Sandro Munari, the first person to win a World Rally Championship driver’s title, has passed away following an illness. He was 85 years old.

Munari began his career at the 1965 Jyväskylän Suurajot with a Lancia Fulvia. The Italian would become a loyalist to the brand and almost exclusively drove one in full-time rally competition, whether it be the Fulvia or the Stratos HF.

After starring in the Italian national championship with titles in 1967 and 1969, he committed to the European Rally Championship in 1971; he won three races but missed out on the title to Sobiesław Zasada. Munari broke through and claimed the crown two years later.

In 1972, Munari won the Rallye Monte-Carlo when it was sanctioned by the International Championship for Manufacturers. When he returned to Monaco a year later, eventually retiring from the race, the series had turned into the WRC. He was an instrumental part of lifting Lancia to the final ICM alongside Amilcare Ballestrieri, Harry Källström, and Simo Lampinen.

Nicknamed “Il Drago”, Munari scored Lancia’s first WRC wins at the 1974 Rallye Sanremo and Rally of the Rideau Lakes with the Stratos. From 1975 to 1977, he three-peated the Rallye Monte-Carlo; Munari was the first driver to win Monte Carlo three years in a row, and one of five overall to achieve the feat.

While Monte Carlo was his only WRC win of 1977 and last in general, he claimed the inaugural FIA Cup for Drivers. The FIA Cup would be awarded one more time a year later before becoming the modern-day drivers’ championship in 1979. Lancia, meanwhile, claimed three manufacturers’ crowns in a row from 1974 to 1976. He won seven WRC races throughout his career, all in a Stratos HF.

He retired after 1977, only coming back to the sport for select races like the annual Safari Rally until 1984. Rather than Lancia, he drove cars like Fiat (1979–1980; the latter was the Rallye Côte d’Ivoire rather than Kenya), Dodge (1981), Porsche (1982), Alfa Romeo (1983), and Toyota (1984).

Munari was later hired by Lamborghini as a technical consultant, helping develop production cars as well as the occasional factory racing entry. The latter included a brief stint in rally raid when he did the 1988 Rallye des Pharaons and Greece Rally in the LM002, nicknamed the “Lambo Rambo”; although he hoped to do the Dakar Rally, funding ran out before he could. The LM002 would eventually make it to Dakar in 1996 with Andrea Barenghi.

After retiring for good, Munari occasionally returned to the driver’s seat for vintage rallies like the Ypres Historic Rally, Rallylegend, and Rally Costa Brava Històric. He also remained close with Lancia, whose rally program had long been shuttered and only just resumed in 2025.

Featured image credit: The Press (November 21, 1977)