1987-2000
The start of this period heralded the arrival of the all-
conquering Lancia Delta integrale in rallying. Enjoying
an unbroken run of success in the World Rally
Championships that lasted right until the end of 1992,
its demise was brought about by Fiat boss Paolo
Cantarella, who wanted to use the new Alfa Romeo
155 as a conduit for marketing success. The 155
enjoyed international success, initially in the Deutsche
Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, which it won outright in
1993 and later all over Europe in D2 production
touring car racing. In 1994, the 155 took the
prestigious British Touring Car Championship with
drivers Tarquini and Simoni.
The 155’s reign in racing was ended by the
development of the Alfa Romeo 156. It was first used in
the Italian national touring car series starting in 1998,
which later became a European and then a World
series. Another oddball from this period was the SE
048, a stillborn Group C car with Alfa Romeo badging
and a Ferrari-based engine.
POST-2001
Due to the Alfa Romeo 159 having technical details
that were considered impossible to develop into a
winning formula, Abarth’s racing programme was
discontinued, except for one-make challenges. In
rallying, the Palio, Punto and Stilo were all adapted,
with varying degrees of success, for use in this type
of sport. More recently the current Abarth 124 Spider
has been developed into a rally car, winning the 2018
FIA R-GT rally cup. Maybe Abarth’s racing wheel has
come full circle. III