Ingvar Carlsson 1947-2009

Swedish rally legend Ingvar Carlsson has died recently after a short illness at the age of 62.

Carlsson was born on 2 April 1947 in Orebro, the same town where eight months earlier Stig Blomqvist, the 1984 World Rally Champion, was born.

He began his career in a Volvo PV544 circa 1968 and came to the attention of the BMW Swedish importer where he campaigned a 2002 Ti. He drove a works Datsun 260Z on the 1974 Rally de Portugal and then for Fiat he tackled the RAC that year in an Abarth 124 followed by a fifth place finish on his home event, the 1975 Swedish Rally, where he beat team-mate Markku Alen.

The Swede continued to drive for BMW until Mercedes offered him a seat in 1980 for a limited programme with the ill-fated 450 SLC. He returned to BMW, after the Mercedes project was canned, where he contested his first 1000 Lakes Rally in 1983.

For 1984 Carlsson signed with Mazda where he would drive and develop the RWD Group B RX-7 along with the Group A 323. When Group A regulations were introduced as the world championship's main category in 1987 Carlsson found himself in a competitive seat with the Mazda 323 4WD.

Carlsson won two world championship events in 1989 on the Swedish and New Zealand rallies. Unfortunately the MRTE 323 was never fully developed and Carlsson was unable to extract anymore victories with the car. The Swede ended his WRC career in 1991.

RIP Ingvar