Lois Rally Algarve 1985 video and results: Markku Alen gives the Martini Lancia Delta S4 its official competitive debut
The first official competitive appearance of the Lancia Delta S4 was with Markku Alen on the 1985 Lois Rally Algarve, which took place from 30 October - 3 November.
The S4 actually had its debut outing on the Mille Pistes Rally in July but ran in the prototype class. The car suffered many teething troubles on that event and Markku Alen declared himself unhappy with it which all these things causing the development to be put back. Homologation for the S4 was only granted by FISA on the eve of the Algarve Rally. The purpose of competing on the rally was to get some competitive mileage on the, up to then, fragile car before its WRC debut on the RAC Rally at the end of November.
Alen as expected shot off into the lead and blitzed all the previous records for the stages. By the end of the first day he was just over 5mins ahead of his nearest rival. Of course Alen was up against the local Portuguese championship drivers in their two wheel drive machines and they had no chance against his Group B monster. Joaquim Santos (Escort Mk2) and Joaquim Moutinho (R5 Turbo) were battling for second place, having to give way in the technology stakes to the S4.
On the third day, Alen broke the transmission and went OTL leaving the way clear for the two Portuguese heroes to battle it out. Santos took the initiative as Moutinho knew second place was enough for him to take the Portuguese national championship. Alen continued in the event as zero car but encountered some more niggly problems. Certainly no one at the time would have tipped Lancia to go on and dominate the RAC which was less than three weeks away.
So it was Santos who won to give the Mk2 Escort its final international victory before homologation ran out. Moutinho came second over 3mins behind but did enough to become champion. Third went to Carlos Bica in a Mk2 while António Coutinho took Group A in his Toyota Corolla and finished 6th o/a.
Video Rali do Algarve 1985
Rally Algarve 1985 Top Ten Classification:
1º Joaquim Santos / Miguel de Oliveira – Ford Escort RS 1800 – 7h00m28s
2º Joaquim Moutinho / Edgar Fortes – Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse – a3m03s
3º Carlos Bica / Luís Alegria – Ford Escort RS 1800 – a 6m32s
4º Inverno Amaral / Joaquim Neto – Citroen Visa Trophée – a 33m28s
5º Jean Luc Marteil / Phillipe Belanger – Citroen Visa 1000 Pistes – a35m08s
6º António Coutinho / António Manuel – Toyota Corolla AE 86 – a59m21s
7º Ramiro Fernandes / Cruz Monteiro – Fiat Ritmo 130 TC Abarth – a1h07m01s
8º António Segurado / Rui Bevilacqua – Renault 11 Turbo – a1h09m41s
9º Gaby Goudezeune / Serge Messine – Opel Ascona 2000 – a1h10m12s
10º José Moreno / António Pereira – Opel Corsa 1300 S – a1h12m39s
The winner Joaquim Santos in his Diabolique Ford Escort Mk2 RS 1800
Carlos Bica was third
Alen ended up running as zero car but encountered more problems with the new Delta S4
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