5 Things You Didn't Know About The Lancia Delta Integrale

1. It conquered rallying even after Lancia pulled out

After Lancia pulled out at the end of the 1991 season, the car still went on to win more rallies and constructors titles. Lancia still developed the Evo version of the car with the Martini Racing team now run by Jolly club. In 1992 the car went on to win 8 events with Didier Auriol, Juha Kankkunen and Andrea Aghini taking victories. Didier Auriol was set to be champion after winning 6 events but a poor start and finish to the season let him down and Carlos Sainz took victory. Auriol still says today that his best memories were with the Lancia team.

2. The red livery was only used on one World Championship event

The iconic red Martini livery was only used on one World championship event for the launch of the 16V car at Sanremo in 1989. Only another 2 events by works cars carried a red livery at Memorial Bettega and Critérium des Cévennes 1989. The livery was not used as most Italian newspapers were still in black and white print and the car would not stand out in the paper. This was not good to sell cars.

3. A number of famous people ordered one from new

F1 drivers Eddie Irvine, Gerhard Berger, Jean Alesi, Olympic skier Alberto Tomba had a special one off commissioned for him, rally drivers Philippe Bugalski, Juha Kankkunen, Miki Biasion, Andrea Aghini, Didier Auriol, and the fashion house Dolce&Gabbana all ordered cars from new

4. Electronic Clutch and 4 wheel steering.

Lancia developed various special features for its rally cars like an electronic clutch and 4 wheel steering. These cars were never rallied although they were secretly tested by Lancia. The electronic clutch car was tested on TO 74785L as seen below. this car is currently for sale at € 240.000.

5. Evo 3 ‘Viola' prototype

Bruno Maggiora the coach builder that built the EVO 2, felt that there was more life in the Integrale after production stopped in early 1994. The project was entirely developed by Maggiora but was quickly rejected by Lancia. He created this concept to show how a faster and more agile Integrale an Evo 3 could be, hoping to revive sales and Lancia’s commitment to its iconic four-wheel-drive machine. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.