VIN: Toivonen's Last Winner - the Martini Racing Lancia Delta S4 Evoluzione chassis 204
HISTORY OF CHASSIS 204
Chassis 204 was one of the Delta S4s campaigned most extensively by the works Martini Lancia team.
It debuted in the hands of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto at round two of the 1986 World Rally Championship, the Swedish Rally, which took place on 557km of snowy special stages between February 14th and 16th. The two brand new S4s in attendance ran the softest suspension settings and 430bhp engines with a 30:70 torque split.
Toivonen was eclipsed early on by the Peugeot of Timo Salonen and then crashed into a snow bank on stage four, but was able to carry on with minimal damage. After Salonen retired on stage six, Toivonen was left to duke it out at the head of the field with the 205 T16 of Juha Kankkunen. Unfortunately, on the opening stage of day two, chassis 204 was forced to retire with a valve problem. Kankkunen went on to win from Toivonen’s Lancia team-mate, Markku Alen.
Toivonen and Cresto were back in chassis 204 for the next WRC event, Rally Portugal, which comprised 703km of special stages on a mix of gravel and tarmac between March 5th and 8th. The three Lancias in attendance ran with 30kg of additional underbody protection.
The 1986 running of Rally Portugal went down in infamy as, on stage three, the privateer Ford RS200 of Joaquim Santos span off into the huge crowd. Four spectators were killed (three children and a woman) and an additional 32 were seriously injured. All the major manufacturers subsequently withdrew their cars from the event.
Following a trip to Corsica for two weeks of testing where revised suspension pick-up points, springs, shocks, anti-roll bars and wider Pirelli tyres were successfully trialled (along with a lower ride height), Lancia entered Toivonen and Cresto in chassis 204 for the Rally Costa Smerelda which was round eleven of the 1986 European Rally Championship. The 546km all-gravel event took place between April 16th and 18th and chassis 204 was the sole Martini Lancia entry present.
Having established a big lead, on the second day Toivonen’s supercaharger failed which halved his ten minute advantage over the duelling Andrea Zanussi (Peugeot Italia 205 T16) and Dario Cerrato (Jolly Club Delta S4). Toivonen’s chance of finishing then seemed to fade completely when more supercharger issues caused chassis 204 to ground to a halt, but having redirected the air straight to the turbo (bypassing the supercharger) Toivonen and Cresto were able to continue although their engine only functioned properly between 7000rpm and 8500rpm.
Toivonen drove spectacularly to the end and ultimately finished 36 seconds ahead of his rivals although he was helped by a wheel coming off Cerrato’s Jolly Club Lancia.
The Costa Smerelda Rally would be Henri Toivonen’s final event as he and Sergio Cresto were killed in a fiery accident on the Tour de Corse two weeks later.
Mikael Ericsson and Claes Billstam were drafted in to drive chassis 204 for round six of the World Rally Championship, the Acropolis Rally in Greece, which took place in blistering heat between June 2nd and 4th over 690km of gravel special stages. The trio of works cars on hand arrived with revised front shock absorbers, 440bhp engines, foam strips around the doors to keep the dust out and, as per new rule changes since the Tour de Corse, around 11.5kg of of fire suppression equipment in the engine bay and cockpit.
During the first day, Ericsson was delayed by a puncture and then his rear driveshaft failed which caused a wheel to collapse under the car and dropped him from fifth to tenth overnight.
Early on day two, the Swede was in more trouble when the front differential broke which meant chassis 204 lost another eight minutes to the leaders. When Ericsson’s suspension gave up the ghost a couple of stages later, he arrived at parc ferme outside of the time limit and was out of the rally.
Chassis 204’s final outing for the Martini Lancia outfit came at round eight of the WRC, Rally Argentina, which comprised 624km of gravel stages between August 6th and 9th. The car was allocated to guest driver, local hero Jorge Recalde, and his navigator, Jorge Del Buono.
All three works cars arrived with wider front wheels, specially cut tyres for a smaller contact patch and the softest springs.
After a trouble-free opening day, Recalde was third behind team-mate Miki Biasion and Peugeot’s Juha Kankkunen. Following Kankkunen’s retirement on day two, Lancia boss Cesare Fiorio put out a team order that Biasion and the fast recovering Alen were to hold station in first and second. By this time, Recalde was another two minutes back in fourth having been overtaken by Peugeot’s Stig Blomqvist. A subsequent puncture for the Argentine ruled out any chance of him catching Blomqvist and Recalde had to settle for a nevertheless very respectable fourth place finish.
The one-two result for Biasion and Alen was a welcome break for Lancia who had led all their WRC events in 1986 but won nothing since the opening round in Monte Carlo.
Chassis 204 did not compete for the Martini squad again.
Notable History
Lancia Martini
Registered A6 37614
14/02/1986 WRC Swedish Rally (H. Toivonen / S. Cresto) DNF (#5)
05/03/1986 WRC Rallye de Portugal (H. Toivonen / S. Cresto) WDN (#8)
16/04/1986 ERC Rally Costa Smerelda (H. Toivonen / S. Cresto) 1st oa, 1st ERC class (#1)
Registered TO 77890E
02/06/1986 WRC Acropolis Rally (M. Ericsson / C. Billstam) DNF (#11)
06/08/1986 WRC Rally Argentina (J. Recalde / J. Del Buono) 4th oa, 4th B12 class (#6)
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
