The name Tour de Corse reflects the early format of the event, in which competitors drove a circuit around the entire island. In later years the route was condensed to the roads around Ajaccio, the island capital, though the character of the stages — narrow, twisting mountain passes with sheer drops and limited runoff — remained unchanged. The event holds a singular place in rally history as the most technically demanding asphalt event on the WRC calendar, requiring absolute precision at speeds that leave no margin for error.
The first edition in 1956 was won by Belgian driver Gilberte Thirion in a Renault Dauphine. The conditions that year included snowdrifts, sleet, and ice on mountain passes, which eliminated many more powerful and heavier competitors. Thirion's victory in the light, agile Dauphine was considered remarkable, and she reportedly commented on the car with characteristic wit: "Nothing can stop it, and specially not even its brakes."
The Tour de Corse was the setting for some of the most harrowing moments in rally history. At the 1985 event, Attilio Bettega died in a crash during the fourth special stage while driving a Lancia 037 Rally. Exactly one year later, on May 2, 1986, Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto were killed when their Lancia Delta S4 left the road during the 18th stage. The Delta S4 was among the most powerful Group B cars ever built, producing in excess of 500 horsepower, and the accident — a fire from which neither occupant could escape — drew immediate calls for the abolition of the Group B category. The FIA banned Group B at the end of the 1986 season, and the Corsica tragedy is widely cited as the decisive event that sealed its fate.
In 1987, the following year, co-driver Jean-Michel Argenti and driver Jean Marchini died in a similarly catastrophic crash during the event, marking three consecutive years of fatal accidents at the same rally.
Two drivers share the record of six victories at the Tour de Corse. Bernard Darniche won the event in 1970, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, and 1981, establishing his dominance across more than a decade of Corsican competition. Didier Auriol, the French driver who went on to win the 1994 WRC Drivers' Championship, claimed six victories at the event in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1995 — a run that demonstrated a particular affinity for the island's roads. Among non-French winners to take the event more than once were Sandro Munari, Markku Alén, Colin McRae, and Thierry Neuville.
The Tour de Corse occupies a unique position in motorsport as the event that most starkly illustrated the dangers of Group B rallying and contributed directly to the regulatory changes that ended that era. Beyond its role in that history, the rally remains one of the most celebrated challenges in rallying — the sheer density of corners on Corsican mountain roads creating a test of driver memory, tyre conservation, and mechanical sympathy unmatched elsewhere. Drivers who master Corsica are regarded as possessing a particular skill set, and victories on the island carry exceptional prestige within the sport.