Lars-Erik Torph (11 January 1961 – 23 January 1989) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver. He debuted in the

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 ...

in 1980 and took his first points at his home event, the

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

, in 1984. Driving a Toyota Celica TCT, a Toyota Supra 3.0i and an Audi Coupé Quattro, he went on to finish on the podium four times. After just turning 28, Torph and his co-driver Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt died while spectating the 1989 Monte Carlo Rally, after Lancia driver Alex Fiorio lost control of his Delta Integrale and crashed into them.

Career

Torph debuted in the World Rally Championship during the 1980 season, competing with a Volvo 142 at the

and at the

1000 Lakes Rally Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The ra ...

in Finland, retiring in both events. At his seventh WRC event, the 1984 Swedish Rally, he took his first WRC points by finishing fifth in an

Opel Ascona The Opel Ascona is a large family car (D-segment in Europe) that was produced by the German automaker Opel from 1970 to 1988. It was produced in three separate generations, beginning with rear-wheel-drive and ending up as a front-wheel drive J-ca ...

for the Opel Team Sweden. In

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, Torph drove to 11th place at his home event and then placed in the points at the 1000 Lakes Rally, taking ninth place in a

Volkswagen Golf GTI Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

for the Swedish Junior Team. In the 1986 season, Torph competed in three rallies for

Toyota Team Europe Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH (TGR-E), formerly Andersson Motorsport GmbH and Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), is a fully-owned and controlled entity of Toyota Motor Corporation, based in Cologne, Germany, which provides motorsport and automotiv ...

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

's factory WRC team. He took his Toyota Celica TCT to second place at the endurance events

Safari Rally The Safari Rally is a rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically r ...

and

Rallye Côte d'Ivoire The Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, perhaps better known as the Rallye Bandama as it was originally called, or the Ivory Coast Rally is a rally race held annually in Côte d'Ivoire in Africa. In common with other races on the continent, it is known for its ...

, losing the wins to compatriot and teammate

Björn Waldegård Björn Waldegård (12 November 1943 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the inaugural World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle". Career Waldegård, who came from Rimbo, had a ca ...

. At the

Olympus Rally The Olympus Rally is an event in the motorsport of rallying. While it has usually been run as a national rally, in 1986–1988, it was a round in the FIA World Rally Championship, the most recent time a WRC rally has been run in the United State ...

, Torph finished fourth, but this time ahead of Waldegård who took fifth place. Points from these events placed Torph sixth in drivers' world championship. In

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, Torph again had a three-event contract with Toyota. He started his season at the Swedish Rally and finished 11th in his privateer Audi 80 Quattro. With a factory Toyota Supra 3.0i, he finished third at the Safari Rally behind Audi Sport's

Hannu Mikkola Hannu Olavi Mikkola (24 May 1942 − 25 February 2021) was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times. Career Mikkola's rally career ...

and

Walter Röhrl Walter Röhrl (; born 7 March 1947) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl has scored 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements includin ...

, despite a

fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

that lasted almost the duration of the event. At the Olympus Rally, he retired due to an engine problem. On the second day of the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, Toyota's

Cessna 340 The Cessna 340 is a twin piston engine pressurized business aircraft that was manufactured by Cessna.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 106. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. The Cessna 33 ...

aircraft crashed down and exploded, killing manager

Henry Liddon Henry Parry Liddon (1829–1890), also known as H. P. Liddon, was an English theologian. From 1870 to 1882, he was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. Biography The son of a naval capt ...

, his assistant Nigel Harris, the pilot and the navigator. Toyota boss

Ove Andersson Ove Andersson (3 January 1938 – 11 June 2008), nicknamed ''Påven'' ("the Pope"), was a Swedish rally driver and the first head of Toyota's F1 programme. Early life Andersson was born in Uppsala and grew up on a remote farm. His father bough ...

withdrew all the factory Supra Turbos from the event. During the 1988 season, Torph participated in only two WRC events. In Sweden, driving a privateer Audi Coupé Quattro, he took his fourth podium place finishing behind

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

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 ...

. For the Safari Rally, Torph had a factory team contract with

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

but retired after his Golf GTI 16V developed an engine problem. Torph continued with the Coupé Quattro for the Team VAG Sweden in the 1989 season opener in Sweden, but retired after an ignition problem.

Death

At the 1989 Monte Carlo Rally, Torph was not competing but only doing the

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

(''recce'') to help fellow Swedish rally driver Fredrik Skoghag regarding

pacenotes In rallying, pacenotes are a commonly used method of accurately describing a rallying route to be driven in extreme detail. As well as dictating the general route to be taken, in terms of turnings, junctions, etc., all notable features of the rou ...

on icy surface. While taking a break from recce duties, Torph and his co-driver Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt went to spectate the fifth stage of the rally. Italian driver Alex Fiorio lost control of his Lancia Delta Integrale, and then regained it only to go off the road and down an embankment on the other side. At about 145 km/h (90 mph), the car crashed into Torph and Rehnfeldt, killing both. Fiorio and his co-driver Luigi Pirollo were unhurt. Witnesses said that hitting a bump had caused Fiorio to lose control of his car. Skoghag withdrew from the event, and Lancia's factory team Martini Lancia locked out the podium with drivers

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 ...

1st,

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 ...

2nd and

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 ...

3rd.

References

External links

Torph at RallyBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torph, Lars-Erik 1961 births 1989 deaths World Rally Championship drivers Swedish rally drivers Road incident deaths in France Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Audi Sport drivers Volkswagen Motorsport drivers