The teams

Lancia Martini

Photo: KKPCW（Kyu3） via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

In rallying, Lancia meant Cesare Fiorio’s team: clever, politically astute and willing to win a world title with a technically ‘old-fashioned’ car. Martini & Rossi supplied the iconic stripes.

Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 2 — Rear-Wheel Drive’s Last Stand: Lancia 037 vs Audi quattro (1983)

How Fiorio’s team out-thought Audi in 1983.

People

Cesare Fiorio ran Lancia’s rally programme from 1965 to 1989, and in 1984 also became head of motorsport for the whole Fiat group. He was renowned as a master strategist, from tyre choice to the rule book. After Lancia he became sporting director of Ferrari in Formula 1 in 1989. In the feature film Race for Glory: Audi vs Lancia (2024) he is played by Riccardo Scamarcio.

Sergio Limone was Abarth’s project engineer for the 037 and went on to work on the Delta S4 and on the abandoned Group S prototype. Claudio Lombardi designed the team’s engines and became head of engineering; in 1989 Fiorio took him to Ferrari. See designers and engineers.

Results

• 1983: Markku Alén and Walter Röhrl win five rallies between them; Lancia beats Audi to the manufacturers’ title.
• 1984: a single win (Corsica, Alén). The 037 has been overtaken.
• 1985: Bettega is killed in Corsica. On the RAC Rally the Delta S4 makes its debut with a one-two (Toivonen, Alén).
• 1986: Toivonen wins Monte Carlo but is killed with Sergio Cresto in Corsica. Biasion wins in Argentina; Alén wins Sanremo (annulled) and the Olympus Rally, and loses the title to Kankkunen.

Cesare Fiorio’s Turin team won the last manufacturers’ title for a two-wheel-drive car in 1983 and introduced the Delta S4 in 1985 — with Abarth as its engineering powerhouse.

Private teams around Lancia

Milan’s Jolly Club ran 037s and S4s in the Italian and European championships, among others; Dario Cerrato won the 1985 European and Italian titles in a 037. See other teams.

European and national championships

Lancia’s European championship titles of 1983–1986 were won by drivers of other Lancia teams, notably Jolly Club and Grifone, rather than the Martini works team, which won the 1986 Costa Smeralda with Toivonen. See the European Rally Championship.

In pictures 3 photos

Further resources

• Motor Sport: Team managers — Cesare Fiorio EN · article · subscription
  Profile of the Lancia team boss behind the 037 and S4.
• Motor Sport: Lancia Group B warriors remember rallying's darkest hour EN · article · subscription
  Lancia drivers recall the 037, the S4 and the 1986 Tour de Corse.
• Lancia Rally Group B — Sergio Remondino (Giorgio Nada Editore, 2021) EN · book
  Insider history of Lancia's 037 and Delta S4 programmes. ISBN 9788879118477.
• Stellantis Heritage: Lancia Delta S4 and S4 Stradale EN · article
  Lancia's heritage department on how the S4 was developed, homologated and raced.
• Motor Sport: Lancia in rallying — the champagne years EN · article · subscription
  How Lancia beat Audi to the 1983 makes' title with the 037, with Röhrl's memories.

All Group B resources →

More from Teams

Peugeot Talbot SportFrom 1981 Jean Todt built a team that conquered the world within three years. With the 205 T16: manufacturers' titles in 1985 and 1986, and drivers' titles for Salonen and Kankkunen.Read more →Ford MotorsportIn 1983 Stuart Turner scrapped the RS1700T and started again with a clean sheet of paper: the RS200. It became a beautiful car that arrived too late.Read more →Austin Rover (MG Metro 6R4)British, naturally aspirated and idiosyncratic: John Davenport had Williams Grand Prix Engineering develop a rally car based on the Metro. Third on its debut.Read more →Audi SportThe Ingolstadt team that changed rallying with four-wheel drive. Under Roland Gumpert: two manufacturers' titles (1982, 1984) and two drivers' titles (1983, 1984).Read more →Designers and engineersThe people behind the machines: Limone and Lombardi (Lancia/Abarth), de Cortanze and Welter (Peugeot), Southgate and Wheeler (Ford), Bensinger and Piëch (Audi), David Wood (Metro 6R4).Read more →Other teams and privateersCitroën, Nissan, Mazda Rally Team Europe, Renault, Jolly Club and the privateers who gave Group B its depth.Read more →

Sources

1. Wikipedia (EN), Cesare Fiorio — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Fiorio
2. Stellantis Heritage, Lancia. The Rallying Legend — https://www.stellantisheritage.com/en-uk/heritage/news/lancia-the-rallying-legend
3. Wikipedia (EN), Lancia Rally 037 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Rally_037
4. Wikipedia (EN), Lancia Delta S4 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Delta_S4
5. Wikipedia (EN), Sergio Limone — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Limone

All text is original writing for Grouve Sports Management Group, based on the sources above. Facts checked on 21 October 2026.

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