Henri Toivonen - A Corner Of Corsica That Is Forever Finish

The final part of a new series featuring extracts from the Toivonen Family book. I would defiantly recommend with book not only to any Toivonen fans but rallying fans in general. Hopefully this will give you an insight to one of the sports greatest drivers.

Enjoy

Credit Toivonen Book by Esa Illoninen published by Mcklein

The success on the RAC Rally at the back end of the previous campaign had been sweet, but there was still a lot of work to do with the Lancia Delta S4. For the new season, Henri joined forces with Sergio Cresto. The New York-born Italian’s American English turned out to nicely accentuate Henri’s pace-notes.

The conditions in the French Alps proved mixed indeed for what was touted as a true battle of giants. In addition to Lancia, there were full factory squads from Peugeot, Audi, Austin Rover and Citroen all with Group B supercars. However it was the Italians who seized the initiative and Toivonen was soon leading by a full minute. Despite brake problems that lead was up to 1m41s after 11 stages. But then he came across a spectator’s Peugeot hurtling around a corner on the wrong side of the road and hit it head-on…

Although the S4 was soon roadworthy, the crew required some attention for Henri had hurt his hip and was in need of pain-killing injections for the rest of the rally, which he would go on to win, 20 years after father Pauli Toivonen had given Citroen that controversial success over Mini on the same event.

Between Portugal and Corsica, Henri returned to the Costa Smeralda Rally to wipe off the memory of his accident. In a Delta S4, he was fastest by far and won despite the Volumex supercharging system playing up.

Two days before the start of the Tour de Corse, Henri and his wife Erja celebrated a wedding anniversary. As she returned home to Monaco, Henri was left pondering his chances, having picked up ’flu. “My throat is really sore and I have fever, but otherwise everything is fine,” he said in a video. “This is going to be a very hard rally, because the roads are constantly twisting and turning.”

On stage three, Toivonen posted the best time however, and from then on his pace was relentless. Setting one fastest time after another he had built up a lead of 1m42s by the time the rally reached Bastia for an overnight rest after completing a dozen stages. “This is a crazy event! We have covered the equivalent of one full 1000 Lakes Rally’s worth of stages in one day and in these cars it’s overwhelming. The brain simply cannot keep up…”

On the first stage the next morning Bruno Saby managed to claw back seven seconds, but then Henri was back on it again. He cleaned up on the next four stages, an amazing 47 seconds faster than the main opponent on the last one of them. That time undercut the old record for the long stage by three minutes. Reaching the lunchtime regrouping in Corte, the Finn’s advantage was 2m45s and the battle appeared to be won, the rally in his pocket.

Heading from Corte towards Calvi, the next stage was the Col d’Ominanda, where after some five kilometres is a flat-out downhill section ending in a tightening left-hander with a mountainside on the left and a drop on the right. Inexplicably Henri went straight on, without any apparent signs of having tried to slow down the Lancia. It left the road, hit some treetops and ended up about three metres below road level, bursting into flames that quickly became an inferno. Henri and Sergio were believed to have been dead on impact.

Shockwaves went through the whole sport. FISA quickly moved to outlaw Group B supercars and to re-configure rally formats.

“As long as people keep remembering him, it means that Henri will never really die,” says Harri – and that’s why it’s important to go. If only to spend a few quiet moments next to a memorial that is faded, cracked and worn – not just through a constant battle against the elements but also against the tide of people who have come to see it, touch it, and leave a few tributes before they go. Henri Toivonen occupied a special place in peoples’ imaginations, so it’s no surprise that his memorial stone is a bit like Jim Morrison’s grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

“Everyone loved Henri because he had such a straightforward personality: I think it all goes back to our mother and our father and our life at home,” adds Harri. “We had a very happy childhood and our parents made us the people we are. In all our life together me and Henri only ever had one big fight, which is remarkable.”

Henri’s father, of course, was Pauli Toivonen: the reluctant winner of the controversial 1966 Monte Carlo Rally (when the dominant Minis were disqualified for a trumped-up headlamp infringement) as well as the 1968 European Rally Championship – of which Corsica now forms a part.

Such was the family’s mutual trust that Henri asked his brother to prepare his ice notes for the Monte Carlo Rally, which he won in 1986. After what had happened 20 years earlier, Pauli said with relief when Henri crossed the finish ramp first, fair and square, that the ‘name of Toivonen had finally been cleared.’

Less than four months later Henri was no longer with us.

“What people maybe don’t know about him is what a loving brother he was,” concludes Harri. “I’m four years younger and he was always looking out for his little brother, just as he had done all his life. It really doesn’t feel like more than 25 years have passed. He was my brother and my best friend and I think about him probably every day.”

Thank you for reading this series and hopefully it has given you an insight to the great driver and man that Henri was.

Henri Toivonen 1956-1986
Sergio Cresto 1956-1986