Racing rivalries being immortalized in films are nothing new. For example, Ford v. Ferrari featured the intense competition between the two automakers at Le Mans. There was also Rush which highlighted the battle for the 1976 Formula 1 drivers’ title between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. But coming next year is another exciting movie of the same genre that takes place outside the confines of a racetrack.
It’s called Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia. The movie is set in the 1983 season of the World Rally Championship, which could only mean one thing: Group B.
To refresh your memory, Group B regulations allowed entrants to create some of the fastest rally cars ever built. The category was banned at the end of the 1986 season after a string of driver and spectator fatalities.
It is quite clear from the title of the movie that it zeroes in on the fierce rivalry between Audi and Lancia. The former fielded the Quattro with its groundbreaking four-wheel-drive system. However, the latter’s Group B solution was the two-wheel-drive 037. Naturally, everyone thought that the Quattro’s advanced drivetrain would kill off anyone still being pushed along by just two wheels.
From the trailer, we can see that the two main characters in the movie are Audi race director Roland Gumpert (played by Daniel Brühl) and Lancia team manager Cesare Fiorio (played by Riccardo Scamarcio). Also depicted is Lancia driver Walter Röhrl (played by Volker Bruch), who famously didn’t want to become a world champion in 1983.
Rally racing is a discipline that is not often featured in movies, so we’re really excited to see this one. It hits theaters in January 2024.
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