Description:

Lancia has an extensive rally record, built up mainly in the 70s and 80s, and then in the early 90s. They clocked up 10 titles as World Champion Constructors thanks to several mythical cars: the Lancia Rally in Group B, the highly respected Lancia Fulvia HF and the awesome Lancia Stratos. But only one Lancia can boast that it won 6 world titles: the Lancia Delta. Ascott Collection now offers you the chance to acquire an authentic model which was driven by Didier Auriol in the 1990 World Rally Championship.

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The Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16V

After three successive years of glory with the Delta, from 1987 to 1989, Lancia refused to let up, and pursued its ambition to leave a durable mark on the world of rallying. For the 1990 season, the Integrale 16V took over from the Integrale. The four-cylinder engine with two overhead camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder which was well-known in the Fiat group, held out the promise of more victories.

The car we are offering for sale here is part of this evolution. It has a cylinder head made of light alloy (with a cast iron block), with a toothed belt driving the two camshafts. The transition to 16 valves and the addition of a new Garrett T3 turbo with an air-to-air exchanger afforded the Lancia Integrale 200 hp, compared with its previous 185 hp.

1990 promised to be a new demonstration of force

The new Lancia began its career in January, with Didier Auriol immediately winning the Monte Carlo rally (with TO 36177N). Throughout the 28 special stages, he gave full expression to the power of the new four-wheel-drive beauty, finishing just under a minute ahead of "El Matador" Carlos Sainz (in the Toyota Celica GT-Four).

The Didier Auriol's Lancia

The second round of the season, in March, took place in Portugal. This was the rally in which Didier Auriol drove the TO 51889N. It was to be the car’s only race in the World Rally Championship, like most cars in fact, which usually only took part in a single race.

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This 1990 Rally of Portugal was only the second event of the year, and yet it was already the high point of the season! The Lancia drivers made the top five places: Massimo Biasion won in front of Didier Auriol, with Juha Kankkunen, Dario Cerrato and finally Carlos Bica following them. Two small driving errors deprived Didier Auriol of the victory. He lost nearly two minutes on his Italian teammate ... but left Estoril at the top of the overall standings.

After this outstanding round, the car did not race again in 1990. It was sold to the Grifone team (H.F. Grifone SRL), which had raced Lancia Rally cars in Italy in the past, and which in the 1990s became a Toyota satellite team. In 1991, the Grifone outfit thus acquired our TO 51889N to enter it for the Italian Rally Championship (Campionato Italiano Rally Nazionali). The car achieved one second place and two wins, and Piero Longhi won the championship!

Having been upgraded to the ‘Deltona’ specification (the peak of the evolutions for a Lancia Delta at the time), this Lancia HF car then returned to its original specification before sharing the end of its sporting career between France and Italy. It took part in the Rally of Antibes and in 1993 won the Rally Valli del Bormida.

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The lineage of the Lancia Deltas is exceptional, crowning the Italian constructor with six Constructors World Championship titles in a row, from 1987 to 1992. During this period, four Drivers World Championships were also won, by Juha Kankkunen (in 1987 and 1991) and Massimo Biasion (in 1988 and 1989). Overall, the Lancia Delta won 46 rallies in the World Championship. The model Ascott Collection is offering for sale here helped to write the legend of the Delta, and was part of Lancia’s unprecedented top-five-places in Portugal. The car is a symbol of the power of the Italian brand, which is to date still the most successful constructor in rally-racing. In its Martini Racing livery, it is a genuine works Delta and was very well looked after during its years of racing in national events.

Race history:

03/1990 - Rally of Portugal - Didier Auriol / Bernard Occelli - Martini Racing - 2nd (N° 4)

03/1991 - Rally del Ciocco e Valle del Serchio - Piero Longhi / Pietro Carraro - 2nd (N° 9)

04/1991 - Rally Valle d'Aosta - Piero Longhi / Pietro Carraro - winner (N° 7)

05/1991 - Targa Florio - Rally di Sicilia - Piero Longhi / Pietro Carraro - winner (N° 7)

07/1991 - Rally di Limone Piemonte - Piero Longhi / Pietro Carraro - winner (n °?)

10/1991 - Rally Città di Torino - Piero Longhi / Pietro Carraro - winner (n °?)

11/1992 - Rally della Lanterna - Ramón Ferreyros / Raffaele Ynzenga - 3rd (N° 4)

05/1993 - Rally of Antibes - Rallye d'Azur - Jean-Manuel Beuzelin / Jean Bourgoin - 6th (N° 19)

1993 - Rally Valli del Bormida - Maurizio Ferrecchi / Gianfranco Imerito - winner (N° 6)

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