When Audi’s senior management invited Hannu Mikkola into the office, he had an idea what was coming. This was 1986, the World Rally Championship was reeling from the fatalities which would bring Group B to a premature end. Audi was out.
Mikkola and team-mate Walter Röhrl were told they would be free to pursue options with rival teams.
Neither did. Neither competed again that year.
Mikkola’s last event in 1986 was the Welsh Rally, which coincided with the weekend of the Tour de Corse which tragically claimed the lives of Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto. Röhrl’s last competitive outing was the Rally of Portugal where Joaquim Santos’ Ford RS200 crashed, killing four fans.
Not long after, Mikkola got the call from Turin.
Understandably, Mikkola had no appetite for driving the car vacated by his friend and countryman Toivonen
The Finn talked of this moment in an exclusive interview with journalist Eero Wihuri. He said: “Lancia wanted me to drive the Delta S4 as Markku Alèn’s teammate, which meant I was offered Henri’s vacant seat.
“Lancia’s competition coordinator Ninni Russo was very active, he called me many times. However, I was not enthusiastic about Lancia’s offer.
“I could even have chosen which races I would compete in with Lancia, and ultimately they made a good offer for me just for the 1000 Lakes Rally. However, I refused all Lancia’s offers because I did not want to compete with a car where they sat on top of the petrol tank because it was too dangerous.
“In addition, adapting to the Lancia would have required a lot of testing.”
Come back to DirtFish.com later on Friday to read Wihuri’s full, fascinating story of Mikkola’s time with Audi.
