Ducati MotoGP star to pilot Group B WRC rally car

Enea Bastianini is among the star names celebrating rallying’s past and present at the Rallylegend festival

Factory Ducati MotoGP rider Enea Bastianini is set to swap two wheels for four at the Rallylegend festival this weekend.

The seven-time motorcycle premier-class race winner is set to pilot a Group B Audi Quattro S1 at the 22nd edition of the four-day celebration of rallying past and present held in San Marino.

Bastianini, who finished fourth in last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, will share the Quattro with Lamborghini research and development test driver Emanuele Zonzini. It is anticipated that both will enjoy runs piloting the car through the rally event’s spectator stage.

The Audi Quattro S1 was designed to compete in the WRC’s infamous Group B era generating approximately 450 horsepower from its turbocharged 2.1 litre engine. It made its debut towards the end of the 1984 season, helping the German marque to second in the manufacturers’ title race behind Peugeot in 1985.

Bastianini isn’t the only MotoGP star to take an interest in rallying. In 2020, current Pramac Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli contested the final round of the WRC at Rally Monza driving a Rally2 Hyundai i20 N, finishing 39th in class.

His mentor and MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi has enjoyed success in rallying winning the Monza Rally Show seven times while making three WRC starts.

Rallylegend is set to welcome an array of WRC stars including current M-Sport-Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux, who will pilot the Ford Puma Rally1 car.

The Frenchman is set to do battle with one-time Formula 1 race winner turned rally driver Heikki Kovalainen, driving a 2017-spec Citroen C3 WRC car alongside Janne Ferm, who announced his retirement from WRC co-driving alongside Esapekka Lappi earlier this month.

WRC champion Stig Blomqvist will also jump back behind the wheel of an Audi Quattro as the event marks the 40th anniversary of the Swede’s championship success in 1984. Double WRC champion Miki Biasion will also be in attendance driving a Lancia 037, while the Lancia Stratos’ 50th anniversary since its first world title (1974) will also be marked.

Joining Blomqvist and Biasion among the star names at the rally will be six-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner and 1983 Dakar Rally victor Jacky Ickx, and 1981 WRC champion and four-time Dakar winner Ari Vatanen. The pair will drive the examples of the respective Porsche 959 and Peugeot 405 T16 Dakar machines they campaigned in period.

Former WRC factory driver Armin Schwarz will drive an Audi Quattro Coupe Group A, while son Fabio Schwarz will demonstrate a Hyundai Accent WRC, an example of the car that his father drove in the WRC from 2002-03.