Lancia is confident it can immediately be in a position to fight for victories and a championship title on its return to the World Rally Championship this year.
The famous Italian brand will return to the WRC stages at this weekend’s season opener in Monte Carlo with its all-new Ypsilon HF Integrale Rally2 car to do battle in the championship’s second tier WRC2 category.
Lancia’s anticipated return marks the first time the 10-time WRC constructors’ champions will field a factory supported effort in the WRC since 1992, when it’s all conquering Delta HF Integrale lifted its last constructors’ title.
The car maker has been bold regarding its ambitions for its WRC comeback in 2026, announcing at its launch last year that it aims to challenge Toyota, Ford, Skoda and Hyundai for the WRC2 title in the first year, with its newly developed Rally2 car. This bullish claim has been backed up by its decision to hire perennial WRC2 title fighters Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin to pilot its two factory-backed cars.
Lancia has not wasted any time developing its new Ypsilon Rally2 car since it officially committed to its WRC return. Lancia’s owners – the Stellantis Group – have already developed and enjoyed success in WRC2 with its Citroen C3 Rally2. The new Ypsilon project has been constructed utilising an entirely new chassis, while the car shares the engine and gearbox from the C3 that has been significantly improved upon.
Rossel and Gryazin, who have previously driven the C3, believe the new Lancia is already developed enough to be fighting for wins from the outset.
Yohan Rossel, Arnaud Dunand, Lancia Corse HF Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale
Photo by: WRC.com
“Immediately I have a good feeling. My first test was on gravel and immediately you can see the gap from the last specification [Citroen C3 Rally2] and the new car,” said Rossel. “For sure, it’s more reactive on gravel and easier to drive and it seems to grip immediately.
“On tarmac in the past I have had a good car and it is difficult to say where we are, but for sure I have not found any surprises during the tests and we can immediately search for a good set up. I think this is good when you have a new car.
“I think we can fight immediately for the title. The Stellantis Group has a lot of experience with cars and data so it is very easy for a driver to immediately fight for the win.
“It is never easy to start in Monte for sure and we know the difficulties. You can’t say we can win, you just try to do no mistakes at the beginning and try to improve the set up and adapt to the stages. It will be a challenging weekend.”
Gryazin had no hesitation in signing for Lancia, after revealing he agreed to drive for the iconic brand before he’d even tested the Ypsilon for the first time.
“It is true I did say yes [to join Lancia] before driving the car but I was quite confident as I knew the Stellantis Group and Lancia, and I know who is working there, so I was confident the car should be good,” said Gryazin.
Lancia Corse HF team area
Photo by: WRC.com
“I’m really proud to be a part of it and to help develop it. From the feeling-wise I think we are ready to fight already. We just need to confirm it in the results.
“For me, this brand is iconic and my father was driving a Lancia Delta at the start of his rally career. It means a lot because when I was growing up as a child, and there wasn’t a plan to do any rallying, I saw lot of documentaries about rallying and it was mainly about the Lancia brand. Now being a part of this means a lot. Maybe one day our names will be in the history of this brand. It is good motivation for us.”
While the mood in the Lancia camp is buoyant ahead of its maiden round with the Ypsilon, team principal Didier Clement has said the team still has much to learn about its car moving forward and is planning more development tests on both asphalt and gravel.
“The development of the car is like we expected, in fact there were no surprises. We already have some knowledge with these kinds of cars,” said Clement. “We can improve some areas compared to the C3 Rally2. The car is lighter, we have worked a lot on the aerodynamics and it will be an efficient car.
“We had no issues at all during the development tests but I would say it is just a starting point because we will continue to develop the car all season long. We will have some test sessions for Croatia, the Canary Islands and for gravel.
“We plan a test in Finland because with the previous car we were not able to compete at the right level. We will have a proper development test to find the right set up for this specific rally.
“It is amazing and we feel a lot of passion, and we are really excited by this project.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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