Which country hosted the Olympus Rally as a WRC round from 1986 to 1988?

The Olympus Rally was held in the United States when it served as a World Rally Championship round from 1986 to 1988. Based around the forest roads of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, it became one of the championship’s most distinctive events.

The rally began in 1968 as a time-speed-distance event and later became part of the Sports Car Club of America’s professional rally championship. After being observed by the FIA in 1985, it gained full WRC status for three seasons. Its stages combined rough gravel, dense forests and changeable Pacific Northwest weather.

Markku Alén won the inaugural WRC Olympus Rally in 1986 for Lancia, driving a Delta S4 with co-driver Ilkka Kivimäki. Juha Kankkunen won in 1987, while Miki Biasion took the final WRC edition in 1988 in a Lancia Delta Integrale.

The event is sometimes confused with rallies in Canada or Mexico because it was a North American round. However, Olympus was the last WRC event held in the United States until the championship later returned through other American rally plans that did not become regular rounds; Rally Mexico became the next established North American WRC event in 2004.