When Kalle Rovanperä won last week’s Rally Finland, there was more for his team to celebrate than just him scoring his maiden victory on home soil. All four of his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates finished right behind him, meaning Toyota finished an absurd but surprisingly not unheard of 1–2–3–4–5.

Unless it’s a spec series, a single manufacturer sweeping the top five in any series is a ridiculously impressive feat. With Toyota fresh off hitting their 100th win in the World Rally Championship (Rovanperä making it 101 now), the Japanese marque had all the momentum going into Finland.

Rovanperä led the way followed by Takamoto Katsuta, Sébastien Ogier, current points leader Elfyn Evans, and Sami Pajari.

Although a wild statistic, Toyota is not the first team to pull it off. That honor belongs to Lancia, who locked out the top five at the 1990 Rallye de Portugal. Coincidentally, TGR deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen was involved in both.

“This is an unbelievable result for us. The last time any team managed this was 35 years ago when I was driving and finished third,” Kankkunen commented. “We were helped a bit on Saturday but that’s rallying sometimes and it’s a great result for the drivers’’’ and manufacturers’ championships.

“It was great to see Kalle back to his normal speed and able to win his home rally; it’s an important result for any Finnish driver and it took me 11 years of trying, so Kalle has still managed to do it a bit earlier than me. The feeling in the team this morning was really good and the drivers just went for it. Taka drove a great rally, he was so calm and quick, and Seb, Elfyn and Sami were superb also.

“I think I have a dream team! I’m sure we’ll keep seeing good results from all of them until the end of the season.”

Since the WRC’s inauguration in 1973, there have been various instances of marques nearly completing a top-five lockout but were unable to do so. Some cases were because a fifth car was unable to get the job done, while others were impossible to begin with because only four overall-worthy cars were present to begin with.

So who came close?

1973 Rallye Monte-Carlo

The first ever WRC race was an Alpine Renault A110 1800 show as Jean-Claude Andreut edged out teammate Ove Andersson for the win. Jean-Pierre Nicolas followed in his A110 to secure the marque’s third straight podium sweep in Monte Carlo.

Alas, Hannu Mikkola ruined the party as his Ford Escort RS finished fourth. While he received a two-minute penalty for being late to two stages, he still maintained his podium spot ahead of the Alpines of Jean-Luc Thérier and Jean-François Piot. Mikkola beat Thérier by 1:32, while Piot was one second behind his colleague.

Regardless, Alpine certainly wasn’t going to complain about a 1–2–3–5–6. In fact, it was prime advertising material.

1973 Tour de Corse

Interestingly, the inaugural season ended nearly the same way it began: Alpines occupying five of the top six spots and a Ford spoiling the fun by finishing fourth.

On home soil for himself, his teammates, and his manufacturer, Jean-Pierre Nicolas led the way with five stage wins. This time, Piot and Thérier were on the right side of the Ford Escort as they finished second and third. On the wrong side were Francis Serpaggi and Jean-Pierre Manzagol, the former settling for fifth after losing to Ford’s Guy Chasseuil by three minutes.

1976 Rallye Sanremo

Like how they’re the only other manufacturer to sweep a top five, Lancia makes up a good chunk of the near-sweeps.

In the case of the 1976 Rallye Sanremo in Italy, the Lancia Stratos HF locked out the top four. While an easy run for the manufacturer, the victory came down to just four seconds as Björn Waldegård held off Sandro Munari. Raffaele Pinto and a driver only known as “Tony” rounded out the four.

They were not the only Lancias in the race, but everyone else was a privateer with not enough juice to join them in the top five. The next closest was the Fulvia of Leo Garin in 12th.

1978 Tour de Corse

The Fiat 131 Abarth was unstoppable in France at the 1978 Tour de Corse as Bernard Darniche won ahead of Jean-Claude Andreut and Munari. However, Porsches ran interference.

Jacques Alméras held off the Fiat of Michèle Mouton by just 28 seconds for fourth to prevent a 1–2–3–4.

1979 Rallye Côte d’Ivoire

The Ivory Coast was brutal on the field, and 1979 was no different. Of the 32 cars entered, only eight reached the finish.

Half of the finishers were in Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC. Hannu Mikkola led Waldegård followed by Andrew Cowan and Vic Preston Jr.

