1987 World Rally Championship season

The 1987 World Rally Championship season 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 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 Finn 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 Francois 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—but 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	Constructor	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
				Markku Alén	2–3, 6–7, 10, 12–13
				Bruno Saby	1, 5
				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
				Rod Millen	7
				Jon Woodner	7
				Neil Allport	8
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
Audi Sport	Audi	200 Quattro Coupé Quattro	M	Walter Röhrl	1, 4, 6
				Hannu Mikkola	4, 6, 10
				Rudi Stohl	1, 3–4, 6, 11–12
				Paolo Alessandrini	6
				John Buffum	7
				David Llewellin	12–13
Ford Motor Co	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
				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
Fuji Heavy Industries	Subaru	RX Turbo	D	Per Eklund	1, 4
				Harald Demuth	1
				Ari Vatanen	4
				Possum Bourne	4, 8, 13
				Frank Tundo	4
Team Chardonnet	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	P	Bruno Saby	12, 13
Jolly Club	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	P	Vittorio Caneva	1–3, 6, 12
				Alex Fiorio	1–3, 6–7, 10, 12
				Mikael Ericsson	6, 12
				Jorge Recalde	9
GM Euro Sport	Opel	Kadett GSI 16V	M	Mats Jonsson	2, 10, 13
				Rauno Aaltonen	4
				Guy Fréquelin	5, 12
				Sepp Haider	10, 12–13
GM Dealersport	Opel	Kadett GSI 16V	M	Derek Bell	13
				Malcolm Wilson	13
				Pentti Airikkala	13
				David Metcalfe	13
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 Prodrive BMW	BMW	M3	M	Bernard Béguin	5
				Marc Duez	5
Funkberaterring Rally Team	Lancia	Delta HF 4WD	M	Franz Wittmann	8
Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe	Mitsubishi	Starion Turbo	M	Lasse Lampi	10
				Antero Laine	10
				Patrick Tauziac	11
Renault Galp	Renault	11 Turbo	M	Manuel Mello Breyner	3
				Inverno Amaral	3

Schedule and results

1987 World Rally Championship schedule and results

Round	Rally name	Stages	Podium finishers
			Rank	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time
1	55ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo (17 January–22 January)	26 stages 571 km Tarmac	1	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:39.50
			2	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:40.49
			3	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi 200 Quattro	7:44.00
2	37th International Swedish Rally (13 February–14 February)	26 stages 400 km Snow/Ice	1	Timo Salonen	Seppo Harjanne	Mazda 323 4WD	4:11.00
			2	Mikael Ericsson	Claes Billstam	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	4:11.23
			3	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	4:12.46
3	21º Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto (11 March–14 March)	37 stages 597 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:09.39
			2	Jean Ragnotti	Pierre Thimonier	Renault 11 Turbo	7:12.32
			3	Kenneth Eriksson	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	7:14.37
4	35th Marlboro Safari Rally (16 April–20 April)	83 controls 4011 km Gravel	1	Hannu Mikkola	Arne Hertz	Audi 200 Quatrro	3:39.44
			2	Walter Röhrl	Christian Geistdörfer	Audi 200 Quatrro	3:56.59
			3	Lars-Erik Torph	Benny Melander	Toyota Supra Turbo	4:31.09
5	31ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France (7 May–9 May)	24 stages 619 km Tarmac	1	Bernard Béguin	Jean-Jacques Lenne	BMW M3	7:22.30
			2	Yves Loubet	Jean-Bernard Vieu	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:24.38
			3	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:24.58
6	34th Acropolis Rally (May 31–3)	33 stages 538 km Gravel	1	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:25.57
			2	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:26.45
			3	Hannu Mikkola	Arne Hertz	Audi 200 Quattro	7:31.21
7	22nd Olympus Rally (26 June–29 June)	42 stages 540 km Gravel	1	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:59.24
			2	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:59.36
			3	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:00.06
8	17th AWA Clarion Rally New Zealand[1] (11 July–14 July)	36 stages 593 km Gravel	1	Franz Wittmann	Jörg Pattermann	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:56.00
			2	Kenneth Eriksson	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	6:56.47
			3	Possum Bourne	Michael Eggleton	Subaru RX Turbo	7:04.25
9	7º Marlboro Rally Argentina (4 August–8 August)	26 stages 596 km Gravel	1	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:10.27
			2	Jorge Recalde	Jorge del Buono	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	7:11.28
			3	Erwin Weber	Matthias Feltz	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	7:37.11
10	37th 1000 Lakes Rally (27 August–30 August)	52 stages 494 km Gravel	1	Markku Alén	Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:12.22
			2	Ari Vatanen	Terry Harryman	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:17.54
			3	Stig Blomqvist	Bruno Berglund	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:18.51
11	19ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire[1] (22 September–26 September)	29 controls 3831 km Gravel	1	Kenneth Eriksson	Peter Diekmann	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	+48.57 pen
			2	Shekhar Mehta	Rob Combes	Nissan 200SX	+1:09.18 pen
			3	Erwin Weber	Matthias Feltz	Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V	+2:05.56 pen
12	29º Rallye Sanremo (12 October–15 October)	38 stages 529 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Miki Biasion	Tiziano Siviero	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:09.19
			2	Bruno Saby	Jean-François Fauchille	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	6:14.30
			3	Jean Ragnotti	Pierre Thimonier	Renault 11 Turbo	6:16.55
13	36th Lombard RAC Rally (22 November–25 November)	47 stages 539 km Gravel/Tarmac	1	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD	5:26.36
			2	Stig Blomqvist	Bruno Berglund	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:29.48
			3	Jimmy McRae	Ian Grindrod	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	5:33.15

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Event not included in the Manufacturers' Championship

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

See also

• 1987 in sports

External links

• FIA World Rally Championship 1987 at rallybase

World Rally Championship seasons WRC 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 WRC-2 2013 2014 2015 WRC-3 2013 2014 2015 JWRC 2013 2014 2015