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 Rally Argentina 1997Check out the Rally Argentina official website. After two tarmac events it was gravel time again at Rally Argentina which was this year run a couple of months earlier than in past years. The big news before the rally were that the four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen replaced Armin Schwarz in the Ford team. Armin's performance had not satisfied the team and he also had had problems with his personal sponsorship. Subaru gave the second Impreza to their gravel specialist Kenneth Eriksson and Mitsubishi had prepared a Carisma GT, which is identical to the Lancer Evo IV, for Richard Burns.There were also semi-works Toyota Celicas in the starting list as the Italian Grifone team entered Didier Auriol, who won the event in 1994, and Finnish driver Marcus Gronholm.
On the first special stage Juha Kankkunen showed that he hasn't forgotten how to drive a rally car. He was equally fast with his team-mate Carlos Sainz and Subaru's Colin McRae on the short super special. Fastest on the second stage was Richard Burns who continued the whole day at a very good pace. After SS3 the lead had, however, gone to Tommi Makinen who kept it all through the day. The opposition was not far, though: after all eight of the day's stages McRae was second 10 secs behind and Sainz third 13 secs behind. Then came Burns, Kankkunen, Eriksson and Gronholm, notably in front of Auriol, who had already lost almost 6 minutes to the leader. On the mountainous and dusty roads next morning Makinen and McRae drove in the front with almost equal times. Colin even came within 5 secs from Tommi but on SS13 Tommi was 17 secs faster; this was the same stage he excelled on last year. On SS16 Colin lost almost 20 secs after a power steering failure, while Tommi kept on charging with no problems, consequently extending his lead to 1:01 after the final stage of the day, SS18. The rough SS16 ended Richard Burns' rally, which was going very well, as he damaged the rear suspension. He was still fourth at the time. On the same stage Juha Kankkunen lost a front wheel and was forced to retire after the stage. Carlos Sainz was still third, not able to keep up with the leaders, 1:43 behind Makinen. The time differences behind him were huge, Auriol on 6th position was now 14 minutes from the lead. There were only 5 stages left for the last day and one of them was cancelled as there was simply too many spectators on the stage, blocking the road and parking their cars recklessly. Rallying is very popular in Argentina and the crowds are very enthusiastic in a positive way. Colin McRae had no real chances of attacking the reigning world champion, so Makinen only had to cruise to the finish and take the victory. Carlos Sainz, rather disappointingly, retired on the last day with an overheating engine. This meant that Eriksson was third, losing almost 5 minutes to Makinen. He was followed by the Toyotas of Gronholm and Auriol, in 5 min intervals. Group N went also to Mitsubishi and was won by Gustavo Trelles who finished 6th overall. The front wheel drive category, F2, was won by Seat's Harri Rovanpera.
Makinen's win seemed to come with considerable ease; it seems that Tommi, with his ability to calmly consentrate even under pressure, and the reliability and speed of Mitsubishi, are also this year a surprisingly tough nut to crack for the other teams. By finishing second in Argentina Colin McRae remains the only driver who can seriously threaten Makinen in his quest for his second championship title. Results of Rally Argentina 1997:
Championship standings
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Next event: Acropolis
Rally, June 6-10.