THE SECOND COMING

It's 40 years since Audi launched the Sport quattro, with which it prolonged its dominance of Group B rallying. Glen Waddington celebrates with legendary driver Stig Blomqvist

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Of course, we Octane types love to drive. But sometimes the passenger seat is a very privileged spot indeed. And here I am, sitting next to Stig Blomqvist, 1984 World Rally Champion and runner-up in 1985.

Both of those notable championships were with Audi Sport. And the 1984 season was the one in which the Ingolstadt company turned up the wick, building a shorter, more powerful Group B weapon to keep it at the top of the table, Technik having done its Vorsprung to perfection. That car was the Sport quattro and, 40 years on, man and machine are in harmony once more. Though perhaps with a less experienced co-driver this time.

This is not the first occasion on which I’ve shared the cockpit with the veteran Swedish rally driver, nor my first time in this car. Back in 2021 we were in San Romolo, scene of a closed-road mountain stage in the Rallye Sanremo 40 years earlier, when Michèle Mouton had taken her maiden Group B win, and Audi its second Group B victory (and third podium finish). It’s also the scene of the Sport quattro’s final victory, in 1985. This particular Sport quattro was built in 1984, of course, and finished in second place on the Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 1985, piloted by Audi Sport works driver Walter Röhrl with Christian Geistdörfer, before it became a testing and experimental vehicle – hence its remarkable state of preservation.