Rally Catalunya 1998

Rally Catalunya, the first pure asphalt rally this season proved once again how evenly matched the WRC teams are. The competition is extremely tough as all works drivers have a chance of winning, and surprises are not uncommon.

Mitsubishi, still relying on the gr. A specification instead of the World Rally Car concept, brought out the new development version of the Lancer/Carisma, the Evolution V. The new version is tuned for better performance primarily on paved roads. The car is wider and has new suspension and aerodynamic solutions.

Tommi Makinen and the new Evo V (Photo by Mitsubishi Ralliart)

Toyota nominated Freddy Loix as the second driver eligible for manufacturers' points as they were quite unhappy with Didier Auriol's performance so far this season. The Frenchman has been slow to adapt to the Corolla and there were rumours that he had lost the motivation. But right from the start of Rally Catalunya Auriol proved the rumours very misled; on the second special stage he took the lead of the rally and kept it all through the first day.

The front wheel drive F2 cars were expected again to be fast in Catalunya and that indeed was the case. The fastest F2 machine was the new Citroen Xsara Kit Car with which local driver Jesus Puras showed some amazing speed during the first day. At the end of the day he was second in the rally 16.8 secs behind Auriol. Third was Ford's Bruno Thiry and fourth another F2 car, Gilles Panizzi with the Peugeot 306. Richard Burns was 5th with the new Evo V followed by Citroen's Philippe Bugalski. The Toyotas of Freddy Loix and Carlos Sainz were 7th and 8th. Sainz complained that the suspension and tyres were not working properly on the slippery asphalt. Tommi Makinen had similar problems in 9th place as did many others.

The top nine were still inside a minute so nothing was decided yet. The Subarus of Piero Liatti and Colin McRae had some engine problems and could not quite keep up with the leaders. Juha Kankkunen of Ford was very unhappy with the handling of his car and he dropped to 14th position. His day was not a perfect one as in the evening he discovered that a suitcase containing money, credit cards, passport etc had been stolen from his hotel room in Lloret de Mar. The suitcase minus the money was found later by the police, though.

The stages on the second day were longer and the F2 cars could not fight as hard because of excessive tyre wear. On the first stage of the day Jesus Puras retired disappointingly with a blown engine. Didier Auriol continued in the front with no problems whatsoever and extended his lead during the day to 41 secs. Sainz, Loix and Makinen had sorted out their suspension problems and were now on the move. At the end of the day the Toyotas held the top three, with Loix on the second spot, followed by Sainz who was almost a minute behind Auriol. Tommi Makinen was 4th only three tenths behind Sainz. Then came Burns and F2 leader Panizzi.

Bruno Thiry experienced brake problems and dropped to 7th. Colin McRae had all sorts of problems and was still 10th, as did Kankkunen, now 12th. Also Piero Liatti had multiple problems and had to retire on SS12 due to motor breakdown.

On the last morning Makinen overtook Sainz and started to hunt Loix and the second position. Later Sainz lost a lot of time in a puncture and dropped to 8th. The day was dark for Ford; Kankkunen's miserable rally ended on SS16 as he hit a concrete pillar damaging the rear suspension. On SS18 Bruno Thiry retired with a broken engine. Subaru's result wasn't any better as McRae too retired due to broken transmission.

Didier Auriol (Photo by TTE)

Didier Auriol dominated the whole rally and won with a margin of 53 seconds showing that he still has the speed, at least on asphalt. Auriol is now very confident prior to his home event, Tour de Corse. The battle of the last day in Catalunya was fought between Makinen and Loix. Makinen came within 5 secs of Loix but on the penultimate stage the Mitsubishi developed strange transmission noises and Makinen slowed down a bit to bring the car safely to the finish.

Richard Burns was 4th completing the successful debute for the Evo V. Citroen also had a very successful debute as Philippe Bugalski won the F2 category and was 5th overall with the Xsara Kit Car. Gilles Panizzi was 6th with the F2 Peugeot in front of Carlos Sainz. 8th was another Peugeot and Fancois Delecour.