The World Rally Championship is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA's world championships after Formula One. Each season, which lasts one calendar year, separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers. There are also two support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower maximum performance and running costs of the cars permitted. Junior WRC is also contested on five events of the World Rally Championship calendar.
Martini Racing is the name under which various motor racing teams race when sponsored by the Italian company Martini & Rossi, a distillery that produces Martini vermouth in Turin. Martini's sponsorship program began in 1958 as Martini International Club, founded by Count Metello Rossi di Montelera of Martini & Rossi. The race cars were marked with the distinctive dark blue, light blue and red stripes mostly on white or silver background body cars, but also red or green ones.
The Lancia Stratos HF, known as Lancia Stratos, is a rear mid-engined sports car designed for rallying, made by Italian car manufacturer Lancia. It was a highly successful rally car, winning the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976; and race car winning 1974 Targa Florio, five times the Tour de France Automobile and three editions of Giro d'Italia automobilistico.
The Lancia Fulvia is an automobile produced by Lancia between 1963 and 1976. Named after Via Fulvia, the Roman road leading from Tortona to Turin, it was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1963 and manufactured in three variants: Berlina 4-door saloon, 2-door Coupé, and Sport, an alternative fastback coupé designed and built by Zagato on the Coupé floorpan.
Markku Allan Alén is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastien Loeb overtook it at the 2011 Rally Catalunya. Alén's phrase "now maximum attack" became well-known.
Massimo "Miki" Biasion is an Italian rally driver, two-time World Rally champion.
Björn Waldegård was a Swedish rally driver, and the winner of the World Rally Championship for drivers in 1979. His Swedish nickname was "Walle".
Harry Källström, nicknamed "Sputnik", was a Swedish professional rally driver who debuted in 1957 and competed in the World Rally Championship in the 1970s. Prior to the forming of the WRC, Källström won the RAC Rally in a Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Coupé HF in 1969 and 1970. In 1969, he also captured the European Rally Championship title.
The 1988 World Rally Championship was the 16th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies, following the same schedule as the previous season.
The 1989 World Rally Championship was the 17th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies, with some adjustments to the schedule versus the previous season. The WRC ended its participation in North America by removing the Olympus Rally from the schedule, implementing in its place Rally Australia. An anomaly in the schedule was that 1989 was the only year in which the Swedish Rally and the Rallye de Monte Carlo were switched in place, with the Swedish event taking place to start the year. This made it the second and last time that Monte Carlo would not mark the first event of the WRC season until the 2009 season.
Cesare Fiorio is a former Formula One sporting director for Ferrari, Ligier and Minardi, and former team manager of Lancia's factory World Rally Championship team. He is currently employed as a TV commentator. His son Alessandro "Alex" Fiorio became a professional rally driver.
The FIA International Championship for Manufacturers (IMC) was a rally series culminating in a champion manufacturer. The championship was run from 1970 to 1972 and it was replaced by the FIA World Rally Championship in 1973. All the nine rallies of the 1972 IMC season were part of the 1973 World Rally Championship season.
Alessandro "Alex" Fiorio is an Italian rally driver. He debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1986. Driving the dominant Lancia Delta Integrale for the Lancia "B-team" Jolly Club, he finished third in the drivers' world championship in 1988 and second in 1989. His father Cesare Fiorio was a former racer, the head of Lancia's factory WRC team and sporting director for Scuderia Ferrari.
Fabrizio Tabaton is an Italian former rally driver.
The Lancia Delta HF is a Group A rally car built for the Martini Lancia by Lancia to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Lancia Delta road car and replaced the Lancia Delta S4. The car was introduced for the 1987 World Rally Championship season and dominated the World Rally Championship, scoring 46 WRC victories overall and winning the constructors' championship a record six times in a row from 1987 to 1992, in addition to drivers' championship titles for Juha Kankkunen and Miki Biasion, making Lancia the most successful marque in the history of the WRC and the Delta the most successful car.
Jolly Club was an Italian motor racing team, which competed in the World Rally Championship, the Sportscar World Championship, the European Touring Car Championship and briefly in the Formula One World Championship, along with several domestic championships, it was mainly connected to brands like Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Ferrari. It was created in 1957 in Milan by idea of Mario Angiolini, the team won several championships. The team's main sponsor was Italian gaming totalizer Totip so the cars used orange and green colors on their livery until the World Rally Championship 1996. They also had a lengthy association with alcoholic beverage company Martini & Rossi.
Rallying in Italy is a fairly well-practiced motorsport. Italian drivers have become the World Rally Champions twice in history; both were Miki Biasion in the years 1988 and 1989. In 1977, Sandro Munari won the FIA Cup for Drivers. Italians have also achieved 30 rally wins, the last of which with Piero Liatti at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1997.
Yves Loubet is a French rally driver born on October 31, 1958, in Mostaganem. His son, Pierre-Louis Loubet is also a rally driver.
The Scuderia Lancia, which later became the Squadra Corse HF Lancia, is the racing workshop of the Lancia car company, created in 1952 by Gianni Lancia, son of the brand's founder. The Scuderia Lancia officially began competing in motor sports, particularly in rallying, where it distinguished itself in the Carrera Panamericana, the Targa Florio and the Mille Miglia. The team also entered Formula 1 in 1954-1955, without particularly shining. The Squadra Corse bounced back in the World Endurance Championship with three world titles between 1979 and 1981, and in rallying, winning eleven constructors' titles and four drivers' titles between 1974 and 1992. Since the end of 1991, Lancia has ceased all official involvement in motor racing.
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Lofty Drews 
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