The 1988 World Rally Championship was the 16th season of the

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...

(FIA)

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

(WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies, following the same schedule as the previous season. Martini Lancia followed their successful previous season with an even more dominant performance in 1988, winning ten of the eleven rallies in which manufacturer points were awarded. The

Lancia Delta HF 4WD The Lancia Delta is a small family car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia in three generations. The first generation (1979-1994) debuted at the 1979 Frankfurt Motor Show, the second generation (1993-1999) debuted at the 1993 Gene ...

proved fast and reliable in the hands of returning drivers Finn

Markku Alén Markku Allan Alén (born 15 February 1951) is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastie ...

and Italian

Miki Biasion Massimo "Miki" Biasion (born 7 January 1958) is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion. Career Biasion was born in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto. Biasion came to prominence in the early 1980s, winning both the Italian and European ...

. During the season, the car was replaced by the Delta HF Integrale, which was an immediate success. Biasion would take the drivers' title, with his Finnish teammate placing second behind him. Third driver Frenchman

Bruno Saby Bruno Saby (born 23 February 1949 in Grenoble) is a rally driver from France. In 1981, Saby became French Rally Champion in a Renault 5 Turbo. He drove for the works teams of Renault, Peugeot, Volkswagen and Lancia during his career in the Worl ...

also contributed to the effort with a rally win, though was not a major contender for the title.

Jolly Club Jolly Club was an Italian motor racing team, which competed in the World Rally Championship, the Sportscar World Championship, the European Touring Car Championship and briefly in the Formula One World Championship, along with several domestic cha ...

driver, Italian Alex Fiorio, would take third place in the driver championship at the wheel of a Lancia Delta as well.

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

struggled to compete, though it was the only other manufacturer besides Lancia to win a rally, with primary driver

Didier Auriol Didier Auriol (born 18 August 1958) is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier, and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first driv ...

winning the

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...

in his Sierra RS Cosworth. Auriol would only reach 6th in the drivers' competition, while Spanish teammate

Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz may refer to: People * Carlos Sainz Sr. (born 1962), Spanish rally driver world champion, father of Jr. * Carlos Sainz Jr. (born 1994), Spanish Formula One driver, son of Sr. Other uses * '' Carlos Sainz: World Rally Championship'', 1 ...

would struggle to reach 11th in the standings.

Stig Blomqvist Stig Lennart Blomqvist (born 29 July 1946) is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 an ...

, racing for Rallysport Sweden in a Sierra, would finish best amongst Ford drivers, taking 4th in the championship standings. 1988 marked the withdrawal of Audi Sport from the WRC, although a number of small teams and privateers were successful enough using

Audi Quattro The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991. Background The wo ...

versions for the manufacturer to place 3rd amongst manufacturers despite the lack of a works effort.

Mazda Rally Team Europe The Mazda Rally Team Europe was a rally team created by Achim Warmbold that competed in the World Rally Championship from 1985 to 1991. History The Mazda Rally Team Europe was created by Achim Warmbold as European Mazda preparation business bas ...

made a significant effort to compete with Finn

Timo Salonen Timo Salonen (born October 8, 1951) is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smok ...

as their primary driver for the

Mazda 323 4WD The , also marketed prominently as the Mazda 323, Mazda Protegé and Mazda Allegro, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazda between 1963 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004. It was marketed as the ' ...

. Timo would garner 5th place in the driver standings while the manufacturer gained 4th place. In addition to the primary driver and manufacturer championships, WRC also awarded the FIA Cup for Drivers of Production Cars for a second season. Belgian Pascal Gaban won the hotly contested contest in a Mazda 323 against Argentine Jorge Recalde in his Lancia Delta while Italian Giovanni Del Zoppo, another Delta pilot, finished well behind in third place. __TOC__

Teams and drivers

Events

Championship for manufacturers

Championship for drivers

Cup for production car drivers

External links

FIA World Rally Championship 1988
at ewrc-results.com {{World Rally Championship results