Quote Originally Posted by AnttiL View Post
Lampi was Audi's test driver. Eklund "could only dream of competing with top teams" LOL, he was a Saab works driver already in the 70's. Eklund's Metro was entered by the factory team in Sweden and RAC, by Clarion in other events. So at least semi-factory entry.

Grissmann was fifth in Portugal 1985, losing an hour to the winner. Iwase lost 1h44m in Argentina 1984, being behind the fastest local Renault 11. That's Serderidis pace. Tchine (Turiani) was also much a gentleman driver, his fifth place comes from Portugal 1986 where the works teams withdrew!

We can also add Harri Toivonen into the list, driving a Metro in 1000 Lakes and RAC 1986, not going really anywhere.

Like you say, most of them could achieve top 5 results when there was high attrition, similarly as Group A cars. And it's the same as Rally2 cars getting to top 5 now.

But yeah, times are different. Rallying was big and car manufacturers put lot of marketing money into rallying, even dealers supporting drivers in national championships. It's not the same anymore.

And about privateers in general. If we assume the current factory cars would suddenly turn into Rally2 - on the same level as current WRC2 privateers - but all the effort from the factory teams, testing and professional sporting and skill and experience from the drivers would remain, the "privateers" couldn't win a single stage against the factory guys, if not for exceptional weather conditions. The level of competition and detail is just so high on the top level.
Surprise surprise, there was privateer drivers in the gr B. Glad that we got this sorted.