1989 World Rally Championship


The 1989 World Rally Championship was the 17th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, with some adjustments to the schedule versus the previous season. The WRC ended its participation in North America by removing the Olympus Rally from the schedule, implementing in its place Rally Australia. An anomaly in the schedule was that 1989 was the only year in which the Swedish Rally and the Rallye de Monte Carlo were switched in place, with the Swedish event taking place to start the year. This made it the second and last time that Monte Carlo would not mark the first event of the WRC season until the 2009 season.
Martini Lancia continued their domination of the sport for a third year in 1989, winning the first six rallies in which manufacturer points were awarded, and ultimately winning the title with plenty of room to spare. Italian Miki Biasion, Finn Markku Alén and Frenchman Bruno Saby returned to the team, while other successful drivers employed by the team through the year included French native Didier Auriol, Swede Mikael Ericsson, and Argentine driver Jorge Recalde. The team drove the Lancia Delta Integrale through the year. The car also remained the one of choice for the Jolly Club team's main drivers, Italians Alex Fiorio and Dario Cerrato. Complementing the manufacturer's success in the standings, Lancia drivers placed well throughout the top ranks in the drivers championship as well. Biasion seized the championship handily, becoming the WRC's second repeat champion, while Fiorio settled for a distant second, a position fought for through the year against Toyota's driver, Kankkunen. Other successful Lancia pilots included Mikael Ericsson in fourth and Auriol behind him in fifth place.
Toyota Team Europe represented the only serious challenge to Martini and the Lancias with it Toyota Celica GT-Four and a stable of drivers that included former world champion Finn Juha Kankkunen and the only Group A winner, Swede Kenneth Eriksson, as well as a rising star from Spain, Carlos Sainz. All three had successes during the year, though the team was never able to overcome Lancia's early domination of the manufacturer title race. Kankkunen challenged for second overall, but ultimately had to settle for third place, while Kenneth Eriksson took sixth and Sainz finished in eighth.
After an initial win in Sweden by its main driver, Swede Ingvar Carlsson, Mazda Rally Team Europe was unable to repeat their success, yet still captured third overall amongst manufacturers while Carlsson took seventh in the driver championship standings. Mitsubishi's competitive team Ralliart made its entrance to the WRC scene, taking two rally wins with its Galant VR-4 car, one by Swede Mikael Ericsson in Finland and a second by Finn Pentti Airikkala in England. Ericsson's victory in Finland followed his win in the previous round in Argentina driving a Lancia, giving him the distinction of being the first winner of consecutive WRC events for different manufacturers. Mitsubishi was able to obtain fourth place overall in the standings. The Audi Quattro continued to be competitive in the hands of privateers during the early part of the season, garnering the maker with enough points for fifth, while Simon Racing's Renault 5 GT Turbo powered their driver, Frenchman Alain Oreille to victory in the Ivory Coast and 10th place in the driver standings while securing sixth for the manufacturer.
For 1989, the number of rallies for which manufacturer points would be awarded was reduced to ten of the thirteen events, with events in Sweden, the Ivory Coast, and New Zealand only counting towards the driver titles.

Teams and Drivers

Events

Championship for manufacturers

Manufacturer
MON
POR
KEN
FRA
GRC
ARG
FIN
AUS
ITA
GBR		Points
1 Lancia20202020202020-140
2 Toyota10-1214--14201417101
3 Mazda1212----17108867
4 Mitsubishi----12-206-2058
5 Audi212-38126---43
6 BMW410-17----6-37
7 Renault9--11----10-30
8 Nissan--17-1-----18
9 Volkswagen--14-------14
10 Renault Argentina-----10----15
11 Vauxhall-------8-19
12 Subaru--6----1--7
13 Ford---6------6
14 Fiat Argentina-----3----3
15 Volkswagen Argentina-----1----1
Manufacturer
MON
POR
KEN
FRA
GRC
ARG
FIN
AUS
ITA
GBR		Points

Schedule of points by place:
Place1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
Points20151210864321

