The History of the World Rally Championship: 1991

1990 had been a cracking season and nobody would have minded if 1991 had been a rerun.

By mid season this appeared to be exactly what was happening. Lancia's all star team appeared to be walking away with the Manufacturers Championship and Sainz appeared to have the Drivers crown in the bag too after winning in Monte Carlo, Portugal, Corsia, New Zealand and Argentina.


Kankkunen was Lancia's top driver, and he freely admitted to journalists that he didn't think he could overhaul Sainz. Kankkunen was a driver who bridges the gap between rallying's generations. He'd had to beat Markku Alen, Walter Rohrl, Hannu Mikkola and the other first generation WRC heros to get his first two world titles, and now he was up against Sainz and team mate Auriel for his third.

A typical Scandinavian driver he was better on gravel than tarmac and although fast, he was very safe. Leaving the road after hitting ice on the 1990 RAC was his only retirement through accident in the last two years, and in 1991 that consistency started to pay off.

He's already won the toughest two rounds of the year so far, the Safari and the Acroplis, and now he was putting on a spurt for the finish. Victory in Finland and Australia and runner up spot on his least favourite surface in Catalunya put him seven points ahead of Sainz going into the RAC rally.

We were fairly sure that it would be a straight fight between Lancia and Toyota. Mitsubishi had won two mor erallies with the Galant, but they were both against minimal opposition. Ford had struggled all year with their big Sierras and the Subarus had also been off the pace.

But this was neither Sainz's favourite, not luckiest rally, and he soon found himself trailing the Lancia by an increasing margin.

At the start of the rally Britain's best hope seemed to be Malcolm Wilson. World Rallying was on a high, but we still lacked a Brit at the top table. Wilson though never quite got on the pace and then stuffed the majestic Sierra into the trees. It must have been a close fight, but the trees won.

But the British fans had a new hero in Colin McRae. As the rally headed into Wales Kankkunen, driving all out for the championship, found himself trailing the Scotsman's Legacy. The double World Champion was utterly perplexed as to where McRae's extra speed had come from.

Those of us watching in the forests knew exactly where McRae's speed came from, and seeing the angles his cars was making through the corners we suspected it couldn't last. Sure enough, Colin soon ended up in a ditch. Heroic efforts by the fans got him going again but he was ten minutes down and straining to catch up he did it again and this time stayed there for good. It was a legendary performance, and British petrolheads had a new hero.


With McRae out Kankkunen picked up not only a record third World Championship but the rally as well. Lancia, who had apparently peaked two years ago, once more achieved the double, giving them a fourth straight Manufacturers title, to add to the three won with the Stratos and one with the Rally. They were truly the kings of rallying.

But the end was almost nigh for the team. An increasingly anonymous part of the Fiat empire, many motor sports fans would have struggled to name a car in their range other than the Integrale. It was increasingly hard for Turin to justify the Lira spent on rallying. The Integrale was quietly retired by the Abarth competitions department. The following year the cars would be entered by the private Jolly Club team only.

As Toyota had a new car waiting in the wings it promised to be a tough year for them.