Rally San Remo 1999

The final asphalt rally of the WRC season had at least as much of excitement and sudden changes in the plot as any classic thriller. The Peugeot team had used the time other teams spent in the Orient for testing on asphalt roads and that definitely showed from the beginning of the San Remo Rally. The Peugeot trio dominated the first day of rallying, winning every single special stage.

The Peugeots swept the table on the first leg of Rally San Remo (Photo by Peugeot Sport)

After all six of Monday's special stages Francois Delecour was leading the San Remo Rally with the Peugeot 206 WRC, even though he was facing a two minute penalty after being caught riding a bicycle on one of the stages the day before the rally. Two seconds behind Delecour was his team-mate Gilles Panizzi. Third, completing an absolutely sensational start of the rally for Peugeot, was Marcus Gronholm (24.4 secs behind leader), in only his third ever tarmac event!

Fourth was Philippe Bugalski in the Citroen Xsara Kit Car (-24.9) as best of the front wheel drive F2 cars, which were again expected to perform well here. His team-mate Jesus Puras retired early on with clutch problems. Fifth was Colin McRae (-35.6), followed by the championship title contenders Tommi Makinen (-37.6) and Didier Auriol (-40.0). Richard Burns was 8th and Juha Kankkunen, after some clutch problems, 13th.

The Seats of Piero Liatti, Harri Rovanpera and Toni Gardemeister were struggling with massive understeer and other problems. On the final stage of the day Carlos Sainz hit a patch of gravel on the road, then some trees, and rolled a long way off the road. Luckily the crew walked away from the crash unhurt but the Corolla was totalled and Sainz retired from the 6th position.

The next leg brought problems for several competitors. Colin McRae lost five minutes because of engine problems on Tuesday morning stages. Richard Burns retired with gearbox trouble. Philippe Bugalski lost almost two minutes in a spin and dropped to 9th. After SS8 the top three remained, as Delecour led Panizzi by 17.2 secs. Gronholm was still 3rd, but Tommi Makinen was really on the move behind him. Auriol came 5th, 22 secs behind Makinen.

Gronholm was clearly going at his limit, sometimes exceeding it; he rolled on SS9 and on SS10 he further damaged his Peugeot hitting a wall and losing over 4 minutes, but continuing. The battle in the front was tough. Delecour was slow on SS11 whereas Panizzi and Makinen pushed hard, but on SS12 Delecour was fastest again and Makinen spun. Panizzi was still second 3.4 secs behind, and Makinen third, 47.3 secs behind leader Delecour. Auriol was 4th, 11.8 secs behind Makinen after SS12.

Tommi Makinen - Risto Mannisenmaki (Photo by Mitsubishi Motors)

Makinen continued his charge on the two final stages of the day, winning both of them. He was 22.9 secs behind Panizzi who moved into overnight lead on the last stage of the day. Delecour was 2.8 secs behind Panizzi, so nothing was decided yet in the top three. Auriol in the 4th position was 49.7 secs behind the leader, followed by Makinen's team-mate at Mitsubishi, Freddy Loix, who was already more than two minutes out of pace. 6th was Andrea Aghini with a privately entered Toyota Corolla. Juha Kankkunen in 8th place had transmission problems. Marcus Gronholm was 9th with a pretty second-hand looking Peugeot 206. Colin McRae who did some nice stage times after his earlier engine problems crashed out of the rally on SS13.

On first of the four stages to be driven on the final day of the rally, SS15, Tommi Makinen made a blinding time and moved into the lead. Delecour, 3.4 secs behind Makinen, passed Panizzi again but the margin between the Peugeot drivers was only 0.7 secs. Auriol was still in 4th place, 38 secs behind the leader. SS15 was the longest stage of the rally, over 40 kms, and was run again as the final stage.

On SS16 Delecour was 7 secs faster than Makinen and went into the lead of the rally, but on the road section just before stage 17 his engine died completely due to electrical failure and Delecour was very disappointedly out of the rally. On SS 17 Panizzi took the lead from Makinen. Before the final 40km stage the difference between the two leading drivers was only 1.8 seconds!

Tommi Makinen was again fast on the deciding Colle Langan special stage and took the victory of the San Remo Rally by a clear margin of 18 seconds. Gilles Panizzi chose wrong tires for the rainy final stage and couldn't keep up with the reigning World Champion. Makinen also took an important six point lead in the title chase, with two rounds to go, over Didier Auriol who finished third, 42.2 secs behind him.

Fourth in the rally was Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix, which is his best result so far this year. Fifth was Andrea Aghini and 6th Juha Kankkunen who passed Ford driver Simon Jean-Joseph on the final day. Marcus Gronholm finished 8th. The Seats performed poorly and suffered from a host of problems. Harri Rovanpera finished 16th, while Liatti and Gardemeister retired on the final day. F2 was won by Piero Longhi with a Renault Megane as Citroen's Philippe Bugalski retired on the final stage of the rally while leading the group.