fiat

Fiat is an Italian car brand that has had a quite serious history in rallying, especially in the 1970s and early 1980s, almost always alongside Abarth. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Fiat started in rallying in a rather discrete way with prepared production cars, but the important leap came when it purchased Abarth in 1971 and converted it into its official competition department. From then on, the Fiat Racing Team was structured and the Fiat 124 Abarth Rally Group 4 was developed, based on the 124 Sport Spider. With this car, the brand achieved great results: two European Rally Championship titles in 1972 and 1975, and victories in the emerging World Championship events (Montecarlo 1973 WRC debut, triumphs in Poland 1973 and Portugal 1974, among others). Fiat's true "monster" on the stages is the Fiat 131 Abarth Rally. Homologated in Group 4 in 1976, with widened and lightened bodywork and highly evolved mechanics by Abarth, it became one of the dominant cars in the World Championship. With the 131 Abarth, Fiat achieved three World Rally Championship constructor titles (1977, 1978 and 1980) and around twenty victories in WRC events, with drivers such as Markku Alén, Walter Röhrl, Björn Waldegård, Sandro Munari, Timo Salonen and even Michèle Mouton. From the early 1980s onwards, Fiat's prominence as such declined and the sporting weight of the group increasingly shifted to Lancia, although the technical and human base came largely from the same Fiat–Abarth environment. Nevertheless, Fiat and Abarth continued to be present in European and national championships with smaller models such as the Ritmo/Strada, Uno and Punto in Group A versions and later Kit Car and S1600, widely used by private drivers and satellite teams. In the modern era, the spirit is revived with the Abarth 500 R3T in asphalt rallies and single-marque trophies, and especially with the Abarth 124 Rally R-GT, derived from the modern 124 Spider. This car, homologated in the R-GT category, competes in national championships and in the FIA R-GT Cup, achieving numerous category victories and podiums from 2017 onwards.