Henri Toivonen

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Toivonen in the Porsche 911 SC RS, 1984

Henri Toivonen (born August 25, 1956 in Jyväskylä , Finland , † May 2, 1986 in Corsica ) was a Finnish rally driver .

life and career

His father Pauli Toivonen was a 1968 European rally champion and his brother, Harri Toivonen , was a well-known racing driver.

"Henkka" Toivonen started his career as a works driver in 1980 at the age of 24 in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus at the Lombard RAC rally. After Jari-Matti Latvala, he is the youngest driver to win a World Rally Championship race. After two years at Opel and Porsche , he switched to Lancia in 1985 , where he won the RAC Rally in 1985 and the Monte Carlo Rally in 1986 with the Lancia Delta S4 .

Toivonen was also able to prove his great talent and versatility off the gravel roads. He was Finnish Formula Vee champion in 1977 and was also able to win a run in the European Championship. Eddie Jordan , for whom Toivonen drove some Formula 3 guest appearances, attested that he had a talent similar to Ayrton Senna .

Lancia Delta S4 , identical in construction to the vehicle of the accident

On May 2, 1986, Henri Toivonen had a fatal accident, at the top of the table at the top of the World Championship, leading the Corsica Rally . His Delta S4 slipped out of a 90-degree left turn, tumbled down a slope, and then hit a tree. The brittle aluminum tanks burst and the car exploded in a ball of fire visible from afar. The car burned beyond recognition. Neither Toivonen nor his American co-driver Sergio Cresto survived the tragic accident.

Hours later, FISA announced the end of the increasingly controversial World Rally Championship Group B at the end of the season. Group B had produced extremely sophisticated cars like the Audi Sport quattro S1 , Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 , Ford RS200 and the Lancia Delta S4, with engine outputs of around 380 kW (517 hp). Tragically, Toivonen himself had emphasized in his last interviews between the special stages, with a bad cold and fever, that the rally was far too long and far too fast.

Web links

Commons : Henri Toivonen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Greg Stuart: Heroes of Motorsport: Henri Toivonen . ( redbull.com [accessed December 12, 2016]).
  2. ↑ editorial rallye-magazin.de: memory of Henri Toivonen. In: RALLYE MAGAZINE. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
  3. ^ The corner that killed Group B. In: www.topgear.com. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
  4. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany: "In principle, this is madness" - DER SPIEGEL 21/1986. In: www.spiegel.de. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Legends of the World Rally Championship: Group B and Henri Toivonen . In: Motorsport.com . ( motorsport.com [accessed December 12, 2016]).
personal data
SURNAME Toivonen, Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish rally driver
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Jyväskylä
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1986
Place of death Corsica