Rallye Sanremo

There are more great rallies in the world than there is space in the World Championship, so we shouldn't get too nostalgic for the ones that have dropped off the calendar. This is probably true of the Rallye Sanremo, which was in the WRC from the off in 1973 until 2003, but which time its glory days were behind it. I doubt most rally fans younger than me know of it as a World Rally at all, or of they do it's because of the film Race for Glory: Audi Vs Lancia. 

The rally started in 1928, and was always spelt 'rallye', the French way, rather than the Italian. It missed out the 40s and the 50s but returned as a proper rally, as opposed to a street race, in 1961. The organisation could sometimes be chaotic and rally officials could occasionally be partisan. In 1966 they excluded Viv Elford's winning Lotus Cortina and awarded victory to a Lancia Fulvia. That wasn't to be the last scandal, as we shall see. 

Two things make Rallye Sanremo of interest to rally fans. Firstly, it was the Italian round of the World Championship at the time when Italian cars dominated. This didn't always make for close racing, and often other manufacturers stayed away, but it always meant a lot of exotic machinery was on display, especially as the Italians regarded cars like Ferraris and De Thomasos as 'rally cars' even on gravel events. Sometimes too the private machinery could beat the Works teams. 

Secondly, it was for most of its history a unique mixed surface event. Until 1975, this was because the passes over the Ligurian Alps weren't tarmacked at the summit. Then, after a few years of being all-tarmac again, gravel stages in Tuscany were added into the middle of the event in 1979. These roads usually ran along the crests of the hills, giving some of the best viewing of cars at speed on gravel anywhere in the world. Sadly, in 1997, with rallies becoming more compact, this all ended. Six years later the event dropped out of the WRC. 

The Seventies

When it was good, it was good though. In 1974 Lancia debuted the Stratos on the event and won first time out with Sandro Munari at the wheel. The next year they did it again with new signing Bjorn Waldegard at the wheel. 1976 was more of the same, but Lancia decided that they prefer and Italian to won and so asked Waldegard to let Munari past. To say this didn't go down very well with the Swede would be a bit of an understatement. Waldegard had a four second lead over Munari going into the last stage, so he waited four seconds after being given the go, then put his foot down, winning the stage and the rally. he then waved goodbye to Lancia and went off to three amazingly successful years at Ford.

For 1977 internal politics saw Lancia's championship efforts being sidelined in favour of Fiat. Ford, in no small part because of Waldegard's efforts, gave them a hard time though. The Escort wasn't exactly built for European tarmac events though, and Roger Clarks visit to the 1976 Sanremo was a disaster after the lorry carrying his tires broke down on the way there. Waldegards efforts in 1977 weren't much better and fifth was all he could manage, beaten by four Italian cars.

Ford went away and worked on the Escort, eventually producing a fearsome - and probably illegal - short wheelbase tarmac special, but industrial action stopped them bringing it to the rally in 1978. Instead, it was another all Italian affair, but there had been some musical chairs in the Fiat/Lanica camp, with FIA Cup leader Markku Alen opting for a Stratos whilst veteran Stratos man Munari was in a Fiat. Munari and team mate Walter Rohrl both led the event, only to lose the lead after crashing, and so on the final morning it was Alen's Works Stratos chasing down Adartico Vudafieri's private example. The pressure told on the Italian, who crashed off the road in spectacular fashion to give a victory to the Finn, who was really more Italian than the Italians.  

At this time Italian cars were generally regarded as better on tarmac than gravel, but the introduction of gravel stages in 1979 didn't end their dominance of the Sanremo. In 1979 a private Stratos finally won, in the hands of future European Rally Champion Antonio 'Tony' Fassina. A Stratos had now won six of the last seven events. Our own Tony Pond was best non-Italian car in his Sunbeam Lotus. 

The Eighties

Walter Rohrl, private Porsche 911, Sanremo 1981

In 1980 Ford finally had a decent crack at the rally, although the Escorts were being run by the private David Sutton team. The Fiat/Lancia steamroller was mildly disrupted by a strike, with Alen in an old car that expired whilst Rohrl had a tarmac spec Fiat 131 Abarth with limited suspension travel. Ford's Ari Vatanen managed to take the lead on the gravel section as Rohrl nursed his car over the rough stages. Vatanen might have won, but hitting a tree radically altered the handling the Escort. Rohrl got ahead on the final tarmac section and held on to win, despite losing his intercom and hence his pace notes on the last night.

In 1981 the Sanremo made history. Audi had revolutionised rallying with the Quattro earlier in the year, and Hannu Mikkola had given the car its maiden victory on the Swedish rally. Bad luck had dogged the team since then, but on the gravel of Sanremo the car was in a league of its own. The surprise though was that the winning Quattro was not that of Mikkola, but Michelle Mouton, becoming the first woman to win a World Rally Championship event. It wouldn't be her last.

Parc Ferme, Pisa, 1982

In 1982 the Italians briefly looked like getting their revenge. Lancia debuted the 'evolution version of their new 037 Rally. A Ferrari 308 led after the first tarmac leg, then Alen took the lead briefly on the gravel. After that it was all Audi. They'd fielded a six car team and on some stages took the top five fastest times. The fastest Audi driver though was the original Stig, Mr Blomqvist. To anyone watching in those days, Blomqvist was clearly the best Quattro driver of all, the only one who could make the big car dance. For some reason Audi were reluctant to release him onto the world stage. For Sanremo he was brought over for a one-off drive with his car still in Audi Sweden colours. 

