INTRODUCTION
Hailing from Sweden, Karl-Erik “Kalle” Grundel (born October 2nd 1948) made his international breakthrough in 1982 while driving a Golf GTi for Volkswagen’s factory team. Kalle is best known for his good performances in the West German Rally Championship of which he won in 1985 while driving a Peugeot 205 Turbo 16. Grundel achieved his first and only podium finish in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1986 by piloting his Ford RS200 to third place in the Swedish Rally.
QUICK BROWSE CONTENT
- PERSONAL SUMMARY (WRC)
- RALLY BIOGRAPHY
- GROUP B RESULTS (WRC)
- AWARDS / ACHIEVEMENTS
- GALLERY
- VIDEOS
- REFERENCES
PERSONAL SUMMARY (WRC)
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Swedish |
| Born | October 2nd 1948 |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 1977~1988 |
| Teams | Volkswagen, Peugeot, Ford, Lancia |
| Rallies | 30 |
| Rally wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Stage wins | 14 |
| Total points | 61 |
| First rally | 1977 Swedish Rally |
| Last rally | 1988 RAC Rally |
RALLY BIOGRAPHY
Kalle Grundel was a pilot in the Swedish Air Force before starting his career as a rally driver in 1972. Like most Swedes of the era, Grundel begun driving a Saab in his home country’s events, eventually leading to Kalle’s first appearance in the World Rally Championship in 1977.
Grundel would continue on competing in but a few local rallies up until 1982 when he joined the factory-backed Group A Volkswagen Golf GTI team, scoring two victories in his debut year. Kalle and Volkswagen would mount a full assault on the 1983 West German Rally Championship in Group A. Short of winning a rally, Grundel would often achieve top ten results – leading him to end the season second overall.
In 1984, due to his excellent results, Volkswagen Motorsports would sign Grundel to a full season of the World Rally Championship – finishing 18th in driver points. This made Peugeot Talbot Sport notice the Swede, signing him to drive their 205 Turbo 16 Group B supercar and represent the brand in the West German Rally Championship where Grundel had been quite successful back in 1983.
In 1985, Grundel and the little Peugeot would utterly dominate the series; Kalle became the German Championship by scoring no less than 9 victories (4 of which also counted towards the European Rally Championship), also finishing in 5th place at the WRC 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland – netting a total of 185 stage wins in the year.
Grundel’s performances caught the eye of Ford, which were in need of capable drivers to help put the final touches on their RS200 rally car in development. Kalle was subsequently signed up alongside fellow Swede Stig Blomqvist for the 1986 WRC season. During the debut event of the car in Sweden, Grundel clinched an encouraging third place, which would ultimately become the best result of the car in the championship.
However, since Group B was to be cancelled at the end of the season, both Grundel and the Ford RS200 would not get another chance to shine. Kalle also made a one-off performance for the Lancia Martini Team that same year at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, finishing in 6th position.
In 1987, Ford would retain Grundel under the Group A replacement formula in the WRC. Kalle and the Sierra RS were unfortunately not a good match, which resulted in a disastrous season. This saw him switch back to the Peugeot team for 1988.
Up to the end of 1991, Grundel would return in competing in the West German Rally Circuit that had crowned him National champion back in 1985. However, amidst regular and strong finishes, Grundel and Peugeot would never be able to match their past successes. Kalle would retire from active rallying at the end of 1992, making but occasional appearances in historic events since.
PARTIAL SOURCE: Wikipedia (1) + (2) + (3)
(possibly spell-checked, translated, and/or edited; abridged, corrected, and/or expanded)
GROUP B RESULTS (WRC)
(# = finish position / R = retired or DNF / – = did not compete)
| Y | TEAM | EVENT | PTS | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 MC |
 SE |
 PT |
 KE |
 FR |
 GR |
 NZ |
 BR |
 FI |
 IT |
 CI |
 GB |
|||
| 82 | VW | – | * | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | * |
| Y | Team | Event | pts | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 MC |
SE |
 PT |
 KE |
 FR |
 GR |
 NZ |
 AR |
 FI |
 IT |
 CI |
 GB |
|||
| 83 | VW | – | * | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | * | * |
| 84 | VW | * | * | * | – | * | * | – | – | * | * | – | * | * |
| 85 | Peugeot | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – | – | R | 8 |
| 86 | Ford | – | 3 | R | – | – | R | – | – | 6 | – | – | 5 |  US- |
| 86 | pts | 25 | ||||||||||||
*NOTE: Grundel competed in Group A for the 1982 to 1984 seasons.*
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
- 1985: West Germany Rally Champion
GALLERY
VIDEOS
REFERENCES
(C) Page by Jay Auger – website owner & author
- PARTIAL SOURCE: Wikipedia Wikipedia (1) + (2) + (3)
- More stats on Kalle Grundel can be found on eWRC-Results
- Images and videos are the property of their original owners
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