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 Rally Australia 1997Check out the great looking Rally
Australia official page.
In Rally Australia the stakes were high. Reigning World Champion Tommi Makinen had a chance to clinch his second championship title, but Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae still could get in his way. The weather in western Australia had been unusually dry, so heavy dust was expected to be a factor on the roads covered by characteristic, very slippery gravel with trees close by waiting to catch the unwary. The only stage on Thursday was the famous Langley Park superspecial which was won by Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol with equal times. One second behind came for drivers all representing different makes: Juha Kankkunen (Ford), Tommi Makinen (Mitsubishi), Kenneth Eriksson (Subaru) and Australian driver Neal Bates, who was driving the second Toyota Corolla WRC. Colin McRae had a little off but lost only four secs and some bodywork.
Tommi Makinen damaged the electronics on the jumps of Langley Park and the car didn't start for leg 1 next morning. The drivers had to push it to the service and got a 30 second penalty for arriving late to the time control. On SS4 Makinen hit a tree and lost more time so that at the end of the day he was 6th, 1:41 behind leader Colin McRae who had taken a wonderful start for the rally. Makinen's team-mate Richard Burns was second, 9secs behind. Third, finally showing good form was Didier Auriol followed by Sainz and Eriksson. Juha Kankkunen lost 20 minutes after hitting a tree and retired at the end of the day. On leg 2 the name of the day was Carlos Sainz. After all of the day's 9 stages he had taken the lead over McRae by 2 secs. Burns was still 3rd, Auriol 4th and Makinen 5th although he was whole 50 secs faster than McRae who was slowed a bit because of having to run as the first car on the road. Kenneth Eriksson rolled on SS15 and was out of the rally. There were only 4 stages on the last day but that didn't mean there wouldn't be action. On the first special stage Carlos Sainz stopped with an engine failure thus losing any possibilities of winning the championship. McRae's win seemed now secured but Makinen had started an unbelievable charge. By far the fastest driver of the day and aided by a few small mistakes by McRae, Makinen was only 13secs behind prior to the last stage. "We gave it everything on that last stage - if Tommi could have gone any faster, he would have deserved to win", were McRae's comments of the last stage on which Makinen managed to take a further 7 secs from him but that wasn't enough.
By winning in Australia McRae still has a slim chance to take the title. For that he should win the RAC Rally and Makinen shouldn't get any points there. Third in Australia was Didier Auriol, showing that next year he and Toyota are a force to be reckoned with. Richard Burns was 4th and 5th was the privately entered Subaru of Possum Bourne who won the private battle of Oz and Kiwi drivers. Second in this unofficial battle finished Ed Ordynski with a Mitsubishi (6th overall) and third Neal Bates who starred on TV pictures with a spectacular off. Once back on the road he finished 8th overall. On 7th place between the drivers from down under was Freddy Loix with the older Toyota Celica. Group F2 was again won by Harri Rovanpera with the Seat. Results of API Rally AustraliaChampionship standings |
