Rally Catalunya 1999

We had it coming for couple of years and now it finally happened: A WRC event was won with a front-wheel drive Formula 2 car. The Spanish round of the WRC was dominated by the Citroen Xsara Kit Car, a machine built mainly for the all-asphalt French Rally Championship. The F2 kit cars are some 200 kg lighter and their highly tuned normally aspirated engines give only 30-50hp less than the World Rally Cars so it's no wonder they have an advantage on dry tarmac surface.

On the first stage of the rally there were problems similar to the previous round of the WRC in Portugal, too many spectators were packed on the stage and the stewards decided to cancel the stage. Unfortunately, the decision was made so late that Tommi Makinen already started as the first car on the road and drove the stage in competition speed whereas others drove it as a road section. This meant that Makinen had to start the second stage with used tyres and lost some time.

The first day leader Jesus Puras (Photo by www.rally-live.com)

Spanish driver Jesus Puras took the lead right from the start with the Citroen Xsara. His only competition on the first day came from his team-mate Philippe Bugalski; the difference between the Citroens was 7 secs after the first leg. The Toyotas seem always to be fast in Catalunya and they were again leading the four-wheel-drive category with Didier Auriol (10 secs behind leader) in front of Carlos Sainz (7 secs behind Auriol). Tommi Makinen made some wrong tyre choices and he was 5th, 34 secs behind the leader. His team-mate Freddy Loix, still not fully recovered from his accident in the Safari, was 6th. The Skoda of Armin Schwarz showed some very promising speed after an unfortunate early season; he was 8th after the first day. Colin McRae was 6th after SS4 but lost 7.5 minutes on the next couple of stages because of a turbocharger failure.

The morning of the second day was a sad one for the Jesus Puras. Despite frantic efforts he couldn't get the Citroen started and had to retire from the lead in his home event. The moist Mediterranean winds were suspected to have affected the electronics of the car. As you might remember, exactly the same thing happened to Colin McRae last year. Philippe Bugalski inherited the lead and managed to extend it during the day to 17 seconds. The Toyotas continued their duel until on SS13, the longest stage of the rally, Carlos Sainz had a puncture and lost time. He stayed third but was now battling hard with Freddy Loix.

On the first stage of the day, SS10, Tommi Makinen, Richard Burns and Harri Rovanpera all got a one minute penalty for jumping the start. Makinen claimed that there must have been something wrong with the timing equipment; it was peculiar that also most of the drivers who didn't jump start had unusually short reaction times on that particular stage. Despite (or because of) losing that minute Makinen was 5th, followed by the relatively poorly performing Subarus of Richard Burns, Juha Kankkunen and Bruno Thiry. Armin Schwarz had to retire due to engine failure. Colin McRae spent the day testing for the next event in Corsica and did some impressive times, taking even two stage wins. He was still so far back, though, that he didn't start on the final day.

Didier Auriol never stopped trying (Photo by TTE)

Didier Auriol tried to apply as much pressure on Bugalski as possible on the third and last leg but the Citroen was unbeatable and won by 31 seconds. A historic win for the French team and for the experienced French driver, but not very welcomed by the WRC regulars. Citroen didn't score any manufacturers' points but Bugalski got 10 drivers' points which are essentially useless as he will only take part in two WRC events during the season. The system was, quite naturally criticized strongly by the second place man, Didier Auriol, who'd have scored 4 more points if F2 drivers weren't eligible for points.

Carlos Sainz suffered two punctures during the final stage and lost the third position. To top it up, on the last stage the alternator belt broke and he ran out of battery. Sainz finished the stage slowly but disappointedly retired on the road section before the actual finish. Tommi Makinen had no problems on the last day and passed his team-mate to take the third spot, which felt like a win after all the troubles earlier, even though he was almost two and a half minutes behind the winner, which equals to a light year in WCR terms. Freddy Loix was content with the 4th position, the Safari accident hasn't left any mental scars on him. Then came the Subaru trio, led by Richard Burns. Juha Kankkunen finished 6th and Bruno Thiry 7th. Subaru have to find some more speed very soon, right now it seems they are dropping from the pace.