Lancia 037 vs Audi Quattro: Did Lancia Cheat?

In 1983, the four-wheel-drive Audi quattro was supposed to have made rear-wheel-drive rally cars obsolete. Then Lancia showed up with the mid-engined, supercharged, rear-wheel-drive Rally 037 and beat Audi to the World Rally Championship manufacturers' title by two points, 118 to 116. It is still the last time a rear-wheel-drive car won it. This is the story of how: Cesare Fiorio scouting the Monte Carlo stages and getting the ice cleared, the mid-stage tyre changes that were legal until 1986, the reliability gap, and the two legends that are still argued about (the homologation cars and the salt), which are flagged in the video as never proven. Hannu Mikkola won the drivers' title in a quattro, so both teams went home as champions. Was it cheating or just clever? Tell us in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 Lancia vs Audi, 1983 1:16 The Audi quattro 1:27 The Lancia Rally 037 2:14 Fiorio and the 200-car legend 2:30 Monte Carlo and the ice 3:00 Tyre changes mid-stage 3:22 Audi hits back 3:38 Corsica and Greece 4:04 Sanremo: 118 to 116 4:24 The twist, and did Lancia cheat? Sources: Autosport; Motor Sport Magazine (January 1984); Hagerty; autoevolution; Wikipedia (1983 World Rally Championship); supercars.net. HP figures. Video (short excerpts): Rally Monte Carlo 1983 and Rallye Sanremo 1983 (period footage), BrunoR8 (Monte Carlo 1985), VivamedanRally, 19Bozzy92, Belgian-Motorsport, Marco Barri, Palbo46, Willi3011, 2 & 4 wheels, Love It Or Scrap It. Commercial and studio shots: Horsepower Report. Horsepower Report covers the cars everyone's talking about, right when they're worth talking about. #Lancia #AudiQuattro #GroupB