Walter Röhrl is celebrating his 70th birthday this year. The four-time Rally Monte Carlo winner will once again tackle the challenging mountain passes of the "mother of all rallies" in style in an Audi quattro. "I'm looking forward to driving the old stages of the AvD Histo-Monte just for fun and without any stress. The Audi quattro is the perfect car for this because you don't have to worry about not being able to get up a hill," explains Röhrl. Born in Regensburg, Röhrl joined Audi in 1984 after numerous stations and successes in international rally sport. In his very first year as an Audi works driver, he clinched his fourth victory at the "Monte" together with co-driver Christian Geistdörfer in the Audi Rallye quattro A2.
The classic Histo-Monte winter rally involves covering around 1800 kilometers in uncertain weather conditions. Audi Tradition does not want to subject the valuable original racing cars to this challenge for the material. That is why Audi Tradition has built a car especially for such events: The body comes from an Audi Rallye quattro A2, which Audi Sport used as a test and later as an exhibition vehicle in the 1980s.
The car then became part of the Audi Tradition Historic Collection. The body and interior correspond to the technical standard of the 1980s. The livery, the design of the outer skin, is also authentic. Instead of high-maintenance racing technology, the chassis and drivetrain now feature technology from the Audi quattro production model.
"Our new race car opens up completely new possibilities for us," explains Timo Witt, Head of the Historic Vehicle Collection at Audi Tradition: "We are protecting our historic racing cars as an automotive cultural asset. At the same time, we can offer fans and spectators a great experience." Audi Tradition will be exhibiting two original competition cars at the start of the rally: the Audi Rallye quattro A2, built in 1984, and the Audi Sport quattro S1, built in 1985.
The AvD Histo-Monte is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The route of the regularity rally is modeled on the earlier rallies of the Monte Carlo Rally. Around 80 participants will start in Frankfurt this year and, after intermediate stops in Freiburg, Aix-les-Bains, Cannes and at the legendary Col de Turini, among others, are expected to cross the finish line four days later at the traditional finish in the port of Monte Carlo.
