Rivalry between Lancia and Audi is headed for the silver screen

Two of the most iconic rally cars of all time, the Lancia Rally 037 and Audi Quattro S1, will feature in the movie “Race to Glory, Audi vs Lancia” which premiered on the big screen on January 5, setting off the 2024 World Rally Championship (WRC) season, and pushing rallying further into immortality.

The intense battle between Audi and Lancia in the 1983 World Rally Championship is a true reflection of the David vs Goliath contest.

It will showcase the intense rivalry between the two car manufacturers, on one side the revered German engineering precision and diligence from Audi, matched by unrivalled Italian engineering ability and “creativity” in overcoming the technical difficulties.

With Volker Bruch starring in Race for Glory as Germany’s Lancia driver Walter Röhrl, the setting is in Sanremo, Italy, with the service park and finish ramp in the precise location where the rally finished back in 1983.

Shooting took place after mid-May 2022 in Italy and Greece at some of the original location of Lancia offices and the Stellantis Balocco testing ground.

Directed by Stefano Mordini, the creator of The Invisible Witness and Steel box office hits Race to Glory, Audi vs Lancia is a true encounter focusing on the “real-life story, a mismatch of two extremes, and as intense as other motorsports movies, including Ford vs Ferrari, Rush’s, Cars, Racing Dream and Grand Prix, according to Tomatoemeter movies tracking company.

British Academy Film Awards nominees Riccardo Scamarcio, Daniel Brühl and Volker Bruch will star in the film by Lionsgate, which will also stream it. It is produced by Lebowski, with co-production of Recorded Picture Company and Metropolitan Films. In Italy, it is distributed by Medusa.

Lancia was a reflection of Italians’ unrivalled design concepts, a nibble little car, two-wheel drive, and a rational interior. Some of the aerodynamic appendages on the pillar and tail, including a flashy rear wing, elevated its performance even further in the looks department even to this day.

But beneath this sheen was a bloody thirsty machine giving its all, driven by some of the most talented rally drivers of all time - Marku Alen, Rohrl and Attilio Batega.

A little tweaking here-and-there gave the car around 320BHP, super-charged and only two-wheel drive.

It was coming from a stable known for its thirst for victories, thrust in the forefront by an Italian team manager, Cesare Fiorio, better known for everything Italian - hot women, fine liquor, fast boats and well-cut linen, but above all a tactician of no equal, turning a no-hoper into a car which overcame obstacles, exiting the centre stage with the mein of the Roman conqueror - the 1983 World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title, becoming the last two wheel drive to achieve the feat.

“Only four wheel drive cars have won the WRC since Racing is like a war, and I am the commander of the army,” says Fiorio in the Trailer.

Lancia remains one of most successful rally teams in history, with 15 World Rally Championship victories and three Endurance Builders World Championship titles.

On the other side was the Audi squad, a large, rich company, always exploring the frontiers of engineering conquest with a mega-budget to boot.

Audi appeared in the WRC in 1981 in an awe-inspiring Audi Quattro, a proven car and an all-star squad of Michelle Mouton, Hannu Mikola and Stig Blomqvist. The Audi was an offshoot of a secret mission to convert a family saloon into a 4x4 monister following successful development tests by Audi to make a four-wheel drive car which could conquer all sorts of road conditions for the German army in 1977.

Nobody expected Lancia to do well in season-opening Monte Carlo where the four-wheel drive traction of the Audi was unrivalled but after others went to sleep, Fiorio went to the supermarkets and bought all the salt to melt the road surfaces. He exploited the grey zones of the rule book. The results?

Lancia finished first and second. Audi won in Sweden and Portugal.

In Cosica Lancia expected to pick points but nobody predicted how many points they could score. They went there with four cars. Lancia took the first two. The circus moved to Greece, everybody knew the rough conditions favoured Audi but it was Lancia’s Rohrl who won.

It is a memory of 40 years, which stirs emotions amongst Italians, a longer version than Jeremy Clarkson’s documentary in the Grand Tour of 2019 which will become a heroic, memorable adventure in the hearts and eyes of enthusiasts. It is a must-watch.

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