Attilio Bettega (19 February 1953 – 2 May 1985) was an Italian

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Spor ...

driver.''Autosport'' 50th Anniversary Issue Celebrating 50 years of the Best in Motorsport. page 173. 13 July 2000. Haymarket Specialist Magazines

Biography

Bettega was born in Molveno,

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous regio ...

. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...

, he joined the

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

team driving the Lancia 037 after some years with

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

. In his Lancia years he gained four podium finishes in rallies counting towards the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. There are separate championships ...

. His last podium was also his most successful one, driving his Lancia to second place at the 1984 Rallye Sanremo. In the 1985 season, he entered the Safari Rally and the

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, ...

. In Corsica, on the fourth stage of the rally – Zerubia, Bettega lost control of his Lancia and crashed into a tree which ruptured into the driver's seat and killed him instantly. His co-driver Maurizio Perissinot survived the crash uninjured. Bettega's death caused the safety of

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportsc ...

cars to be called into question. Exactly one year later his former teammate Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresto with the

Lancia Delta S4 The Lancia Delta S4 is a Group B rally car manufactured by the Italian car company Lancia. The Delta S4 competed in the World Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986, until Group B class was disbanded and the cars were eventually banned from competi ...

#4 (same number as Bettega's car) died in a fireball accident at the same event, causing the ban on Group B. Bettega's son, Alessandro Bettega, has followed his father's footsteps and is also a rally driver.

Sources

1953 births 1985 deaths Sportspeople from Trentino Italian rally drivers World Rally Championship drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in France {{Europe-rally-bio-stub