The 1000 Lakes Rally 1988 was stunning. Championship leader Miki Biasion elected not to enter, so the Martini Lancia Team was spearheaded by Markku Alen and Mikael Erricsson. Ford hoped to challenge the all conquering Integrales. The Cosworth RS of Didier Auriol fought through the field to hassle the Lancia team. The Toyota Celica GT-Four in the fast care of Juha Kankkunen provided one of the highlights and Mazda made a rare appearance with two 323 Turbos for Timo Salonen and Hannu Mikkola. Add to these, Ari Vatanen in the BMW M3, and you can see why the 1000 Lakes rates so high in all rally drivers esteem.