The Lancia Delta HF Integrale is the most successful rally car ever: with six constructors’ titles, four drivers’ championships and forty-six won rallies. You would therefore expect that the old master can rest on his laurels, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Delta HF Integrale has to go full throttle again from 2022, in the World Rallycross Championship, as a 680 hp electric car.
The World Rallycross Championship will go electric next year. And the French GCK Motorsport team is using that to bring a legendary classic back to the championship. This is the Lancia Delta Evo-e, an original Delta HF Integrale with an electric powertrain from the Austrian specialist Kreisel Electric. By 2022, all fourteen cars in the World Rallycross Championship will use the same electric motors.
Lancia Delta HF Integrale with 680 hp and 880 Nm
The Delta Evo-e is powered by two engines with a combined output of 680 hp and 880 Nm of instant torque. According to GCK Motorsport, the Lancia accelerates faster than a Formula 1 car. GCK Motorsport is also the company behind the GCK Evo-e, an electric hot hatch based on a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16V. It no longer has a 2.0-liter turbo engine, but a 200 hp electric motor.
One of the very best hot hatchbacks ever
The Lancia Delta HF Integrale is a homologation version of the Lancia Delta and is considered one of the best hot hatches ever. There are roughly four versions: the 8V (185 hp), the 16V (200 hp), the Evo (210 hp) and the Evo 2 (215 hp). The first two have a slimmer body, with angular extensions welded into the wheel arches. On the Evo and Evo 2, the side panels and extended wheel arches are pressed in one piece.
Six consecutive WRC constructors’ titles
All Delta HF Integrales have four-wheel drive and a five-speed manual transmission. Lancia won the World Rally Championship six consecutive times with the Delta HF 4WD and the Delta HF Integrale (from 1987 to 1992). The brand also won four drivers’ titles (1987, 1988, 1989 and 1991). The second (1993 – 1999) and third generation Delta (2008 – 2014) never came with a performance version.