1987 World Rally Championship

The 1987 World Rally Championship was the 15th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies in the same venues of the previous season. The only alteration to the schedule was the move of the Olympus Rally from December to June on the calendar.

1987 World Rally Championship

World Drivers' Champion:
Juha Kankkunen
World Manufacturers' Champion:
Lancia

Previous

1986

Next

1988

1987 marked the beginning of a new era for the WRC, as it was the first season driven without the powerful and popular Group B rally cars, seeing the Group A cars come to the forefront of the world stage and the institution of championships not only for manufacturers and drivers, but also drivers of production and two-wheel drive cars. Group A would remain at the forefront of the championship for ten years, where a new specification, World Rally Car were made standard in 1997. The FIA also changed the basic scoring rules for manufacturers although they retained the policy of having two rallies not count toward manufacturers totals. New Zealand and the Ivory Coast were selected in 1987 to count solely for drivers' titles.

Martini Lancia proved most successful in adjusting to the new lower-powered cars, adopting the Lancia Delta HF 4WD, driven by Finns Juha Kankkunen and Markku Alén as well as Italian Miki Biasion. Between the three, Lancia would gather nine rally wins over the thirteen race season, dominating the manufacturers' race for the championship. Meanwhile, the three drivers split success between them, placing closely in the top three places for the drivers' title by the end of the season.

Audi Sport retained both Hannu Mikkola and Walter Röhrl, although they could not duplicate the success of their Group B seasons, both placing well down in the drivers' title competition. Audi however did gain some points from others team running the Quattro. Clarion Team Europe with driver Per Eklund contributed 26 points to the work's effort while Mig Linz's entry, Georg Fischer added another eight, bolstering Audi's bid for second overall.

The Philips Renault Elf team struggled through the season with the Group A Renault 11 Turbo. French drivers Jean Ragnotti and François Chatriot were unable to gain much success, with the highlight of their season coming at Portugal with Ragnotti's second-place finish.

Volkswagen Motorsport followed their success of the previous season with Swede Kenneth Eriksson, the 1986 winner of the championship for drivers of Group A cars. Eriksson was able to place fourth overall on the season, beaten only by Lancia drivers. Volkswagen, lacking a major second driver, was surpassed by not only Lancia, but Audi and Renault as well in the manufacturer standings.

Ford Motor Company made its return to serious competition by enlisting drivers Ari Vatanen and Stig Blomqvist, but struggled early on with the Sierra XR 4x4. The car was dropped, its replacement on the works team coming in the end of the season in the form of the redesigned Sierra RS Cosworth, which met with much greater success, challenging the dominant Lancias in the final three events of the season.

Teams and drivers

Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	Drivers	Rounds
Martini Lancia	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	P	Juha Kankkunen	1–3, 6–7, 10, 13
				Miki Biasion	1, 3, 5–7, 9, 12
				Bruno Saby	1, 5, 12–13
				Markku Alén	2–3, 6–7, 10, 12–13
				Mikael Ericsson	2, 13
				Vic Preston Jr	4
				Yves Loubet	5
				Jorge Recalde	9
Mazda Rally Team Europe	Mazda	323 4WD	M	Timo Salonen	1–3, 10, 13
				Ingvar Carlsson	1–3, 9–10
				Mikael Sundström	2, 10, 13
				Harri Toivonen	2, 10
				Rod Millen	7
				Jon Woodner	7
				Neil Allport	8
				Pascal Gaban	12
Philips Renault Elf Renault Sport Elf	Renault	11 Turbo	M	Jean Ragnotti	1, 3, 5–6, 12
				François Chatriot	1, 3, 5–6, 12
				Alain Oreille	1, 5
				Manuel Breyner	3
				Inverno Amaral	3
				Bento Amaral	3
Audi Sport	Audi	200 Quattro 80 Quattro Coupé Quattro	M	Walter Röhrl	1, 4, 6
				Hannu Mikkola	4, 6, 10
				Lars-Erik Torph	2
				Per Eklund	2, 9, 10, 13
				Göran Åndberg	2
				Rudi Stohl	3–4, 6, 11–12
				Jorge Recalde	6
				Paolo Alessandrini	6
				John Buffum	7
				David Llewellin	12–13
Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford	Sierra XR 4x4 Sierra RS Cosworth	P	Stig Blomqvist	1–2, 4–5, 8, 10, 13
				Kalle Grundel	1–2, 5
				Didier Auriol	1, 5, 12
				Carlos Sainz	3, 5, 13
				Joaquim Santos	3
				John Hellier	4
				Ari Vatanen	10
				Jimmy McRae	12–13
				Mark Lovell	13
				George Donaldson	13
Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	Golf GTI 16V	P	Kenneth Eriksson	1–6, 8–9, 11, 13
				Erwin Weber	1, 3–4, 6, 9, 11
				Teemu Tahko	10
Fuji Heavy Industries	Subaru	RX Turbo	D	Per Eklund	1, 4
				Harald Demuth	1
				Ari Vatanen	4
				Peter 'Possum' Bourne	4, 8, 13
				Frank Tundo	4
				José Celsi	9
Mercedes France	Mercedes	190E 2.3 16V	M	Bernard Darniche	1, 5
				Dany Snobeck	1
Jolly Club	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	P	Vittorio Caneva	1–3, 6, 12
				Alex Fiorio	1–3, 6–7, 10, 12
				Giorgio Schön	1
				Mikael Ericsson	6, 12
				Giannis Vardinogiannis	6
				Jorge Recalde	9
				Gianfranco Cunico	12
				Alex Fassina	12
				Pierangela Riva	12
GM Euro Sport	Opel Vauxhall	Kadett GSI 16V Astra GTE	M	Mats Jonsson	2, 10, 13
				Björn Johansson	2
				Håkan Eriksson	2
				David Metcalfe	2, 13
				Rauno Aaltonen	4
				Guy Fréquelin	5, 12
				Sepp Haider	10, 12–13
				Derek Bell	13
				Malcolm Wilson	13
				Andrew Wood	13
				Pentti Airikkala	13
Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi	Starion Turbo	M	Robert Koch	2
				David Offier	8
				Lasse Lampi	10
				Antero Laine	10
				Patrick Tauziac	11
Toyota Team Europe	Toyota	Supra 3.0i Supra Turbo	P	Björn Waldegård	4, 7, 11
				Lars-Erik Torph	4, 7, 11
				Robin Ulyate	4, 11
Nissan Motorsports International	Nissan	200SX	D	Shekhar Mehta	4, 6–7, 11
				Andrea Zanussi	4, 6
				Mike Kirkland	4, 6, 11
				Jayant Shah	4
				Stratis Hatzipanayiotou	6
				Mikael Ericsson	7
				Per Eklund	7
				Paddy Davidson	8
				Alain Ambrosino	11
Rothmans Motul BMW	BMW	M3	M	Bernard Béguin	5
				Marc Duez	5
				Patrick Bernardini	5
Grifone Esso	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	P	Paolo Alessandriani	7, 12
				Fabrizio Tabaton	12
Funkberaterring Rally Team	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	M	Franz Wittmann	8

