History of chassis 207

Alongside chassis 202, chassis 207 was one of the S4 Evoluziones that Lancia used for the model’s WRC debut on the 897km all-gravel 1985 RAC Rally which took place between November 24th and 28th. Both Martini-backed cars were in 430bhp gravel trim as seen at the Algarve Rally a few weeks prior.

Chassis 207 was allocated to Markku Alen / Ilkka Kivimaki while 207 was on hand for Henri Toivonen / Neil Wilson.

Despite some niggly compressor issues, the Lancias began to dominate from the off with Alen leading Toivonen and Peugeot’s Timo Salonen back in third. However, both S4s then began to suffer more serious supercharger issues; Alen dropped to third and Toivonen to fifth. The Audis and Peugeots then encountered there own problems, at which point the Lancias began setting fastest stage times again, even though the cars were experiencing intermittent electrical issues.

Alen subsequently re-took the lead and although he later span off in Kielder Forest, continued to pull away from the chasing pack led by Toivonen who had had a gentle roll on the Killburn stage. Unfortunately, when Alen slid into a ditch, he lost five minutes and dropped to third. He eventually passed Tony Pond’s Metro 6R4 to take the runners’ up spot behind his team-mate.

Chassis 207 did not appear again until seven months later, by which time it had been re-registered TO 76797E (from A6 37352). It contested the 411km all-tarmac Ypres 24 Hour Rally in Belgium which was a round of the European Rally Championship (June 27th to 29th).

Fabrizio Tabaton and Luigi Tedeschini were given the nod to drive for the works team as Martini regular Miki Biasion would contest the WRC level New Zealand Rally a few days later instead. Tabaton had a slight off on stage two, but after the Metro 6R4 of Marc Duez suffered a puncture, chassis 207 led overnight (when a new gearbox was fitted). It then looked as though Tabaton would cruise to victory as his rivals encounered trouble, but with eight stages to go, the S4 went off the road which damaged the radiator and ultimately cooked the engine.

For its final two ERC outings of 1986, chassis 207 was run by Grifone and appeared in the team’s famous black and gold livery with backing from Esso.