Editing Group B (section)

=== 1986 ===
{{Main|1986 World Rally Championship}}
For the 1986 season, defending champion Salonen drove the new Evolution 2 version of Peugeot's 205 T16 alongside ex-Toyota driver [[Juha Kankkunen]]. Audi's new Sport Quattro S1 boasted over 600&nbsp;hp (450&nbsp;kW) and a huge snowplow-like front end. Lancia's Delta S4 would be in the hands of Finnish prodigy [[Henri Toivonen]] and [[Markku Alén]], and Ford readied its high-tech RS200 with [[Stig Blomqvist]] and [[Kalle Grundel]].

On the "Lagoa Azul" stage of the [[Rally de Portugal]] near [[Sintra]], Portuguese driver [[Joaquim Santos]] crested a rise, turning to his right to avoid a small group of spectators. This caused him to lose control of his RS200. The car veered to the right and slid off the road into another group of spectators. Thirty-one people were injured and three were killed. All of the top teams immediately pulled out of the rally and Group B was placed in jeopardy.

[[File:Rétromobile 2017 - Lancia Delta S4 - circa 1986 - 001.jpg|thumb|[[Lancia Delta S4]]]]
Disaster struck again in early May at the [[Tour de Corse]]. Lancia's Toivonen was the championship favorite, and once the rally got underway, he was the pace setter. Seven kilometers into the 18th stage, Toivonen's S4 flew off the unguarded edge of a tightening left-hand bend and plunged down a steep wooded hillside. The car landed upside down with its fuel tanks ruptured by the impact. The combination of a red-hot turbocharger, [[Kevlar]] bodywork, and leaking fuel ignited the car and set fire to the dry undergrowth. Toivonen and co-driver [[Sergio Cresto]] died in their seats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thruxton.f9.co.uk/henri/henri_career.htm|title=Henri Toivonen Biography|website=www.thruxton.f9.co.uk|access-date=14 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231234253/http://www.thruxton.f9.co.uk/henri/henri_career.htm|archive-date=31 December 2006|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.topgear.com/car-news/motorsport/corner-killed-group-b|title=The corner that killed Group B|date=19 May 2013|website=topgear.com|access-date=14 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027125851/https://www.topgear.com/car-news/motorsport/corner-killed-group-b|archive-date=27 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.autoevolution.com/news/group-b-rally-cars-the-killer-b-s-2724.html|title=Group B Rally Cars: The Killer B's|first=Alex|last=Oagana|date=22 November 2010|website=autoevolution.com|access-date=14 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114184710/https://www.autoevolution.com/news/group-b-rally-cars-the-killer-b-s-2724.html|archive-date=14 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> With no witnesses to the accident, it was impossible to determine what caused the crash other than that Toivonen had left the road at high speed. Some cite Toivonen's ill health at the time (he reportedly was suffering from the [[Influenza|flu]]);<ref name="Appunt">{{Cite web |url=https://www.classic-trader.com/it/magazine/toivonen-cresto-appuntamento-col-destino |title=Toivonen e Cresto: appuntamento col destino |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=25 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725080754/https://www.classic-trader.com/it/magazine/toivonen-cresto-appuntamento-col-destino |url-status=dead }}</ref> others suggest mechanical failure or simply the difficulty of driving the car (although Toivonen, like Vatanen, had a career full of crashing out while leading rallies). Up until that stage he was leading the rally by a large margin, with no other driver challenging him.<ref name="Appunt"/>

The crash came a year after Lancia driver [[Attilio Bettega]] had crashed and died in his 037. While that fatality was largely blamed on the unforgiving Corsican scenery (and bad luck, as his co-driver, [[Maurizio Perissinot]], was unharmed), Toivonen and Cresto's deaths, combined with the Portugal tragedy and televised accident of F1 driver [[Marc Surer]] in another RS200 which killed co-driver [[Michel Wyder]], compelled the FIA to ban all Group B cars immediately for 1987. Audi decided to quit Group B entirely after the Corsica rally.

The final days of Group B were also controversial. The Peugeots were disqualified from the [[Rally Sanremo]] by the Italian scrutineers as the 'skirts' around the bottom of the car were found to be illegal. Peugeot immediately accused the Italians of favouring Lancia.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Their case was strengthened at the next event, the [[RAC Rally]], when the British scrutineers passed the Peugeots as legal in identical trim. FISA annulled the result of the Sanremo Rally eleven days after the final round in the United States. As a result, the championship title was passed from Lancia's Markku Alén to Peugeot's Juha Kankkunen. Salonen had won another two rallies during the 1986 season, becoming the most successful Group B-era driver with a total of seven wins.