Schedule and results

1987 World Rally Championship schedule and results

Round	Rally name	Stages	Podium finishers
			Rank	Driver	Co-driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Rallye Monte Carlo (17 January–22 January)	26 stages 571 km Tarmac	1	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:39.50
			2	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:40.49
			3	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi Sport	Audi 200 Quattro	7:44.00
2	Swedish Rally (13 February–14 February)	26 stages 400 km Snow/Ice	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Mazda Rally Team Europe	Mazda 323 4WD	4:11.00
			2	Mikael Ericsson	Claes Billstam	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	4:11.23
			3	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	4:12.46
3	Rallye de Portugal (11 March–14 March)	37 stages 597 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:09.39
			2	Jean Ragnotti	Pierre Thimonier	Renault Sport Elf	Renault 11 Turbo	7:12.32
			3	Kenneth Eriksson	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	7:14.37
4	Safari Rally (16 April–20 April)	83 controls 4011 km Gravel	1	Hannu Mikkola	Arne Hertz	Audi Sport	Audi 200 Quattro	3:39.44
			2	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi Sport	Audi 200 Quattro	3:56.59
			3	Lars-Erik Torph	Benny Melander	Toyota Team Europe	Toyota Supra 3.0i	4:31.09
5	Tour de Corse (7 May–9 May)	24 stages 619 km Tarmac	1	Bernard Béguin	Jean-Jacques Lenne	Rothmans Motul BMW	BMW M3	7:22.30
			2	Yves Loubet	Jean-Bernard Vieu	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:24.38
			3	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:24.58
6	Acropolis Rally (May 31–3)	33 stages 538 km Gravel	1	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:25.57
			2	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:26.45
			3	Hannu Mikkola	Arne Hertz	Audi Sport	Audi 200 Quattro	7:31.21
7	Olympus Rally (26 June–29 June)	42 stages 540 km Gravel	1	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:59.24
			2	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:59.36
			3	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:00.06
8	Rally New Zealand[1] (11 July–14 July)	36 stages 593 km Gravel	1	Franz Wittmann	Jörg Pattermann	Funkberaterring Rally Team	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:56.00
			2	Kenneth Eriksson	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	6:56.47
			3	Possum Bourne	Michael Eggleton	Fuji Heavy Industries	Subaru RX Turbo	7:04.25
9	Rally Argentina (4 August–8 August)	26 stages 596 km Gravel	1	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:10.27
			2	Jorge Recalde	Jorge del Buono	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:11.28
			3	Erwin Weber	Matthias Feltz	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	7:37.11
10	1000 Lakes Rally (27 August–30 August)	52 stages 494 km Gravel	1	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:12.22
			2	Ari Vatanen	Terry Harryman	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:17.54
			3	Stig Blomqvist	Bruno Berglund	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:18.51
11	Rallye Côte d'Ivoire[1] (22 September–26 September)	29 controls 3831 km Gravel	1	Kenneth Eriksson	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	+48.57 pen
			2	Shekhar Mehta	Rob Combes	Nissan Motorsports International	Nissan 200SX	+1:09.18 pen
			3	Erwin Weber	Matthias Feltz	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	+2:05.56 pen
12	Rallye Sanremo (12 October–15 October)	38 stages 529 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:09.19
			2	Bruno Saby	Jean-François Fauchille	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:14.30
			3	Jean Ragnotti	Pierre Thimonier	Renault Sport Elf	Renault 11 Turbo	6:16.55
13	RAC Rally (22 November–25 November)	47 stages 539 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Martini Lancia	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:26.36
			2	Stig Blomqvist	Bruno Berglund	Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:29.48
			3	Jimmy McRae	Ian Grindrod	RED Ford	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:33.15

