WRC | Lancia, it will be a comeback in rallies… No?

For a few weeks now Lancia has been on the lips of all motorsport and rally enthusiasts after a preview launched by Autosprint, according to which the brand which is part of the Stellantis Group is planning to return to rallies first with a Rally4 and then with a Rally2.

The project, if confirmed (to date the FIA ​​denies having any news of Lancia arriving in the WRC with a Rally2), would make sense from a commercial point of view, but only if the arriving car was a Rally4.

In this regard, let's try to get into the merits by exploring the current scenario which, among other things, sees the Stellantis Group present in national rallies with the Rally4 Trophy in Germany with the Opel Corsa and the Peugeot 208 in France.

The existence of these two cars would guarantee Lancia to be able to create the car and the single-brand series simply by rebodiing the existing cars, therefore investing an infinitely smaller amount of money compared to the creation and development of a new Rally2.

But let's go in order. Creating a single-brand store, perhaps on the Italian market, would guarantee Lancia to give visibility to the Ypsilon, now on the launch pad, taking advantage of a platform (that of the car itself) already widely tested and reliable.

The advantages that this single-brand brand would bring would be many: putting a different body on an existing car is an advantage, but it would also be an advantage – and not a little – to have a car that does not have to be put in competition with the others thanks to the single-brand brand.

Racing against each other, the Ypsilons would not need unbridled development because there would be no point in doing so in the absence of cars from other groups to compete against it. This would entail a smaller budget expenditure by the Stellantis Group, while still guaranteeing an important showcase because, for the majority of enthusiasts, the presence of the brand would count more than the real technical involvement of the Turin brand.

Making a Rally 2 would make little sense for two substantial reasons. First of all, the Stellantis Group is counting on PSA Motorsport – to be precise Citroen Racing – in creating Rally2. It is racing with the C3 and is continuing to be updated from season to season.

Putting a different bodywork on the existing Rally2 or placing a Rally2 alongside the C3 using the same platform and the same components would make little sense, just as it would make little sense (and, moreover, a lot of money to invest) to create a new one, carry out the development and go to compete against high-performance cars of the caliber of Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, Hyundai i20 N Rally2, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and Ford Fiesta Rally2.

Photo by: Citroen Racing

Citroen C3 Rally2, official 2024 livery

Lancia's return, in that case, would definitely cause a sensation, but then the performance and the comparison with other cars would turn into a potential double-edged sword. If they didn't live up to expectations, it would be a difficult investment to justify and, perhaps, the worst way to try to revive a brand that made the history of Italian motoring in the last century.

In short, to date the chances that Lancia could return to rallies are certainly not zero. On the contrary. The brand's marketing department will have resources to invest in supporting the new Ypsilon. However, if Lancia were to return to rallies, at least in the short term, it would only be with a dress over the “body” of another.

Of course, it would be a flashy dress, coveted and praised above all by enthusiasts. But how much Lancia would there be? Would it be substance or just, to stay on the topic of claims used by Stellantis, something that is “made of the same substance that dreams are made of?”. The step from considering a return, a return… No, it's very short.