The Kimera ‘Don’t Call Me A Lancia’ EVO37 Just Looks Right In The Martini Livery

The EVO37, Kimera’s homage to the legendary Lancia 037, the last rear-wheel-drive car to ever win the World Rally Championship, will don the Martini & Rossi livery for the Costa Smeralda International Historical Rally next month. There, it will be driven by a driver who has the distinction of being involved in the legend of both cars.

Kimera announced today that it will take part in the Costa Smeralda, Italy, rally taking place on April 8th and 9th in Sardinia. There, the car will be driven by Miki Biasion, a two-time WRC champion, who drove the original 037 in 1983, 1984, and 1985.

Along with having driven Lancia’s legendary rally car in its glory days, Biasion was involved in the development of the EVO37, having carried out testing to set up the car from early on in its creation. This will, however, be the first time that the car dons the Martini livery that famously graced the Group B car.

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The Kimera 037’s special livery was unveiled at Casa Martini, in the historic Pessione plant ahead of the historic rally. To achieve it, Kimera got the permission of not only Martini & Rossi, but of Sparco and Pirelli, as well. It will, therefore, be relevant for the tire brand as well, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

The car Biasion drives is the prototype that the company previously used in Monte Carlo. Before that, it was used for technical developments and fine-tuning and is, therefore, familiar to the rally champion.

The EVO37 is powered by a 2.1-liter turbo- and supercharged four-cylinder engine that makes more than 500 hp (373 kW/507 PS) and 406 lb-ft (550 Nm) of torque. The engine was built with the guidance of Claudio Lombardi, the engineer behind the engine that powered the Lancia 037 rally car. All panels are made of carbon fiber and power is routed to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.

Kimera says that it delivered its first customer car, chassis number 001/037, to a Dutch collector last month. The second car will be delivered at the end of April to a Spanish collector, and the company expects to make another eight examples this year. So far, 27 of the 37 vehicles planned for production have been sold. The price for the remaining models is set at €540,000 ($595 USD at current exchange rates).