With Ingvar Carlsson and Timo Salonen at the wheel, the BF 323 GT-X brought Mazda three wins in the World Rally Championship.

The new 5th generation BG 323 GT-X was debuted midway through the 1990 season at the 1000 Lakes Rally The new model was much improved over its predecessor, its enlarged 1839cc engine, canted forward so as to provide greater freedom to locate the Xtrac transmission.

It was also wider, offered improved suspension travel and had better thermal management, even if the addition of so many grilles lent the GT-X a somewhat fussy frontal appearance.

Come the start of the 1991 season, and the Mazda outfit had also Timo Salonen to Mitsubishi however Carlsson, Puras and Rod Millen remained as did a young Finn called Tommi Makinen.

Mazda withdrew its factory team from WRC programme at the end of the 1992 season, just as the BG 323 GT-R homologation run had been completed for 1993 as a replacement for the GT-X.