The other four to reach the end were from a variety of manufacturers as Ove Andersson was in a Toyota Celica, Alain Ambrosino raced a Peugeot 504, and Michel Mitri and Jean-Pierre Paure were in Datsun 160Js.

1979 New Zealand Rally

If it wasn’t for the meddling Vauxhall of Shane Murland, Ford could’ve gone 1–2–3–4–5–6 at the 1979 Rally of New Zealand. Hell, if Roger Goss’ Mazda had been just a minute and seven seconds slower, the Blue Oval might have enjoyed an unprecedented 1–2–3–4–5–6–7.

Mikkola, nicknamed “Handy Andy” by the Coventry Evening Telegraph, led a top four sweep by the Ford Escort RS 1800 with Blair Robson, Ari Vatanen, and Paul Adams in tow. David Parkes in his Escort 1600 was unable to catch Murland’s Vauxhall Chevette, who beat him by five minutes, and had Brian Green’s Escort 1800 in tow.

Malcolm Stewart finished ninth in his Ford Escort Mexico behind Goss’ Maxda RX-3.

1983 Rally Argentina

Hannu Mikkola is a recurring name in this.

Franz Wurz would’ve needed disaster to strike the Lancia 037 of Markku Alén to ensure an Audi Quattro top five sweep at the 1983 Rally Argentina. As Mikkola was fastest ahead of his Audi Sport colleagues Stig Blomqvist, Mouton, and Shekhar Mehta, Alén had a very comfortable 79-minute advantage over sixth-placed Wurz.

In fairness to Wurz, a top five occupation was probably never on his mind. He was competing in a different category (Group A) from the others and was contending for the class win, which he certainly achieved with his sixth overall.

1983 Swedish Rally

You guessed it, Hannu Mikkola leading an Audi 1-2-3-4 with Blomqvist right behind. As Mikkola broke his teammate’s heart in his home rally by just 47 seconds, Lasse Lampi and Mouton followed.

The next closest Audi was Mikael Ericsson, competing in another class and finishing eighth. Sandwiched between Ericsson and Mouton were a Volkswagen (class winner Kalle Grundel), Opel (Vatanen), and Datsun (Sören Nilsson).

1983 Tour de Corse

The field had no answer for the Lancia 037 as Alén won the Tour de Corse. Walter Röhrl was 1:49 back followed by a pair of Italians in Adartico Vudafieri and Attilio Bettega.

The Renault of Bruno Saby was the only other car to finish within an hour of Alén.

A top five probably could’ve happened if not for Andreut retiring with an engine failure.

1986 Rallye Côte d’Ivoire

Only a quarter of the field reached the finish at the 1986 Rallye Côte d’Ivoire. The Toyota Celica swept the top four, inlcuding a podium lockout by Toyota Europe’s factory drivers as Waldegård beat Lars-Erik Torph and Erwin Weber.

It was the first of six podium sweeps by Toyota in the WRC. Two Corollas also reached the finish in Class A courtesy of Patrick Copetti (ninth) and Angelberg Kady (11th).

1988 Acropolis Rally

Rudolf Stohl had to fight to keep Lancia from running the top five in Greece. Too far away to catch the four Lancia Deltas in front of him, his Audi Quattro beat that of “Jigger” for fifth by just 3:25.

Miki Biasion won ahead of colleagues Ericsson, Alessandro Fiorio, and Alén. The top four were separated by just over ten minutes.

1988 Rallye Sanremo

Five months after Acropolis, Lancia did it again with a 1–2–3–4 led by Biasion. This time, he won after a close dogfight with his teammates.

Fioro, Dario Cerrato, and Alén tailed Biasion by a mere 2:14 total. Biasion had 53 seconds on Fiorio and another 1:01 over Cerrato. Alén missed out on a podium by just 20 seconds.

The next closest Lancia was Paolo Alessandrini’s in tenth. Carlos Sainz finished fifth with his Ford.

1990 Rallye de Portugal

After so many close ones, Lancia finally achieved the coveted top five sweep in Portugal. Once agian, Biasion was on top.

This time, he cleared Didier Auriol by 2:36. Kankkunen was third followed by Cerrato and Carlos Bica.

Ironically enough, the manufacturer missed out on a 1–2–3–4–5–6 because of Mikkola. Although Lancia’s Jorge Recalde won his class, he was only 4:40 behind Mikkola’s Mazda for sixth.

Featured image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool