One to Buy: ex-works 1983 Rally Portugal-winning Audi Quattro A1 / A2
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Having won seven of the twelve events that made up 1982’s World Rally Championship and delivered that year’s Manufacturers’ crown, Audi replaced its original Quattro with significantly enhanced A1 and A2 Evolutions which took the fight to Lancia’s purpose-built 037 for a little over 18 months during 1983 and ‘84.
In that time, the A1 and A2 bagged a quintet of victories during the ‘83 season followed by a further half dozen wins in ‘84 which helped yield Drivers’ titles for Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist along with the 1984 Manufacturers’ championship.
On April 24th, one of the Quattros from that enormously successful period in Audi’s history will be going under the hammer at Bonhams’ sale in Monte Carlo.
Beginning life in A1 trim at which point it was registered IN-NM 62, chassis R38 made its competition debut at the opening round of the 1983 season: the Monte Carlo Rally. Allocated to Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz who won two special stages, R38 came home fourth overall behind the sister car of Blomqvist / Cederberg while Lancia bagged the top two spots by a slender margin.
R38’s next appearance came at round three of the ‘83 season, Rally Portugal, where Mikkola and Hertz took ten special stage wins to claim victory by a comfortable 55 seconds over Audi team-mates Michele Mouton and Fabrizia Pons.
R38 then returned to action in Greece for round six of the 1983 campaign, the Acropolis Rally, by which time it had been uprated to A2 trim and was sporting the registration IN-NM 27. Unfortunately, having won nine special stages and led the contest for long periods, Mikkola and Hertz retired R38 with engine trouble.
The car’s only other outing during 1983 came at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland where, under a VV Auto entry and IN-NX 55 registration, Lasse Lampi and Pentti Kuukkala brought it home in seventh place following several top-three stage finishes.
After a successful year, Audi Sport sold chassis R38 to Austrian driver Walter Meyer. Meyer campaigned it in the 1984 European Rallycross Championship, during which he most notably won the round in Sweden. For 1985, R38 was sold to Finnish driver, Timo Virtanen, who continued to use it for rallycross. From 1989 until 1996, the Audi was used by fellow Finn, Ismo Patsi, in rallycross, ice racing, rally sprints and hillclimbs.
More recently, having been acquired by the consigning owner in 2023, R38 has been restored to 1983 trim.
