Monte Carlo Rally 1999

Yet another season of World Rallying got under way in a spectacular fashion at the Monte Carlo Rally. There was some controversy even before the start of the rally as the FIA declared that the water pump in the new Ford Focus wasn't in compliance of the rules. By request of other teams Ford were allowed to compete in the event but they may lose their possible points later. Skoda's efforts in the WRC got an embarrassing start as both cars, obviously not quite ready for real action, failed to reach the start of the rally.

The conditions on this year's Monte were variable, to say the least. There was a lot of ice and snow as well as wet and dry asphalt surfaces, and with several very long special stages tire choices made life difficult for many people. The very first stage was a mixture of surfaces and the stealthy black ice caught unwary drivers mercilessly. Carlos Sainz who ended last season in an extremely unlucky way wasn't much better of to start the new season. He had an off on the first turn of the first stage and hit a hit a car of an ice-note team that had been caught by the ice earlier. The bent hood of Sainz' Corolla obstructed his view and he had another off, now hitting a telephone pole which effectively ended his rally before it properly began.

Sainz' team-mate Didier Auriol collided with the same ice-note car stuck in the snow but he could continue. Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix was also caught by the ice and retired from his first event in a Mitsubishi with a damaged radiator. Colin McRae had electrical problems on the same stage but continued after losing some three minutes. World Champion Tommi Makinen, however, made a spot on tire choice and took a convincing lead of 37 secs on SS1.

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

But the name of the first day was Gilles Panizzi, who has signed with Peugeot but drives other marques to gain 4WD experience prior to Peugeot's WRC debut in Corsica. Panizzi was driving a privately entered Subaru Impreza and he was absolutely flying after the first stage. Panizzi and Makinen were competing hard over the lead, which was taken by Panizzi after Makinen got some brake problems for the final two stages of the day. After five long stages Panizzi was leading by 5.9 secs. Juha Kankkunen adapted soon in his new Subaru; he was third after the first day. 4th was Piero Liatti, demonstrating that Seat has taken quantum leaps in the development of the Cordoba.

Next morning Panizzi had problems starting the Subaru on the parc ferme and received a 20 second penalty for arriving late at the time control. He still kept the lead after the first stage of the day as Makinen made a bad tire choice, but on the next stage, the infamous Sisteron, Makinen beat Panizzi by 30 secs. On SS3 Panizzi spun and stalled the engine, having again hard time restarting it and lost a minute. Makinen made no errors, and with Panizzi spinning again on the last stage of the day, Makinen started the final day in a comfortable lead of 45 secs. Meanwhile, Juha Kankkunen, who said he had studied the owner's manual of the Impreza, had got the thing up to speed and was reaching Panizzi.

The new Ford Focus seems to be a ready-to-race package; McRae was going fine after his troubles on the first day, he was 4th, followed by Francois Delecour in a private Ford Escort. Liatti dropped to 9th with braking problems.

The final day consisted of two last stages of the previous day driven twice again. Panizzi started a charge to catch Makinen, but on the first stage of the day he hit some black ice and slipped into a wall which turned the car upside down. There was an adequate amount of momentum so that the car continued for some 100 meters, skidding on its roof, until another solid object brought the Subaru back to its wheels. Needless to say, the car wasn't in a condition to carry on, but Panizzi certainly gave with his effort in the rally others an alert of things to come when he gets behind the wheel of that new Peugeot 206.

So, it wasn't a difficult task for Tommi Makinen to take his first win in the Monte Carlo Rally, even though he still had some brake problems on the final stages. Juha Kankkunen was all smiles with the second position, even though he lost 1:45 to Makinen. Kankkunen praised his new team and claimed Subaru is the Rolls-Royce of rally cars, all it lacks is a stereo system to play some nice music while cruising on the specials.

Harri Rovanpera, Seat Cordoba WRC (Photo by Seat Sport)

Colin McRae was 3rd with the new Focus, after some bad luck he posted several impressive stage wins. A great start for the new car. 4th was Didier Auriol, who had a great battle with Delecour and Bruno Thiry on the last day. They started the final special stage within 4 secs from each other. Auriol won the stage, Delecour was 2nd and took the 5th place, beating Thiry only by 1,3 secs. Despite some problems the Seats were going very well indeed, Piero Liatti finished 7th followed by his team-mate Harri Rovanpera, who even took a stage win on the last day.