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 Rally Sanremo 1997Result service is available at the official site. Most of the WRC asphalt rallies this year have been real thrillers and in that respect the Sanremo Rally wasn't out of the ordinary. The performance differences between the top teams are at the moment so small that great battles are bound to take place. Toyota's second driver beside Didier Auriol in Sanremo was Freddy Loix who is considered very fast on these types of paved mountain roads. Likewise, Subaru gave their asphalt specialist Piero Liatti a drive in his home event. The behaviour of the spectators was again a hot topic and already a week before the event the organizers decided to cancel the first special stage which was supposed to be driven in the town of San Remo on Sunday evening as the only stage of the day. So the rally started on Monday morning but even then, at 8am, the crowds on the first stage were so huge and heaving wrecklessly on the road that also this stage had to be cancelled and the cars only drove through slowly. On the third stage the competition finally began and rather surprisingly fastest was Italian Paolo Andreucci with a two-wheel drive Renault Megane. This didn't last long, as on the next day Freddy Loix took the lead of the rally, another remarkable showing by the new Toyota Corolla, now on its first asphalt rally. On the dampened last stage of the day, SS9, Subaru's Piero Liatti took the overnight lead. Loix was 2 secs behind, followed by the men fighting for the championship Tommi Makinen (27 secs) and Carlos Sainz (29 secs). Also still in touch were Didier Auriol 5th, Juha Kankkunen and Andrea Aghini in tied 6th and Colin McRae in 8th place.
Tuesday morning saw Freddy Loix lose a lot of time with drive train problems and he was out of the lead battle. The man of the day was, however, Subaru's Colin Mcrae who started the day 40 secs behind Liatti. He won six of tha day's eight stages and at the end of the day he had jumped from 8th to second and was only 6 secs behind the still leading Liatti. Behind the Subaru's Makinen and Sainz continued their private battle for the championship points. They switched positions several times during the day but in the evening Makinen was still ahead, having gained a whole second over his rival. Juha Kankkunen was 5th 37 secs behind the leader, followed by the Toyotas of Loix (problems now sorted out) and Auriol. The two great ongoing battles culminated on the last day of the rally. In the lead, Piero Liatti didn't slow down at all although he was challenged by his team-mate who needed the win to keep his championship hopes alive. On SS20 McRae took the lead but on the next stage Liatti took it back, only to lose it again to the Scotsman. Both were obviously driving absolutely on the limit. Before the last stage Colin was leading by one second, but on the stage Liatti was 5 secs faster. This meant that Piero Liatti became the moral winner of the rally. But, already a couple of stages before a team order was issued by Subaru team boss David Richards. So Liatti, annoyed but obediant, stopped before the last time check to get a 10 second penalty. After all this Colin McRae was the not so triumphant winner. Liatti wasn't very pleased but he knew that this was the name of the game. Behind the couple in front raged another fight, stakes being no less than the World Championship. Makinen's and Sainz' extremely tight battle had continued all through the rally; their difference was never more than 8 secs. Before the penultimate stage the drivers were tied at equal times. Before the last stage they still were tied so it was all up to the last stage. Makinen said afterwards that he drove the last stage at 125% speed. He was 2 secs faster, thus finishing 3rd, only 12 secs behind the winner. Behind Sainz, Freddy Loix was 5th after an excellent last day; he was 50 secs behind McRae and three secs in front of the 6th place man Juha Kankkunen. Also this pair started the last stage with equal times. 7th was Andrea Aghini with a privately entered Toyota Celica in front of the Corolla of works team driver Auriol, who didn't really impress with his performance. Front-wheel-drive gr F2 was won by Harri Rovanpera who confirmed the F2 title for Seat. Due to FIA's copyright rules I no longer can post the result lists in my reports. Full results are available at the Sanremo Rally official website.
Championship standings |
