The penultimate round of the 1989 World Rally Championship proved to be a battleground for the Toyota Celica GT-Fours piloted by Juha Kankkunen, Carlos Sainz and Patrick Snyers and the new 16 valve Lancia Delta Integrales of Miki Biasion, Alex Fiorio and Didier Auriol.

If the new, untried Lancias lived up to expectations they would prove too much for the Celicas, especially with Miki Biasion determined to win on home ground.

This review of the rally is packed with non-stop action from throughout the event, made all the more exciting as each of the leading drivers suffered problems: Kankkunnen had a puncture, two broken drive shafts and clutch failure; Auriol crashed on the first gravel stage; Armin Schwarz rolled his Audi and Ronald Holzer exited the stage - and the rally - backwards. 

Carlos Sainz seemed to be leading the action and heading for a comfortable win; he had a minute's advantage until sudden trouble allowed the chasing Lancias to catch up.

With four stages to go there were just three seconds covering the top three cars. How did it end up? Watch this classic review and relive a great Rallye di Sanremo.