Italian Rally Championship (CIR, Group B era)

Italy was Lancia country. The Campionato Italiano Rally (CIR) was the training ground for the drivers who went on to dominate the European championship, and its rallies — the Targa Florio, the Costa Smeralda, the 4 Regioni, Elba — were fought out by private Lancia teams.

5
titles for Lancia drivers 1982–86
2
titles a year from 1984
1987
a Group B title still awarded
7
ERC wins for Biasion in 1983

Champions

Year Driver Co-driver Car Note
1982 Tonino Tognana Max De Antoni Ferrari 308 GTB, then Lancia 037
1983 Miki Biasion Tiziano Siviero Lancia 037
1984 Adartico Vudafieri Luigi Pirollo Lancia 037 Open title
1984 Paolo Fabbri Paolo Cecchini Fiat Ritmo Abarth 125 TC second title
1985 Dario Cerrato Giuseppe Cerri Lancia 037 Open title
1985 Fabrizio Tabaton Luciano Tedeschini Lancia 037 second title
1986 Dario Cerrato Giuseppe Cerri Lancia Delta S4 both titles

From 1984 to 1986 two Italian titles were awarded, one of them labelled Open. In 1987, when Group B was banned at world level, Italy still awarded a Group B title, won by Michele Rayneri in a Lancia 037.

The teams

The works Martini Lancia team concentrated on the World Championship. In Italy the 037s and Delta S4s were run by private teams: Jolly Club (Biasion, Vudafieri, Cerrato), Grifone with Esso sponsorship (Tabaton, Cunico) and others such as Bologna Corse. Peugeot fought back in 1986 with Andrea Zanussi’s 205 Turbo 16.

Jolly Club, Grifone and the private Lancias: the Italian championship from Tognana’s Ferrari to Cerrato’s Delta S4.

Season by season

1982. Tognana and De Antoni won the Targa Florio and, in a Jolly Club Ferrari 308 GTB, Il Ciocco, then switched to a Jolly Club Lancia 037 and won San Marino. Tabaton won Elba in a Lancia Stratos and the Valle d’Aosta in a Martini 037.

1983. Biasion and Siviero, Jolly Club, won the Costa Smeralda, the 4 Regioni and San Marino on the way to both the Italian and the European titles. Grifone’s Gianfranco Cunico won the Targa Florio and the Valle d’Aosta.

1984. Vudafieri and Pirollo won the 4 Regioni, Piancavallo and San Marino in a Jolly Club 037. Fassina won the Targa Florio, and Henri Toivonen won the Costa Smeralda in a Rothmans Porsche 911 SC RS.

1985. Cerrato and Cerri won the Costa Smeralda, Elba and the Targa Florio in a Jolly Club 037; Tabaton, second on the Targa, won Piancavallo.

Dario Cerrato, Italian champion in 1985 and 1986, in a Jolly Club Lancia Delta on the 1989 Targa Florio, after the Group B era.
Dario Cerrato, Italian champion in 1985 and 1986, in a Jolly Club Lancia Delta on the 1989 Targa Florio, after the Group B era.Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Dario Cerrato and Giuseppe Cerri in their Lancia Delta S4 on the 1986 Sanremo Rally. They won both Italian titles that year.
Dario Cerrato and Giuseppe Cerri in their Lancia Delta S4 on the 1986 Sanremo Rally. They won both Italian titles that year.Photo: Carlo Marzetti via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

1986. The Delta S4 arrived in private hands. Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto won the Costa Smeralda in a works Martini S4 two weeks before their fatal accident in Corsica. Cerrato won Elba and the Targa Florio, with Zanussi’s Peugeot second on both the Costa Smeralda and the Targa; Zanussi won Biella and Piancavallo, and Tabaton won San Marino in his Delta S4.

Champions follow the Italian and English Wikipedia lists, which agree that two titles were awarded in 1984–1986; neither explains the rules that separated the Open title from the other, so we do not attempt to. Italian Wikipedia counts Cerrato’s 1986 success as two titles. Event results come from the Italian rounds of the European championship (eWRC-results.com); the full Italian calendars were not available to us.

In pictures 1 photos

The Lancia 037: long, low rear deck with the engine in the middle and the supercharger alongside.
The Lancia 037: long, low rear deck with the engine in the middle and the supercharger alongside.Photo: Calreyn88 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

More from Championships

Belgian Rally Championship (Group B era)Spa, Ypres and the Condroz: Duez, Snijers and Droogmans in the Belgian championship from Porsche to Ford RS200.Read more →Spanish Rally Championship (Group B era)Zanini, Ortiz and Servià — and the young Carlos Sainz — in the Spanish championship from 1982 to 1986.Read more →Dutch Rally Championship (Group B era)Van der Marel’s Manta 400 and Andervang’s RS200: the Dutch championship, most of it raced in Belgium and Germany.Read more →German Rally Championship (DRM, Group B era)Audi, Opel and then Peugeot: Demuth, Weber, Grundel and Mouton in the German championship from 1982 to 1986.Read more →French Rally Championship (Group B era)Renault against Opel on French asphalt: Thérier, Fréquelin, Ragnotti and Auriol, and the 119-point tie of 1986.Read more →British Rally Championship (Group B era)McRae, Blomqvist, Brookes and Lovell: the British Open Rally Championship from 1982 to 1986, with results, cars and the 1984 title fight.Read more →

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (IT), Campionato Italiano Rally — https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campionato_Italiano_Rally
  2. Wikipedia (EN), Italian Rally Championship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Rally_Championship
  3. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1982 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1982/6-erc/
  4. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1983 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1983/6-erc/
  5. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1984 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1984/6-erc/
  6. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1985 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1985/6-erc/
  7. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1986 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1986/6-erc/

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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Thumbnail photos on this page: Mr.choppers (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Ramon Espiña Fernand… (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); estoril (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Brian Snelson (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0).