Claudio Lombardi was a phenomenal engineer and team principal. He was also a close friend to Juha Kankkunen
Photography by Girardo & Co.
Words by David Evans, DirtFish Head of Media
Even today, Juha Kankkunen can’t help but chuckle as he tells the story. It’s 36 years since that knock at the door.
After returning – as a double world champion – to Toyota at the top of the 1988 season, things hadn’t played out quite the way the Finn had hoped. Hence Lancia’s Claudio Lombardi standing on his doorstep.
Lombardi passed away on Thursday October 2. He was 83.
“It’s not a good year this one,” Kankkunen told DirtFish. “Not long since we are losing [Claudio] Bortoletto and Stuart Turner and now Claudio [Lombardi]. Not a good year.
“Claudio [Lombardi] was a very good friend for me. Can you imagine, he was coming to my house, to Laukaa in Finland. Nine o’clock in the morning and I was having my coffee and there was a knock at the door. It was Claudio and [Lancia engineer Conny] Easenburg. I opened the door, I was surprised, but I told them to come in. I asked what I could offer them… maybe some coffee?
Lombardi was the man who brought Kankkunen back to Lancia in 1990. Andrea Aghini (left) looks on, mid-biscuit
“Claudio said very simply: “We would like you to come back to Lancia and drive for us again.” It’s not very often that a team principal is coming to your home to ask this kind of thing. But this was the man that he was. He was very, very, very good guy. He made me a good deal and I come back and stayed with Lancia for another three years. I won the championship in 1991 and was second in 1992.”
Lancia had, of course, departed the World Rally Championship as a factory team at the end of 1991 and by then Lombardi had followed Cesare Fiorio to Ferrari’s Formula 1 team.
“He was a really clever guy,” said Kankkunen. “He was a really, really good engineer and all of the time you could see the Lancias getting stronger and stronger. With the Group A cars, he was always coming and working closely with us drivers – we were always talking: “How can we make the car better? What else can we do?” And every time a new model was coming he was taking the best things and putting it inside the new car. I had a fantastic time with him when we were together in Lancia.
“He had some work with the last car – Deltona – this one was very special. It was a shame for that year (1992): the restrictor was smaller (reduced from 40 to 38mm) so we were losing some power, but the suspension and handling for this car was amazing.
Kankkunen was crowned world champion for the second time as a Lancia driver in 1991
“Then he went to Ferrari, he was kind of staying with the same company. After I went back to Toyota again, I was still talking a lot with him. We were friends, close. But it’s this story for him coming to my house, this is how I remember Claudio. He said about me: “I know this guy wants to win something, so I go to his place.” I like that. Good guy and it’s sad to hear the news.”
Lombardi was the archetypal Italian motorsport engineer. Born in Alessandria, pretty much halfway between Turin and Milan, he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Bologna and joined Fiat’s research center in 1968. He joined Lancia in 1975 and stayed there, working his way through the engineering ranks to become team principal. He did the same at Maranello, where he led the team until Jean Todt arrived in 1993.
He remained in motorsport engineering until the end. One of his last projects was the restomod, Kimera EVO37 on which he oversaw the engine work.
DirtFish extends its sympathies to Lombardi’s family and friends throughout the world of motorsport.
Lombardi, here with an arm around Jean Alesi, ran Ferrari's Formula 1 team before Jean Todt arrived to take over
Words:David Evans
Tags: Claudio Lombardi, Ferrari, Juha Kankkunen, Lancia, WRC
Publish Date October 4, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/10/gvJ1Q1kb-Lombardi-lead-780x520.jpeg October 4, 2025
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