83 Lancia Rally 037 - Motorsports Almanac
83 Lancia Rally 037 - Motorsports Almanac
83 Lancia Rally 037 - Motorsports Almanac
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progress. However, the year did finish on a high note after a fourth place for Alen on the RAC had seen his car run<br />
reliably over all four days. Audi meanwhile, finished first and second to take the 1982 Manufacturers Championship<br />
from Opel whose famously unpredictable pilot, Walter Röhrl, won the Drivers Championship. Rohrl would be driving<br />
alongside Alen in a <strong>Lancia</strong> for 19<strong>83</strong> though while Jean-Claude Andruet, Adartico Vudafieri and a fully recovered Attilio<br />
Bettega would hopefully be contesting world series events for the factory. There was also a contingent of well-funded<br />
and works-prepared <strong>Lancia</strong> Junior Team cars for the European <strong>Rally</strong> Championship, these being entered under the<br />
auspices of the Jolly Club, Tre Gazzelle and Grifone. So 19<strong>83</strong> kicked off as usual in Monte Carlo where three brand new<br />
cars were entered for the Martini team who revelled in abnormally warm conditions. Indeed, the <strong>037</strong>'s were in their<br />
element winning 21 of the 29 stages, Rohrl leading Alen home by an astonishing seven minutes for the <strong>037</strong>'s first WRC<br />
win. This was quickly followed by a maiden ERC victory after Miki Biasion's first place on the Costa Brava <strong>Rally</strong>, the<br />
Italian's Jolly Club car roaring home to an uncontested win having run faultlessly to finish over nine minutes ahead of<br />
his nearest challenger. It seemed <strong>Lancia</strong> might have finally got a grip on the <strong>037</strong>'s reliability and sure enough, victories<br />
continued to flood in over the course of the year. They followed for Franco Cunico and Grifone on the Targa Florio <strong>Rally</strong><br />
and Biasion and Jolly Club in Spain's RACE <strong>Rally</strong>, but the little <strong>Lancia</strong>'s most emphatic result came on the Costa<br />
Smerelda where <strong>037</strong>'s filled the top six positions. Indeed, precisely one year after making its competitive debut, Biasion<br />
brought the sextet of Junior Team cars home after the Martini entry of Markku Alen retired with compressor problems.<br />
The Finn took his first WRC victory in two years on the Tour de Corse as <strong>Lancia</strong> recorded a stunning 1-2-3-4, Attilio<br />
Bettega completing the convoy on his return to rallying after that horrible crash on 1982's event. Biasion continued his<br />
winning ways on the ERC's Four Regions <strong>Rally</strong> before the world series arrived in Greece for the Acropolis, <strong>Lancia</strong><br />
introducing dry-sumped gearboxes for all three cars whilst Rohrl's also got a new titanium rollcage. Hannu Mikkola's<br />
Audi looked set to win though after taking the lead in the final leg, but an oil leak allowed Rohrl and Alen to pass the<br />
stricken Quattro and take a memorable one-two. More European Championship events fell to Jolly Club cars over the<br />
next few weeks, Carlo Capone winning for the first time in an <strong>037</strong> on the <strong>Rally</strong> della Lana while the irrepressible Biasion<br />
finished nearly a minute ahead of French <strong>Lancia</strong> importer Chardonnet's Jean-Claude Andruet driven machine. Another<br />
hard-fought victory in the WRC, this time in New Zealand, saw Röhrl inherit the lead just before dawn after Michele<br />
Mouton's Audi retired with a broken connecting rod, <strong>Lancia</strong>'s fourth win from six. And that was the number of Euro<br />
victories Biasion had accrued after winning the Madeira <strong>Rally</strong> little more than a month later, the Jolly Club driver by<br />
this time having established an almost unassailable lead in the Drivers standings. Tonino Tognana took another win for<br />
the Jolly Club in the Halkidikis <strong>Rally</strong> despite losing a couple of minutes changing his compressor, but surely the<br />
sweetest moment of all was on the San Remo in early October. Indeed, the <strong>037</strong>'s fifth WRC victory of the year came by<br />
way of a formation 1-2-3 finish and secured <strong>Lancia</strong> the 19<strong>83</strong> World Manufacturers Championship. No less than eight<br />
<strong>037</strong>'s had started the rally, the three Martini cars getting repositioned shock absorber mounts (homologated October 1st)<br />
and retaining the new camber angles first seen in Argentina (homologated July 1st). By this time, the European<br />
Championship had been wrapped up by Biasion, the Italian eventually finishing up with more than twice as many<br />
points as his nearest rival after winning the San Marino <strong>Rally</strong>. It was his seventh of the year but with Vudafieri securing<br />
the Catalunya <strong>Rally</strong>, Jolly Club's tally was up to ten while Franco Cunico's victory in the <strong>Rally</strong> Val d'Aosta meant<br />
Grifone bagged two. All in all it had been a good year then with the Evoluzione I turning the <strong>037</strong> from an unproven<br />
gamble to the dominant force in world rallying, but with several manufacturers already developing their own purposebuilt<br />
Group B contenders, <strong>Lancia</strong> couldn't expect to have it all their own way for long.<br />
RESULTS SUMMARY – LANCIA RALLY <strong>037</strong><br />
Year Event Driver Car Team Result<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong>e Costa Smerelda Attilio Bettega <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-gearbox<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong>e Costa Smerelda Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-gearbox<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong>e Elba Adartico Vudafieri <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club 7 TH<br />
1982 Tour de Corse Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing 9 TH<br />
1982 Tour de Corse Attilio Bettega <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-crashed<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong> 4 Regioni Andrea Zanussi <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club 4 TH<br />
1982 Acropolis <strong>Rally</strong> Adartico Vudafieri <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club DNF-engine<br />
1982 Acropolis <strong>Rally</strong> Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-engine<br />
1982 Ypres 24 Hours Andrea Zanussi <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club DNF-cooling<br />
1982 Madeira <strong>Rally</strong> Andrea Zanussi <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club DNF-engine<br />
1982 Svolte di Popoli Hillclimb Teodoro Peruggini <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing 1 ST<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong> Colline di Romagna Fulvio Bacchelli <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Nordmende DNF-crashed<br />
1982 Halkidikis <strong>Rally</strong> Andrea Zanussi <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club DNF-engine<br />
1982 1000 Lakes <strong>Rally</strong> Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-engine<br />
1982 Tour de France Jean-Louis Clarr <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing 3 RD<br />
1982 Tour de France Adartico Vudafieri <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club 12 TH<br />
1982 San Remo <strong>Rally</strong> Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-engine<br />
1982 San Remo <strong>Rally</strong> Fulvio Bacchelli <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Nordmende DNF-crashed<br />
1982 San Remo <strong>Rally</strong> Fabrizio Tabaton <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing DNF-crashed<br />
1982 Pace National <strong>Rally</strong> Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing 1 ST – First win<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong>e Côte d'Ivoire Adartico Vudafieri <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Jolly Club DNF-engine<br />
1982 RAC <strong>Rally</strong> Markku Alén <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing 4 TH<br />
1982 <strong>Rally</strong> Valle d'Aosta Fabrizio Tabaton <strong>Rally</strong> <strong>037</strong> Martini Racing 1 ST
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