Championship for manufacturers

1987 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

Rank	Manufacturers	Event											Total points
		MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	ARG	FIN	ITA	GBR
1	Lancia	20	-	20	-	-	20	20	20	20	20	-	140
2	Audi	14	6	8	20	-	14	-	-	12	-	8	82
3	Renault	8	-	17	-	12	10	-	10	-	14	-	71
4	Volkswagen	10	4	14	12	-	8	-	14	-	-	2	64
5	Ford	-	8	2	-	6	-	-	-	17	12	17	62
6	Mazda	12	20	-	-	-	-	12	-	8	-	-	52
7	Toyota	-	-	-	14	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	22
8	BMW	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	20
9	Opel	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	8	6	16
10	Subaru	1	-	-	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	12
11	Nissan	-	-	-	4	-	1	4	-	-	-	-	9
12	Fiat	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	5

1987 World Rally Championship point awards for manufacturers

Points awarded by finish	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
	20	17	14	12	10	8	6	4	2	1

Championship for drivers

1987 World Rally Championship for Drivers

Rank	Driver	Event													Total points
		MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	USA	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR
1	Juha Kankkunen	15	12	10	-	-	15	20	-	-	8	-	-	20	100
2	Miki Biasion	20	-	3	-	12	4	15	-	20	-	-	20	-	94
3	Markku Alén	-	8	20	-	-	20	12	-	-	20	-	-	8	88
4	Kenneth Eriksson	8	3	12	-	-	-	-	15	10	-	20	-	2	70
5	Jean Ragnotti	6	-	15	-	10	8	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	51
6	Erwin Weber	4	-	-	10	-	6	-	-	12	-	12	-	-	44
7	Stig Blomqvist	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	15	33
8	Hannu Mikkola	-	-	-	20	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	32
9	Jorge Recalde	-	-	1	-	-	10	4	-	16	-	-	-	-	30
10	Mikael Ericsson	-	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	10	28
11	Walter Röhrl	12	-	-	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27
12	Per Eklund	1	4	-	8	-	-	2	-	-	10	-	-	-	25
13	François Chatriot	3	-	8	-	8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	22
14	Timo Salonen	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20
	Bernard Béguin	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20
	Franz Wittmann	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	20
17	Ingvar Carlsson	10	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20
18	Shekhar Mehta	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	15	-	-	18
19	Ari Vatanen	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	15	-	-	-	16
20	Yves Loubet	-	-	-	-	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15
	Bruno Saby	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	-	15
22	Didier Auriol	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	13
23	Lars-Erik Torph	-	-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12
	'Possum' Bourne	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	12
	Jimmy McRae	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	12
26	Rod Millen	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	10
	Tony Teesdale	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	-	-	-	10
	Patrick Tauziac	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	-	-	10
29	Paolo Alessandrini	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	2	-	10
30	Rudi Stohl	-	-	4	4	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10
31	David Officer	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	-	8
	Gabriel Raies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	8
	Patrick Copetti	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	8
	Fabrizio Tabaton	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	8
35	Carlos Sainz	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	7
36	Georg Fischer	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
	Robin Ulyate	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
	Marc Duez	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
	Björn Waldegård	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
	Ken Adamson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	6
	Paulo Lemos	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	6
	Thorbjörn Edling	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	6
	Adolphe Choteau	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	6
	Guy Fréquelin	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	6
	David Llewellin	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	6
46	Stuart Weeber	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	4
	Jorge Fleck	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	4
	Sebastian Lindholm	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	4
	Martial Yacé	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	4
	Alex Fiorio	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	4
	Mats Jonsson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	4
52	Mike Kirkland	-	-	-	3	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
53	Simon Davies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	3
	Jorge Bescham	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	3
	Tomi Palmqvist	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	3
	Alessandro Molino	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	3
57	Erik Johansson	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	3
58	Bertrand Balas	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Bror Danielsson	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Joaquim Santos	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Rauno Aaltonen	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Alain Oreille	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Kouichi Hazu	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Ernesto Soto	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	2
	Fredrik Donner	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2
66	Laurent Poggi	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Clive Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Grant Goile	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Alejandro Schmauk	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1
	Timo Heinonen	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
	Lambert Kouame	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
	Sepp Haider	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
	Roger Ericsson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

1987 World Rally Championship point awards for drivers

Points awarded by finish	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
	20	15	12	10	8	6	4	3	2	1

Sources

1. Event not included in the Manufacturers' Championship

See also

• 1987 in sports

External links

• FIA World Rally Championship 1987 at ewrc-results.com