Twenty-five years ago on Monday the World Rally Championship lost arguably one of its greatest talents when Henri Toivonen was killed in a horrific crash on the Tour de Corse on 2 May 1986.
The Finn, who was 29, was leading the event by an increasing margin when his Lancia Delta S4 inexplicably left the road, plunged down a hillside and burst into flames, killing Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto.
Toivonen never won the world title his talent craved but his maiden victory on the 1980 RAC Rally made him the sport’s youngest winner at 24 – a record that stood until Jari-Matti Latvala triumphed on the Swedish Rally in 2008 aged 22.
Latvala ranks Toivonen as his hero and paid tribute to his fellow Finn when he claimed his maiden WRC success in Sweden. “Henri is a big idol for me so it feels great to beat his record,” Latvala said at the time.
Prior to Vodafone Rally de Portugal at the end of March, Wrc.com caught up with Latvala to discover why Toivonen meant so much
to the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver.
“Like me, he had a big passion to win and he was also very straight when talking,” says Latvala. “What happened to him in Corsica was very unfortunate, very sad but he said before that it was absolutely crazy to do rallies with 1000 stage kilometres. Even on the RAC Rally in 1985, which he won, he said the days were too long and you didn’t have time to sleep. Everything changed after that.”
Latvala, who is fourth in the overall WRC drivers’ standings heading to round five in Sardinia this week, says that while Toivonen shared his desire to win at all costs, their driving styles differed. “He was very straight with the lines. If you look at footage he was very straight with the car, he didn’t throw it in the corners. He was trying with the straight lines whereas I am very aggressive with my style and more sideways.”
Latvala was barely a year old when Toivonen perished so never got the opportunity to meet his idol. However, he has since struck up a friendship with Toivonen’s younger brother, Harri, who has become one of Latvala’s personal sponsors through a drinking water company he co-owns.
“Everybody that knew Henri said he was a great character and through Harri I have some great items of memorabilia from him,” says Latvala. “I have Henri’s old overall, jacket, helmet and I have from Fred Gallagher [Toivonen’s former co-driver] an old licence from Henri, a couple of books, a couple of videos. I’m happy I have those things.”
Latvala’s fascination with Toivonen began as a nine-year-old when his father Jari purchased his second rally car.
“My first car, a Ford Escort Mk1, was made for rallycross but my second rally car was an Sunbeam Avenger, which had nice straight panels and two seats inside, a proper rally car,” remembers Latvala. “When we bought it there was a story that this car was an old ex-Henri Toivonen car and basically I became interested in who was this guy so I started to look and tried to get information. I got a VHS video made in Finland called ‘Henri Toivonen: The Legend’. I watched that and it had a big influence on me. Then I looked in magazines and that’s where it all came from.”
Five years ago Latvala learned the car hadn’t belonged to Toivonen after all but he nevertheless set about restoring it with a group of friends over an 18-month period. “We made it to Group 1 homologation and we put on the colours of what Henri was using. We also have a sticker in the rear window with ‘In Memory of Henri Toivonen’.”
Toivonen had claimed two victories in Lancia’s supercharged Delta S4, a car that perhaps symbolised the Group B era more than any other. Latvala says Toivonen was the master of the Turin-built machine.
“What was special with Henri was he was not maybe so consistent but he had an ability to take a massive stage time compared to others, like in Corsica. Nobody could understand how he could go so quick. With those Group B cars he was able to drive them absolutely on the limit, more than anybody else.
“You had to be brave to do that but you also needed to know how to drive the car and have the talent to drive it. He was very brave but had the talent as well. And also, in the 1980s, if you see old videos, some rally drivers were smoking and so on but Henri was an athlete at the time. He was doing a lot of sports to keep his physical shape very good. That was very special as well.”
Toivonen’s memory lives on in Corsica. Less than 10 kilometres north of the town of Corte on the N187 is a shrine to Toivonen and Cresto. The monument stands a few metres from the corner where the pair crashed. It remains a necessary pilgrimage for all rally fans.
WRC.com
Photos Prepared by Sleiman Moussa – I like Rally Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Like-Rally/116170635087705)
