Lancia Rallying - Tribute

Lancia has been very successful in motorsport over the years, mostly in the arena of rallying where, in the World Rally Championship, they remain the most statistically successful marque, winning constructors' titles with the Fulvia (1972), Stratos (1974, 1975 and 1976), 037 (1983) and Delta (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992) models.

By 1972, the Fulvia Coupé 1600 HF, nicknamed the ‘Fanalone’, had reached the end of its career but it still carried Sandro Munari to major successes (such as the Monte Carlo Rally), and brought Lancia victory in the FIA Cup, which was to become the World Rally Championship.

In the Stratos, Lancia had the winning card that brought it three consecutive world championship titles, in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Specially designed for rallies, and with only 500 models built (the requisite number for official recognition), the Stratos was a small saloon with a centrally-placed engine, designed by Bertone and fitted with the Dino Ferrari V6 engine.

In 1979 Lancia returned to the race track with the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo. For two years, 1980 and 1981, it won the Constructors World Championship title in the endurance category. In 1983, Lancia claimed victory once again in the World Rally Championship with the Rally 037, created almost as a bet to challenge the supremacy of the German four-wheel drive cars. The Rally 037 was to be the last two-wheel drive car to win a World Rally Championship.

After the experience with the ultra-powerful Group B cars and the decision to limit rallies to cars with less than 300 bhp, Lancia shelved development of the Delta S4 and concentrated on the Delta HF 4WD with permanent four-wheel drive. That was in 1987. For the next six years, the Delta HF 4WD and the subsequent Delta HF ‘integrale’, ‘integrale 16v’ and ‘integrale 16v Evo’, dominated the world rally scene.

The list of successes included six consecutive Constructors World Championship titles, five World Drivers Championships, 46 outright victories in 66 world championship races, plus countless other successes in national races – a string of successes that would be difficult to equal and remains unbeaten to this day.

// Extracted from www.lancia.com (see full text clicking here)//

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