The history of the famous confrontation between the Italian Lancia and the German Audi
Plot
This story is hard to believe, but it really happened at the 1983 World Rally Championship. The real confrontation between two titans of auto racing – the Lancia team, led by the charismatic Cesare Fiorio (Riccardo Scamarcio), and the invincible Audi – is one of the most spectacular events in the history of sports.
At the 1983 Championship, Lancia lost to the team of the great and terrible Roland Gumpert, Audi, which included the Queen of Speed herself, Michelle Mouton. But Cesare Fiorio is not going to give up. He decides to use all his engineering ingenuity and try to snatch victory from the hands of his rivals. As if preparing for the heist of the century, Fiorio decides to plan everything properly and assembles an unusual team.
Luck smiles on Cesare, and he manages to persuade the calm and absolutely calm Walter Röhrl (Volker Bruch) to become a member of the Lancia team. However, not everything is so simple: he gives his consent on the condition that he will choose which races to participate in. In his mad desire to lead the team to victory at all costs, Fiorio goes to every conceivable and unimaginable trick, even trying to change the rules of racing. He has chosen the most dangerous route of all and is not going to turn away from it.
About filming
The idea to shoot this picture came to Scamarcio when he met Cesare Fiorio, the incredibly charismatic head of the Lancia racing team, whose name thundered in the bright 70s and 80s of the last century.
All the events of the film were recreated on screen with the direct participation of Fiori himself, whose team participated in the 1983 rally. This is an incredible confrontation between the Italian Lancia and the great Audi, which at that time in Germany was already actually one of the most powerful automakers.
Scamarcio played the role of Fiorio in the film, and also worked on the script together with Filippo Bologna and director Stefano Mordini. It didn’t take long for Riccardo Scamarcio to persuade Jeremy Thomas (“The Last Emperor”, “The Dreamers”, Kon-Tiki”, “Only Lovers Left Alive”) to become the producer of this truly European film, the script for which was written in three languages: Italian, German and English.
“I just love cars and everything connected with them. And, of course, I love cinema,” admits Jeremy Thomas. – These are my two passions. When I first heard this incredible story and learned what Fiorio went to to win, the stars aligned. If you dig deeper, especially if you are well versed in motorsports, it will be clear that a real miracle happened: the rear-wheel drive Lancia was able to snatch victory from the all-wheel drive Audi! Well, when Stefano Mordini and Riccardo Scamarcio invited me to become part of the team, I simply could not refuse.”
“This is an extraordinary story,” says Riccardo Scamarcio. — A small team of racing drivers is challenging a huge automaker, to which it is clearly inferior in financial and technical capabilities. And “Lanche” manages to win, because in the world there is nothing stronger than friendship, mutual assistance and responsiveness. That’s what our film is about.”
A story based on real events
Cesare Fiorio, now 84 years old, is still one of the most prominent figures in world motorsport. In the 70s of the last century, thanks to the victories of the Lancia Stratos and Fiat Abarth 131 in the World Rally Championship, he gained a reputation as the most successful sports director of these factory teams. After the events described in the film “ Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia,” Italian racing drivers under the leadership of Fiori managed to win several more victories on the tracks.
He then led the famous Ferrari Formula 1 team, which held several successful Grand Prix events in the late 1980s. Cesare Fiorio is still a motorsport legend not only because of the victories of his teams, but because of his own charisma and the fact that he was not afraid to take risks and achieved his goals in a variety of ways, sometimes resorting to tricks and tricks.
The film centers on the uneasy relationship between Fiori and Walter Röhrl during the most uncompromising era of Group B racing car competition in the history of world rallying. Rehrl is now 76 years old and still one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Through his attention to detail and incredible dedication, he raised the bar of achievement in the world of rallying to new levels in the 1980s.
But Walter was famous not only for his superhuman endurance and ability to concentrate, he was also a very eccentric person who not only won world trophies, but proved that he had no equal at any stage of the race.
In total, Walter Röhrl won the World Rally Championship 14 times and earned the title of world champion twice: first in a Fiat 131 Abarth in 1980, and then in an Opel Ascona in 1982. His career would undoubtedly have had many more victories if he had been interested in such little things.
“I wanted to prove that I was the best and then just end my career,” recalls Walter Röhrl. “After [my co-driver] Christian [Geistdorfer] told me: “If you’re thinking of retiring right now, you’re crazy!” We are world champions! Finally we have a chance to make money!” And I answered him: “I’m not doing this for the money, but for myself. I just want to prove to myself that I’m capable of something. That I can handle everything.”
Having won the second title of his career in 1983, Röhrl moved from the Opel team to Fiorio’s Lanci team. Rerl was interested in taking part in the competition between two titans of motorsport and snatching victory in the rally from the high-tech all-wheel drive Audi Quattro model. Lancia was inferior in technical characteristics to the German concern, but Röhrl still agreed to join the Italian team and try to help their automaker win the world title on the condition that he would not fight for the third title in the individual competition.
“I didn’t have a strong desire to win another world title,” recalls Röhrl. – In 1983, after six rallies, I was second in the world standings in points, and I was only three points short. Everyone tried to persuade me to take part in another rally. But I refused. I didn’t need another championship. He wouldn’t give me anything.”
Thanks to Röhrl’s admirable skill and Fiori’s ability to achieve goals by any means necessary, the Lancia team managed to defeat Audi against all odds: their model became the last one-wheel drive car in the world to become the leader in the World Rally Championship. Audi driver Hannu Mikkola won at stages in Sweden, Portugal, Argentina and Finland. And Röhrl decided to participate in the stages in Monte Carlo, Greece and New Zealand and became the strongest at them, thereby bringing the victory of Lancia closer. As a result, on a track running through the green hills of San Remo, the Italian team, during a tense struggle, won two points against Audi.
Röhrl admits that his attitude towards success is difficult to understand, but he has no regrets. A year after helping Lancia win the world title, he once again made the motorsport world gasp by joining the team of his recently beaten Audi.
