With the debut this month of, the movie retelling the story of Audi versus Lancia in the 1983 World Rally Championship season, there’s a newfound spotlight on those early ’80s years as Audi fought to establish quattro as the all-out dominant technology, while Lancia stuck with a more traditional rear-wheel drive yet mid-engine layout in their 037 racecar. We know from history, and from the movie, that Lancia snagged that ’83 title. Today, the DirtFish blog looks at how Audi took its revenge at Monte Carlo.
By 1984, Walter Röhrl had left Lancia and moved on to Audi. They foreshadowed that in the movie when he drives up to visit Lancia’s team boss Cesare Fiorio at the wheel of an ur quattro. And while it’s unclear if that scene ever actually happened, we do know Walter left and the team for Audi Sport and would take a seat in his own quattro rally car for the ’84 season. And though that season would go to Stig for the championship, it was early in that season now 40 years ago that Walter made his mark in four rings lore with a victory at Monte Carlo.
DirtFish digs into the story, a feature not to miss if you love this era of rallying history. Read it all HERE.
We’ve also shared some 1984 Rally Monte Carlo photos in a gallery below. We’ve sourced them over the years from Audi Tradition, and help provide a glimpse into that time before everyone was carrying a camera.
