The first contest of the 1983 season is opened, by tradition, with the RALLY of MONTECARLO. The LANCIA race team enter 3 official crews: Alen-Kivimaki, Roehrl-Geistdorfer, who had just left OPEL, and Andruet-Biche. A fourth "037" races with the crew Serpaggi-Neri. The result, against any forecast that saw the AUDI favorite, is clamorous: Roehrl and Alen respectively at the first and second place end. The improvement of the "037", obtained in spite of the short time afforded by the agonistic calendar and also the fact that this World event, a typical winter race, is carried out on totally unsnowy roads, thing that does not happen often at the "MONTE", exalts the success of the LANCIA drivers, that becomes really shocking. With Andruet that is authentically spectacular, after having been delayed from by a compressor breach (he finishes 8th), they prevail in over the 70% of the special stages. LANCIA's supremacy is also fruit of Cesar Fiorio acute direction; having an efficient reconnaissance service, he manages to minimize the advantage of "AUDI QUATTRO" over the "037" in the key points of the contest where the "QUATTRO", thanks to the four wheel drive, could go all out.
Key factor in this game is the employment of studded tyres on the rear wheels only. The LANCIA team mechanics are outstanding for the speed with which they carry out tyre changes.
In the side photos a splendid passage of Walter Roehrl, the second place to Markku Alen and the LANCIA-MARTINI podium. Here below, the comment of the "Gazzetta dello Sport" about the "037" win.

The 51st Rally of Montecarlo concluded victoriously for the MARTINI RACING team drivers, who demonstrated full satisfaction for the job carried out from the team and above all for the winter tests carried out from PIRELLI, that supplied them of tires nearly perfect on all surface. The secret of this must be found in the experience, the technology and the researches that the Italian company has been able to do in a severe laboratory called FORMULA 1. The regulations introduced in the 1982 season imposed decidedly innovative technical solutions, that carried Formula 1 cars to have a reduced ground effect. The aerodynamic load was 35% reduced, so it was necessary to study new tyres mixture in order to obtain the right adherence to the ground. Studies concentrated on the same tyre structure, with a softer mixture and with a shock-absorber element on the sides, to lower the oscillating motion that starts in the tyre framework, such as a series of rebounds in return phase after each deflection. The shock-absorber element was introduced therefore also on the LANCIA 037 tyres and, on the deep unconnected and dry ground of the MONTECARLO, it was extremely performing and winning.
Among the different kinds of mixtures, prepared purposely for the MONTECARLO, two in particular have been used with success: the Y14, particularly good for the use during the intense cold of the night and the PA86, harder than the previous one and good for the diurnal special stages. Alternating these two kind of tyres, the 037 became nearly invincible, both on the dry special stages and on the wet ones and with presence of ice. The shock-absorber element on the tyres sides is still more effective if used on gravel surfaces. In the Portugal tests, after the MONTECARLO, the Turinese car gained from 1 to 1.5 seconds for each km, in comparison with the previous tests carried out on uneven lands. A particular this of great importance that has made the 037 fast on each kind of surface and World Championship in 1983.