Which rally's 1986 results were annulled by FISA, changing that WRC title fight?

The 1986 Rallye Sanremo was the rally whose results FISA annulled, reshaping that year’s World Rally Championship title fight. Peugeot’s 205 Turbo 16s were excluded after scrutineers ruled that their aerodynamic underbody components were illegal side skirts.

Peugeot appealed, arguing that the cars had already passed inspection and that the same configuration had previously been accepted. The exclusion handed a major advantage to Lancia’s Markku Alén, who won the event in a Delta S4 and appeared to have moved ahead in the championship standings.

On 17 December 1986, FISA ruled that the Peugeot exclusion had been improper. Because the cars could not simply be restored to their positions after the rally, the governing body annulled the entire Sanremo result instead. That removed Alén’s points and transferred the drivers’ title to Peugeot’s Juha Kankkunen.

The controversy is often mixed up with the season’s other dramatic events, including Henri Toivonen’s fatal crash on the Tour de Corse and the subsequent end of Group B competition. Sanremo, however, was the specific event whose annulment decided the championship.