Lancia won one manufacturer title in World Rally Championship with the Rally 037, which was a Group B car.
Lancia joined the World Rally Championship at the early days of the sport and clinched one manufacturer title with Rally 037. The engine had a capacity of 1.995 cc, was located centrally in front of rear axle. Moreover, the type of the engine was a Abarth R18 volumex roots supercharger with Bosch Kugelfisher mechanical fuel injection combined with the five-speed manual gearbox and a rear-wheel drive. The body was a central steel frame with «toll-over-cage» (drawing) included while the suspension was with double unequal wishbones (lower trapezoidal) with coil springs. The total output and the torque of this car were at 290-310 hp at 8.000 rpm and 267Nm at 6.000 rpm respectively.
1982
In 1982, Lancia signed Markku Alen, Attilio Bettega and Adartico Vudafieri who took part in some rallies with the Rally 037. Rally 037’s debut started in Corsica where Markku Alen finished 9th oberall while his teammate Bettega had an accident. In Greece, Lancia competed with Alen and Vudafieri who retired with chassis and supercharger issue respectively. Alen securd a drive with the Rally 037 on his home eventh where he retired due to engine issues. At Rallye Sanremo, Alen will retire again with engine issues, but he completed his season at Rally Great Britain where he finished in fourth position.
1983
The Italian car brand continued its collaboration with Markku Alen and Attilio Bettega, but signed Walter Rohrl as well after his having become the 1982 WRC Champion with the Opel Ascona 400. Rohrl and Alen secured the first 1-2 of Rally 37 at Rallye Monte Carlo showing the potential of their car. The team did nottake part in Sweden, so the next event for them was Rally Portugal where Rohrl and Alen finished third and fourth respectively. Lancia skipped Safari Rally Kenya as well, so they headed to Corsica with three cars. It was Alen’s time to shine as he won Tour de Corse while Rohrl did the 1-2 for Lancia and Bettega finished fourth. At Acropolis Rally, Lancia secured its 3rd 1-2, but the 1982 WRC Champion finished at the top step of the podium and left Alen behind at second place while Bettega completed the top five. At Rally New Zealand, Lancia competed with Rohrl and Bettega who did the 1-3 for the Italians. At Rally Argentina, it was Rohrl’s time to skip a WRC event, thus the best result was the fifth place from Alen there as Bettega had a crash. Rohrl missed Rally Finland as well, but Alen finished at the lowest place of the podium on his home event. At Rallye Sanremo, Rohrl returned back the wheel of the Rally 037 where he finished second and behind Alen. Lancia skipped the final WRC rounds of the championship as the Italians cliched their first manufacturer title with the Rally 037 and finished ahead of Audi for two points.
1984
After a successful season, Lancia introduced the Rally 037 evo for 1984 and continued with Markku Alen and Attilio Bettega. At Rallye Monte Carlo, Jean-Claude Andruet secured a drive with the Rally 037 Evo, but he was excluded from the race, so Lancia scored points with Bettega’s fifth and Alen’s eighth place respectively. For one more year, Lancia skipped Rally Sweden, so they headed to Rally Portugal where Alen and Bettega finished second and third respectively while Herni Toivonen had an accident with his Lancia. In Kenya, the Italians competed with Alen and Vic Preston Jr where they finished fourth and sixth respectively. In Corsica, Alen secured the first win of the season for Lancia with Miki Baision finishing second with the Rally 037 Evo of Jolly Club/Totip. In Greece, Alen and Bettega did the 3-4 for Lancia while Alen was the only representative driver of Lancia in New Zealand and finished in second position overall. Lancia did not participate at Rally Argentina, thus Rally Finland was the following event for them where Alen secured another second place and Toivonen completed the top three. At Rallye Sanremo, it was Bettega’s time to finish second while Alen retired due to an engine issue. For a second consecutive year, Lancia skipped the final two WRC rounds of the season which were held in Cote d’Ivoire and in Great Britain. Lancia was not able to defend its crown and lost it from Audi for 12 points in 1984 as the Italians scored 108 points.
1985
In 1985, Lancia renewed the contracts of Attilio Bettega, Markku Alen and Herni Toivonen, but also broughtDelta S4 for the first time towards the end of this season. At Rallye Monte Carlo, Toivonen finished sxth overall while Miki Biasion finished ninth with the Rally 037 Evo of Jolly Club/Totip. Lancia did not compete at Rally Sweden and Rally de Portugal, but the team earned some points from Biasion’s second place in Portugal. We could say that Lancia started its season from Safari Rally Kenya with three drivers who forced to retire due to engine and suspension issues. Tour de Corse was not a good event for Lancia as Alen and Biasion withdrew from this event as Bettega had a fatal accident on stage 4 and was killed instantly. Lancia skipped the following three WRC rounds and came back at Rally Finland where Alen and Toivonen finished third and fourth overall respectively. At Rallye Sanremo, Toivonen and Alen finished third and fourth respectively. Lancia brought the Delta S4 for Rally Great Britain, but the Italians’ season was overshadowed by Bettega’s death at Tour de Corse.
1986
In 1986, Lancia’s main car was Delta S4, thus the last time we saw the Rally 037 Evo was at Safari Rally Kenya where Markku Alen finished third overall whereas Vic Preston had an accident. In that year, Lancia promoted Miki Biasion who became one of its official drivers of that season. Biasion was forced to retire in Kenya due to engine issues. However, 1986 was a sad year for the rallying community as Toivonen and Sergio Cresto died after a fatal accident we had the the Delta S4 at Tour de Corse. They had the same number as Bettega and were killed on the same stage. Afterwards, FIA considered that Group B cars are unsafe, thus the Federation introduced new regulations for 1987 season.
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