Lombard RAC Rally 1987: Kankkunen wins to secure title for second year in a row
The 1987 World Rally Championship drivers' title came down to the RAC between reigning champ Juha Kankkunen, team-mate/rival Markku Alen and a spectating Miki Biasion.
The rally was based in Chester that year and covered the length and breadth of the country (539km on Special Stages) as usual on its five day route. The first day was the typical Stately home tests, which were pacenoted for the first time, but the rest of the rally remained blind.
The opening tests caused a few problems as Alen rolled his Martini Racing Lancia Delta HF right in front of the TV cameras at Chatsworth dropping him 35s.
The Stately home stages were also a PR nightmare for the UK GM Dealer Sport squad as most of their entry succumbed to the watersplashes at Trentham Gardens and Weston Park. Malcolm Wilson, Pentti Airikkala, Dave Metcalf and endurance racer Derek Bell, all retired due to the air ducts being set too low on the Opel Kadett's, thus taking in water and drowning the engine.
Alen didn't have a very good rally:
As the rally moved into the forests Kankkunen took control when Alen lost time with being first on the road in the snow leaving Mikael Ericsson, in another works Delta, to take up the chase.
But both Alen and Ericsson though, would be off the road when the rally was in Yorkshire dropping them both back down a couple of places on the leaderboard and out of the hunt. More importantly Alen knew his title chances had gone and Miki Biasion, sitting on the sidelines, felt the same.
With the win almost guaranteed for Kankkunen the battle for second was a fierce contest between Per Eklund in an Audi Coupe quattro and Stig Blomqvist in his Texaco Sierra Cosworth. Eklund won the duel on time but was later excluded from the rally for an engine infringement (an oversize inlet manifold).
Brookes had difficulty adjusting to the Lancia Delta HF:
So Blomqvist took second ahead of Jimmy McRae who had a splendid run in the RED Sierra earning himself a FISA A seeding in the process for 1988. The rally would be Colin McRae's first RAC and he finished third in class in his Vauxhall Nova.
Ericsson took fourth in the end and Alen finished fifth after their exploits in Yorkshire. They both left the event rather dejected and team boss Fiorio would have preferred them to finish higher after a Lancia 1-2-3 was on the cards at one stage.
Russell Brookes was expected to feature in the overall battle for the lead of the rally, as he was entrusted with a works Lancia Delta for the event. But he found LHD, 4WD and turbocharging a bit much to get to grips with, for the first time, and his rally ended in a Kielder ditch.
In the end it was Kankkunen who took the plaudits by winning the rally and the championship in a very controlled manner, and in much less controversial circumstances than the previous year.
The story of the 1987 RAC Rally produced by BHP :
Stig finished second and was involved in another mighty duel with his fellow countryman Per Eklund:
Top Ten RAC Rally 1987 Results:
| 1 | Kankkunen, Juha Lancia Delta HF 4WD |
FI | A8 | 5h 26m 36s | --:-- | |
| 2 | Blomqvist, Stig Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |
SE | A8 | +3m 40s | --:-- | |
| 3 | McRae, Jimmy Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |
GB | A8 | +6m 39s | --:-- | |
| 4 | Ericsson, Mikael Lancia Delta HF 4WD |
SE | A8 | +8m 35s | --:-- | |
| 5 | Alen, Markku Lancia Delta HF 4WD |
FI | A8 | +8m 50s | --:-- | |
| 6 | Llewellin, David Audi Coupe |
GB | A8 | +19m 05s | --:-- | |
| 7 | Jonsson, Mats Opel Kadett GSi |
SE | A7 | +22m 00s | --:-- | |
| 8 | Sainz, Carlos Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |
ES | A8 | +22m 40s | --:-- | |
| 9 | Eriksson, Kenneth Volkswagen Golf GTi |
SE | A7 | +24m 44s | --:-- | |
| 10 | Ericsson, Roger Subaru RX Turbo |
SE | A8 | +32m 00s | --:-- |
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- Russell Brookes in the Andrews Heat for Hire Lancia Delta HF on the 1987 Lombard RAC Rally
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