Rally Argentina 1999

As I've noted before, the top teams in the WRC are very evenly matched in terms of car performance. And again, just as it seemed that the Subarus was falling behind, they came back and swept the table in a dominant fashion. Juha Kankkunen skipped the two previous rounds driven on paved surfaces and concentrated on developing and testing the Impreza on gravel.

So, Kankkunen was back on the wheel of the Subaru alongside Richard Burns. Bruno Thiry had been in a minor operation and was out this time. Thomas Rådström returned to drive the second Ford after he broke his ankle during the Safari Rally recce. The rally started again with a single super special, this time three cars running at the same time on a twisty circuit, on Saturday. Rallying is extremely popular in Argentina and the super special was witnessed by more than 70.000 spectators. The stage was won by Carlos Sainz and there were no major dramas.

Didier Auriol in maximum attack (Photo by TTE)

The first leg of the rally started on Sunday. Colin McRae won the first stage of the day but on SS3 he hit a rock and flipped the Ford Focus on its side. The front suspension was hurt and Colin had to retire early on. Then the Subarus started to show the results of their development. They won six of the day's eight stages, the lead was first taken by Richard Burns but at the end of the day Juha Kankkunen was in the front due to a great stage time on the penultimate stage of the day. Burns was only 1.1 secs down, though. The Toyotas were also going well and Didier Auriol was very much in touch, 3.5 secs behind Kankkunen. Carlos Sainz was fourth, 45 secs behind, after several small problems, including an open bonnet in the middle of a stage. Tommi Makinen, the consecutive winner of three previous Argentine events was having transmission problems which dropped him to 5th place.

The battle between the leading trio raged all through the second day. Didier Auriol was now on the move and took the lead on the first stage of the day from Kankkunen. Burns was also going well, although he had a gearbox problem on SS12. The gearbox was changed after the stage in 19 minutes and Burns got a 10 second penalty for arriving late in the next time control. Despite all this he took the lead from Auriol on SS13! At the end of the day Burns was leading Auriol by 14,8 secs. Kankkunen was breathing in Auriol's neck, 16,8 behind the leader. Sainz was already more than a minute behind and Makinen, who was now up to speed, was closing on him.

'Not bad for an old man', said Juha Kankkunen, finishing the rally as a winner (Photo by Subaru WRT)

On the final day Didier Auriol could but watch the two Subarus disappearing into the sunset. Kankkunen was really flying; he passed Auriol on the second stage of the day and started to close the gap to Burns stage by stage. Their difference was down to 1.2 secs with one stage to go. Kankkunen was faster on the stage by 3.6 seconds, so he had beat Burns by 2.4 seconds. There still was a possibility that a team order would be issued and Kankkunen would be deliberately late from the last time control and thus make up the 10 second penalty Burns had been given earlier. With the TV cameras filming, the Subaru team chief David Richards told Kankkunen and co-driver Juha Repo that there would be no team orders. The pair was clearly moved, this was the first win for Kankkunen in five years and for Juha Repo it was his first WRC win ever. Kankkunen now again matches Sainz' record for the most WRC victories, 22.

Richard Burns was obviously a bit disappointed, losing a rally by 2.4 seconds can't be easy. Auriol had no problems on the final day and was trying hard, but the roads apparently suited better for the Subarus and he finished third, 39.6 seconds behind Kankkunen. Tommi Makinen took the 4th position after Sainz had some gearbox problems on the penultimate stage of the rally. Thomas Rådström finished 6th in his first Argentine rally. The Seats again had multiple problems, but Piero Liatti was catching Rådström on the final day until he made a heavy landing which damaged the car and he had to retire.