upon them. The dam finally burst on the 1000 Lakes where not only was a Galant the winner, but two Mazdas and two Toyotas finished ahead of the first Lancia. On the next rally, Australia, it was Toyota's turn to take a maiden win for the Celica, with both their cars finishing ahead of the Lancias.
Lancia certainly weren't done yet though, and on the next round, their home event of Sanremo, they unveiled the 16 valve version of the Integrale, in stunning flame red for this rally only, and duly blew the Japanese into the weeds.
The Italians saved their money and stayed home for the rest of the year allowing Alan Oreille's little Group N Renault 5 GT Turbo to win in the Ivory Coast, and the Japanese to battle it out amongst themselves for the RAC.
Britain's round of the championship was once more cracker. Home hopes were briefly raised when Welshman and British Open winner Dai Llewellin managed to put his Toyota into the lead for one stage. He was delayed by turbo charger problems.
Another driver doing well in the Wales was Dave Metcalf in the little Vauxhall Nova. Initial reports had him fastest on one fog-bound stage. It turned out to be a timing error, but at the time everyone believed it. Metcalf died less than three years later in an unlucky road accident before his true potential could be realised.
However if a driver born on these islands couldn't win this event, the next best option is for the winner to be someone who lives here. Young Spanish hotshot Carlos Sainz inherited the lead when team mate Kankkunen hit trouble, but right behind him was British resident Flying Finn Penti Airikkala. When regular Mitsubishi driver and 1000 Lakes winner Mikael Erikson found himself double booked, Penti was given his Group A Galant as a reward for winning Group N on the British Open.
As the cars started the final day's fast Yorkshire stages, it was Sainz leading but Airikkala hauling him in. Neither driver had won a world event before, but whilst Sainz had his career ahead of him, Penti knew this was his last chance to prove to the team managers he still had what it takes. In the end it took a blown exhaust in Dalby to deny the Spaniard his first win, but everyone agreed Airikkla deserved the victory. Suddenly he had a career again.
Just as the introduction of four wheel drive had given Audi three seasons of of almost unopposed supremacy, the sudden banning of Group B had gifted Lancia three years with mimimal opposition. That time was now over.
Once the opposition went all wheel drive Audi's star fade almost overnight. Lancia though were made of sterner stuff. They may no longer have the best car, but they were sure they had the best team and the best drivers and they were up for the fight.
The next few years were going to be very exciting.
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