In 1983, the Sanremo became the most important rally of the year. Lancia's duel with Audi has become legendary, and the film didn't bend the truth too much by setting the finale in Italy. The Italians were ahead on points, but they had no plans to tackle Africa's Ivory Coast rally and they knew they had no chance on Britain's muddy RAC Rally. The not only needed to win the Sanremo but make sure Audi finished well down the order. Lancia were probably reasonably confident their lead drivers Rohrl and Alen could do the job, but even third could have been enough give Audi the championship, so the junior team were drafted in as well. 

Markku Alen, Lancia 037, Sanremo 1983

In the end there were three official Martini 037s, three semi-official Jolly Club cars and two private cars. The plan worked perfectly. When the first tarmac section was finished, not only were all eight Lancias ahead of the first Audi, but so were two Opel Manta 400s. This left the Audi choaking in the Tuscany dust as they tried to make up time on the gravel, By the time the cars headed back north for the final tarmac leg, Alen still held the lead. Lancia then needed to get as many 037s as possible ahead of the Quattros on the last tarmac blast. By the time the cars returned to Sanremo all three Works 037s were ahead of the Audis, plus the Jolly Club car of future World Champion Miki Biasion. For good measure the two works Opels beat their rivals from Stuttgart too. Lancia were World Champions again. 

In 1984 Audi returned with the 450bhp Sport Quattro. It still wasn't faster than the Lancias on tarmac, but it was a lot closer. Unfortunately, Blomqvist retired after a heavy landing whilst Rohrl crashed on the last day after torrential rain made the conditions treacherous. The winner though was not an Italian car. Ari Vatanens all-conquering Peugeot 205 T16 could hold its own with the Lancias on tarmac and the Audis on the gravel, and so for the first time since the days of the little Renault Alpines, an Italian car didn't win the Rallye Sanremo. 

Stig Blomqvist, Audi Sport Quattro, Sanremo 1984

Peugeot managed to make the 205 T16 even better for the 1985 season, and they'd managed to wrap up the World Championship before the Sanremo. They came anyway, and fully expected another. It didn't happen though. Partly, this was because Audi had been working on their car and the Sport Quattro no boasted wings and, more importantly, a working central differential. Mainly though it was because Walter Rohrl decided to show everyone why he was rallying's first double World Champion. It was one of the greatest Sanremo drives ever.

So, everyone went home happy from Sanremo 1985. That was not the case the next year. This was a troubled season, with spectators and drivers dying in a serious of accidents. Audi pulled out of rallying as a result, but Lancia were back in the game, with the awesome S4 Delta, and by Sanremo they were engaged in an epic duel with Peugeot. Clearly, they hoped to work their old magic on home soil. 

Things did not go well though. At the end of the opening tarmac leg the Peugeots led. The reason was not hard to find out. The French team was running 3 bar boost, giving 540bhop and making the little cars the most power rally machines ever. What happened next though was the low point of the rally's history.

Someone, and the chief suspect is the event's chief scrutineer, the late Lanfranco Canesch, persuaded the rally stewards that skirts under the Peugeots designed to deflect stones was actually a form of illegal ground effects, despite being several inches off the ground. The skirts had been used all season, and the cars had already passed pre-event scrutineering, but the officials decided they were now illegal. Worse, they wouldn't let the cars continue under appeal. Audi had quit rallying following the tragedy in Portugal, so this gifted the rally to Lancia. All they needed to do was make sure the correct Lancia won. This was too much for the FIA, who eventually annulled the result of the rally, effectively kicking it out of the WRC for that year.

After that it wouldn't have been a surprise if the rally wasn't in the 1987 calendar, but it was. The banning of Group B had given Lancia the top four wheel drive vehicle in the Delta, and so on Rallye Sanremo they were on the other side of the 4WD/2WD battle. Ford gave them a run for their money in 87 and 88, but the Delta was to eventually win six Sanremos on the trot.

The Nineties

Carlos Sainz, Lanicia Delta Integrale, Sanremo 1993

The retirement of Lancia opened up the event to other winners, starting with Franco Cunico in a private Escort Cosworth. In 1995 it dropped its World status for a year as part of the FIA's rotation system, but it was back the next year and our own Colin McRae took the first of a brace of wins. 

In 1997 the gravel stages were dropped completely, making the rally much more compact. By this time the Formula 2 Kit Cars were challenging the World Rally Cars on tarmac, and Sanremo was no exception with Gilles Panizzi setting the second highest number of fastest stage times in the Peugeot 306 Maxi in 1998. 

The end of an era

Panizzi would switch to driving the all-conqueroing Peupeot 206 WRC in 2000, and he used it to win the first three Sanremos of the new century. In 2003 he was beaten into second by another 'tarmac specialist', Sebastien Loeb, in the Citroen Xsara WRC. Citroen's more senior driver, Colin McRae, could only manage sixth. Carlos Sainz, Richard Burns, Didier Auriel and Tommi Makkinen all finished off the podium indicating a changing of the guard at the top of the sport. 

So, the Sanremo had become a specialist tarmac event for specialist tarmac cars and drivers, and French ones at that. By this time the WRC had changed too and the Sanremo was one of four all-tarmac events on the calendar - five if you included the increasingly snow-free Monte Carlo. It was time for a change and so when Italy's national round switched to the gravel of Sardinia it wasn't a controversial decision. No less a person than Markku Alen was happy to tell everyone Sardinia was his favourite rally. 

So, the Sanremo exited the WRC and became just a round of the ERC. It hadn't perfect, but it had often been fascinating. The rally had been world event thirty times and Lancia had won thirteen of those, with Fiat another two. Markku Alen, Miki Biasion, Didier Auriel and Gilles Panizzi had each won three times. The rally had been the first won by a woman, had decided the championship in a good way in 1983, and in a bad way in 1986. There had been epic battles and a significant number of private wins.

It's a good legacy.