From Friday 20 through Sunday 22 November 2026, the Brussels Expo will once again open its doors to InterClassics Brussels. After the record-breaking 2025 event, which attracted nearly 30,000 visitors, making the anniversary edition the best-attended ever, the 11th edition of this event is already underway. The theme of the upcoming edition is Rally Legends, Honouring the Heroes of Dust and Dirt, and is a tribute to rallying and the drivers, cars and stories that made it great. The four years between 1982 and 1986 saw Audi, Lancia, Peugeot and Ford bring the most extreme rally cars ever built to the Group B track, before a series of serious accidents proved fatal to the era. Ticket sales begin on 8 June 2026.
In 1982, Group B appeared to be the answer to all the rally manufacturers’ prayers. New homologation rules, requirements manufacturers had to satisfy in order for their cars to be allowed to compete, determined that just 200 vehicles were enough to qualify a car for competition. This gave engineers nearly unlimited freedom. Four-wheel drive, turbocharging and composite materials were introduced at breakneck speed. Spectators stood at arm’s length along the stages. During these years, the World Rally Championship became more popular than Formula 1. However, the combination of extreme speed and deficient safety measures proved fatal to the era. On 2 May 1986, Henri Toivonen and his co-rider Sergio Cresto perished in a crash during the Tour de Corse. The FIA immediately banned Group B from competitions.
Exhibition manager Erik Panis explains:
“With last year’s record number of visitors still fresh in our minds, we are looking forward to the 11th edition. For us, Brussels Expo is the place where enthusiasts, connoisseurs and families gather around cars with a story. Rally Legends is a deliberate effort to align with this concept, a theme that puts rallying and its drivers at the heart of the event. The spotlight will be on the Group B era, a four-year period in which the cars and their drivers pushed the boundaries of the possible, and which now, 40 years later, still appeals to the imagination.”
The Holy Trinity in Brussels
Pictured on this edition’s poster in the familiar Castrol and HB livery, the Audi Quattro S1 introduced four-wheel drive at the highest level of rallying. Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist scored the 1983 and 1984 world titles driving this car. The era lives on to this day at auctions: in August 2025, Bonhams sold an Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 for $1.76 million.
The Lancia Delta S4 is considered the technical highlight of the era. The Italian manufacturer combined a turbocharger and a mechanical compressor in one engine for the first time, providing power from the lowest engine speed. In 2022, a works example changed hands at RM Sotheby’s for $1.84 million.
And finally, under Jean Todt’s leadership, the Peugeot 205 T16 scored two consecutive racing and builder’s wins for France in 1985 and 1986. Drivers such as Ari Vatanen, Timo Salonen and Juha Kankkunen drove the car to victories that marked the end of Audi’s dominance.
Belgian rally heroes
Group B has also left a lasting impact in Belgium. For an entire generation of enthusiasts, Robert Droogmans, Patrick Snijers and Marc Duez are linked to the Boucles de Spa, the Ypres Rally and the Circuit des Ardennes. Between 1983 and 1985, Snijers captured three consecutive Belgian titles between 1983 and 1985, some of which were won in a Group B spec Lancia 037. Droogmans built his reputation with a Group B Ford Escort and later a Sierra RS Cosworth. Their careers colour Belgium’s rally history, which is reflected in the theme of this edition.
Atmosphere impression InterClassics Brussels 2025 – Credit: Gerlach Delissen Photography
