Rally Australia 1998

A special eye-witness report and great photos by Darryl Peroni now available!

With four drivers still having chances for the title, the penultimate round of the WRC was expected to become an exciting event. And Rally Australia was exactly that and then some!

The rally started on Thursday evening with the spectacular super special at Langley Park in Perth. The stage was won by Didier Auriol and Tommi Makinen with equal times. As the rally properly started next morning Richard Burns was extremely fast on the dusty and warm conditions. He took the lead winning stage after stage. Others struggled on the roads that were very slippery because of the local gravel which behaves like marbles, especially for first cars on the road.

Didier Auriol was also showing good speed, finishing the day in the second position. He was followed by Juha Kankkunen and Freddy Loix. The title chasers Sainz and McRae were 5th and 6th. Sainz hit a tree slightly but that didn't slow him down too much. He was third before the last stage of the day but stopped intentionally for couple of secs before the finish of the stage to get a better starting position for the next day. Tommi Makinen clipped a rock on SS8 and damaged the rear suspension. He made it to the service with only front wheel drive. The mechanics put the suspension back together amazingly fast, but Makinen still got a 1:20 time penalty for arriving late at a time control. He dropped to 8th place.

Carlos Sainz - Luis Moya (Photo by TTE)

On Saturday it was Makinen's time to blitz the field. Being 8th car on the road, he was absolutely flying, especially on the long forest stages. Sainz was also going strong; the tactics were paying off and he was leading after the second day. Makinen had risen to second with his dazzling drive but on the last stage of the day (Langley Park again) he got a one minute penalty for jumping the start by 0.04 secs. Later the stewards decided to remove the penalty. It is clear from the TV pictures that Makinen was already moving as the lights turned green. In addition to the starting lights the drivers are shown a clock which shows the exact starting time (the system used before the new timing system introduced this year). Makinen explained that he only watched the clock, not the starting lights, which is apparently what most of the drivers do. Anyway, it may be possible that the lights and the clock are out of sync, but at least Carlos Sainz didn't think so and showed a strong discontent on the stewards' decision.

Didier Auriol was third at the end of the day. On SS14 Burns drifted off the slippery road and rolled, losing some 30 secs. He was still third in the evening, sharing the position with Juha Kankkunen, who was having as good a race as you can with the outdated Escort. McRae had some mechanical problems and seemed to be dropping out of the championship battle on 6th position overnight.

Colin McRae - Nicky Grist (Photo by Subaru WRT

The final day still had some long forest stages and nothing was decided yet. Sainz was now plowing the gravel as the first car on the road and just couldn't match the speeds of Makinen, McRae and Burns. Colin McRae finally found the speed on the last day and he was really storming to make up the time he had lost before. On first three of the day's five stages McRae gained over a minute on the leading duo of Sainz and Makinen. With only two stages to go, McRae had taken the lead, Makinen was 3.6 secs behind him, followed by Sainz only one tenth behind, followed by Burns one second behind. Top four drivers within 5 secs with two stages to go, a sensational situation!

The following stage resolved the situation in a harsh manner. Bad luck haunted the Brits, as McRae's turbocharger broke and he lost half a minute, dropping to 4th place and thus losing all chances to win the World Championship. On the same stage Richard Burns rolled once more, this time hurting the engine so badly that he couldn't continue further that to the finish of the stage.

Makinen didn't have a hard time to keep Sainz behind on the remaining stages and took the win, which puts him in the points lead before the final round in Britain. Makinen said he could have won even with the one minute penalty. Sainz was still upset because of the stewards' decision, but with the second place he is only two points behind Makinen. Didier Auriol had a problem-free rally, finishing very respectably third.

Juha Kankkunen was 5th, and he too lost chances for the title which were quite theoretical anyway. The four-time champion still seems to have the speed, though, and even more importantly, he is extremely reliable. Freddy Loix showed again that he is worthy of the full season with Mitsubishi next year. He finished 6th after some problems on the last day with the Toyota. Bruno Thiry finished 7th and Possum Bourne 8th. F2 was won by Alister McRae.

Tommi Makinen - Risto Mannisenmaki (Photo by Ralliart Mitsubishi)