Championship for drivers

Driver
SWE
MON
POR
KEN
FRA
GRC
NZL
ARG
FIN
AUS
ITA
CIV
GBR		Points
1 Miki Biasion-111-1--6-1--106
2 Alex Fiorio-Ret310-3-2-42--65
3 Juha Kankkunen-5Ret-3----15-360
4 Mikael Ericsson4------11----50
5 Didier Auriol-2Ret-12-------50
6 Kenneth Eriksson3-------42--447
7 Ingvar Carlsson1-----1-----843
8 Carlos Sainz-RetRet-Ret---3-3-239
9 Markku Alén--2------3---27
10 Alain Oreille-10--8-----91-26
11 Rod Millen------2--5---23
12 Timo Salonen22Ret------2---621
13 Marc Duez-85-6-----7--21
14 Pentti Airikkala------------120
15 Stig Blomqvist5--3---------20
15 Jorge Recalde---Ret-8-3-----20
17 Georg Fischer--4----4-----20
18 Malcolm Wilson13-----3--6--1019
19 Per Eklund2Ret-Ret-10-------16
20 Mike Kirkland---2---------15
20 François Chatriot----2--------15
20 Patrick Tauziac-----------2-15
23 Dario Cerrato-7--------4--14
24 Kenjiro Shinozuka--18--76--7---14
25 Bruno Saby-3--Ret--------12
25 Adolphe Choteau-----------3-12
27 Hannu Mikkola-4----------912
28 Patrick Snijers-6--Ret-----6--12
29 Björn Waldegård-RetRet4---------10
29 Yves Loubet----4--------10
29 Jimmy McRae-----4-------10
29 Mats Jonsson12-----4------10
29 André Segolen-----------4-10
34 Ian Duncan---5---------8
34 Bernard Béguin----5--------8
34 Colin McRae15-----5------8
34 Ernesto Soto-------5-----8
34 Thorbjörn EdlingRet-------5----8
34 Patrice Servant-----------5-8
34 Ari Vatanen-Ret----------58
41 Armin Schwarz-----8--7----7
42 Sebastian Lindholm6------------6
42 Carlos Bica--6----------6
42 Vic Preston Jr---6---------6
42 Rudi Stohl---Ret-6-------6
42 Fernando Stella-------6-----6
42 José Graziani-----------6-6
48 Stig-Olov Walfridsson8-------8----6
49 Grégoire de Mévius-127Ret------10--5
49 Gustavo Trelles--10----7-----5
49 Possum Bourne---7-----10---5
52 Leif Asterhag7------------4
52 Gianfranco Cunico----7--------4
52 Ray Wilson------7------4
52 Benoît Antoine-----------7-4
52 Mikael SundströmRet-----------74
57 Paola De Martini-9Ret-9--------4
58 Paolo Andreucci--8----------3
58 Erwin Weber---8---------3
58 Saeed Al-Hajri------8------3
58 Juan Maria Traverso-------8-----3
58 Wayne Bell---------8---3
58 Paolo Alessandrini----------8--3
64 Björn Johansson9------------2
64 Fredrik Skoghag-Ret9----------2
64 Jim Heather-Hayes---9---------2
64 Jigger-----9-------2
64 Ross Dunkerton------9------2
64 Jorge Bescham-------9-----2
64 Risto Buri--------9----2
64 Ed Ordynski---------9---2
72 Hakån Eriksson10------------1
72 Claude Balesi----10--------1
72 Ken Adamson------10------1
72 Edio Fuchter-------10-----1
72 Esa Saarenpää--------10----1
Driver
SWE
MON
POR
KEN
FRA
GRC
NZL
ARG
FIN
AUS
ITA
CIV
GBR		Points

Schedule of points by place:
Place1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
Points20151210864321

Cup for production car drivers

Driver
SWE
MON
POR
KEN
FRA
GRC
NZL
ARG
FIN
AUS
ITA
CIV
GBR		Points
1 Alain Oreille-13--13----71313-59
2 Grégoire de Mévius41013-------11-1351
3 Gustavo Trelles7-5--1-1313----39
4 Fredrik Skoghag--7--2--210---21
5 Kiyoshi Inoue--3--13---2---18
6 Sören Nilsson13------------13
6 Ken Adamson------13------13
6 Ed Ordynski---------13---13
9 Marc Hopf----------5-712
10 Patrice Servant-----------11-11
Driver
SWE
MON
POR
KEN
FRA
GRC
NZL
ARG
FIN
AUS
ITA
CIV
GBR		Points