A Lancia WRC comeback is in the FIA’s hands

There was a flurry of excitement when rumors began circulating the autosphere of Lancia coming back to rallying. It is unavoidable to hark back to the halcyon days of red Fulvias, Alitalia-stickered Stratoses and Martini-liveried 037s and Deltas.

Naturally, memories of those white, striped Lancias bounced back to the fore when it announced that, yes, it was waking up from its 30-year slumber.

Walking into the grounds of Balocco, where Lancia proudly announced the order books for its new rally car would open the following day and FIA homologation would be passed on January 1, 2025, there were plenty of signs of full-bore manufacturer commitment.

To the left, the Ypsilon HF, an all-electric road car bearing the famous elephant emblem. In the middle, Miki Biasion, a two-time champion pressed back into service to highlight the brand’s successful past being reactivated. But to the right, a representation that this was not business like the old days: a mere Rally4 car.

The narrative was well rehearsed: Lancia is returning to rallying with humility. It may remain the most successful rally manufacturer in WRC history even after 30 years away, but it’s not planning to add to that particular trophy cabinet right now.

There are many reasons for this. As two-time world champion Biasion said when it was his turn to step on stage, he pointed out the costs of Rally1 programs are simply too high. It is not affordable to be a manufacturer in the world championship, he opined, while stood alongside Charles Henri Fuster, Lancia’s global head of marketing.

There is also return on investment. This is a complicated beast: those of us watching stage-side couldn’t care less about ROI but for Stellantis executives, it’s the difference between the Lancia rebrand succeeding and the plug being pulled.

“There is a specific rule in Stellantis and I think it’s a fair and very, very good rule,” Fuster tells DirtFish. “If you have a project with a strong return on investment, you are entitled to present it to the board.”

Remember this – it’ll be important later.

Despite the smorgasbord of rally offerings currently in the Stellantis group – the Citroën C3 Rally2, Peugeot 208 Rally4 (and its recently unveiled but not yet launched national-class FN6 car), the Opel Corsa Rally4 and Corsa-e – they don’t say yes to everything. Opel wanted to build a Rally2 car when the regulations were first unveiled and was told no by the board.

Rally4 was never designed to be a promotional formula. It’s a rung near the bottom of the ladder – its cars are practical, not aspirational. Which makes the justification of the Rally4 project, which will serve as the primary marketing channel for the newly relaunched HF moniker, all the more unexpected.

“It’s all about brand equity,” explains Fuster. “Because we go back to rally with the HF Rally4, while in parallel we’ll be relaunching the HF Ypsilon for the roads. It’s clear we are going to use rally as a marketing platform to promote the HF version.”

Alarm bells should be ringing at the WRC Promoter. And the FIA. This is what Rally1 is supposed to be for: as a world championship, its value proposition for building brand equity should be so strong that using a junior formulae to achieve the same result is nonsensical.

This is what Subaru achieved so successfully in the 1990s and what Hyundai built its current program for: the giant N emblazoned on the doors of the i20 N Rally1s this year is a clue to the whole outfit’s purpose. But it is not today’s reality: Lancia has stayed away. It has elected to take the ‘humble’ route of remaining at national and, in time, continental level.

Fuster is the automotive-focused marketing brain of the operation. Eugenio Franzetti is one of ‘us’. As a kid he was cycling from Milan to Monza and crawling through holes in fences to watch Biasion compete in the Monza Rally Show. He was in charge of Peugeot Italia’s ultra-successful efforts with the 208 T16 spearheaded by Paolo Andreucci. Being in charge of Lancia HF Corse, the newly formed organizational unit to handle Lancia’s rally activities, is “a dream come true”.

This Rally4 program is surely not enough. Lancia deserves more. If the brand is to reboot itself, Rally4 feels like a half-hearted reboot. A toe in the water, rather than making a splash.

There is no plan for Lancia to be in the world championship. Not now, at least. But Franzetti is a rally man – and an influential figure within the Stellantis Motorsport operation, given his dual role with DS Performance.

Ultimately the Stellantis board would decide whether there’s sufficient return on investment to aim higher than Rally4. But listening to Franzetti is a starting point.

Lancia has not closed the door on a bigger future in rallying. But it’s waiting for the FIA to open it to begin with.

“Even if we have a big history behind us, even if we are the brand with the highest number of titles in the world championship, we don’t want to send direct messages,” said Franzetti. “We are sending messages, even today, and then they [the FIA] have to decide.

“The message is that we need clear rules. Before taking any decision we need to have clear rules about WRC1, WRC2, the cost of one, the cost of the second one, and to let us do the calculation of the return on that investment. So what we hope is to have lower cost, generally speaking.

“So far, today, the perfect category is the Rally2. If you consider this aspect in terms of cost of development, racing cost, cost for the drivers, cost for the team, cost per kilometers, the Rally2 and opportunity to sell cars, the Rally2 today, it’s the clever car.”

That Lancia does not see the return on a larger outlay for a top-level program and believes it can generate brand equity from a Rally4 program is the damning indictment on the current ruleset. But here’s the good news – if the rule makers are open to change, it sounds like Lancia might be too.

“What we want to have is a world championship,” said Franzetti. “So rally championships with many drivers, with many cars, with many manufacturers. That’s their job. But I think that everybody wants to have more visibility in the WRC today.

“They have to improve this, because if you improve this, you will have higher visibility for the manufacturers that are in, and if you have a higher visibility, you will have a higher return on investment.

“So, how to do it? It’s their job, but how to say? I think that they know very well the things that they have to improve. I also work on Formula E too, and each promoter wants to improve the visibility and the value of the championship.”

If the value proposition of the World Rally Championship changes, suddenly Lancia may have something it thinks it can present to the Stellantis board.

Before getting a chance to speak to either Fuster or Franzetti, there was the standard presentation stump speech to sit through. Flanked by Ypsilons, Biasion picked up the mic to state his piece. It was further justification for why Lancia hasn’t gone to Rally1. And about finding his successor in the world championship, the next Italian star.

Biasion knows the value the WRC can bring because he lived through, and became champion during, its glory days.

Lancia is not bolting the door shut to the WRC. It wants an excuse to force it open. But the next set of WRC regulations must provide the reason to ask the Stellantis board the question every rally fan wants to ask: can we bring Lancia back to the WRC?

“If the FIA will change something, let’s dream,” said Biasion.

You heard the man. Start dreaming.