Photos by Markku Honkala. Better pictures will be posted this week.
The official 1000 Lakes Rally homepage has lots of information, including result service.
The 'Grand Prix of Gravel Roads', Rally of 1000 Lakes had an impressive starting list with all of the top contenders in the championship. Only Piero Liatti didn't start the rally although he had been testing the Subaru in Finland. There also was a very strong lineup of Finnish drivers looking to challenge the international stars.
The 1000 Lakes started tragically as the first stage (the only one of the day) in the middle of the town of Jyvaskyla was cancelled after the Danish pair of Richardt/Frederiksen lost the control of their car on a fast part of the stage and the car flew into a crowd of spectators. 29 spectators were injured of which three were reported serious. A Belgian spectator died later in the night of his injuries.
The first real day of the rally proved once again that the 1000 Lakes is one of the most difficult rallies in the world and experience is needed for success. Four time world champion Juha Kankkunen took the command of the race from the morning much to everyone's astonishment. The Toyota Team Finland entered Celica was faster than anyone expected and after the 10 stages of the day Juha had a 41 second lead over championship leader Tommi Makinen who was having some trouble because of slippery loose gravel, being the first one on the road. The Finnish domination in the rally was backed up by the younger generation of Finnish drivers; Marcus Gronholm, Kankkunen's team-mate was third, Jarmo Kytolehto and Harri Rovanpera with very competitive Ford Escort Cosworths were 4th and 7th, respectively. Between them, Thomas Raadstrom and Kenneth Eriksson fought their own private battle over Swedish honours. The reigning world champion Colin McRae didn't have a good start; he rolled the Subaru and retired on SS6. Carlos Sainz had electrical problems on the first stage of the day and lost several minutes. Group N leader Jouko Puhakka retired with break problems.
The leader after day two, Juha Kankkunen, on special stage 2.
Tommi Makinen started his charge right from the morning, winning stage after stage and eating Kankkunen's lead away gradually. Makinen was driving absolutely superbly and took the lead on SS 19 and at the end of the day he was 12 secs ahead which wasn't by no means a secure margin to start the last day with. Behind the leading pair there was another huge battle for the 3rd spot between Marcus Gronholm, Jarmo Kytolehto and Kenneth Eriksson. Kytolehto came very close to Gronholm in third spot but had to back away a little because of clutch problems on the last stages of the day. Eriksson was observing the situation keeping in touch but not really being able to catch the young Finns. Carlos Sainz was one of the fastest drivers of the day and rose to 6th place after his problems on Saturday but his team-mate Bruno Thiry suffered from engine troubles in the morning and lost over ten minutes. The only major retirement of the day was Ford driver Harri Rovanpera who before having to give up in the evening struggled with a long-lasting gearbox trouble.
On the last six special stages of the rally which were driven on Monday Tommi Makinen pulled away from Juha Kankkunen who could't fight back with the wide Toyota on the narrow roads. This was Makinen's third win in a row at the 1000 Lakes and it puts Makinen in a very comfortable championship lead of 33 points as his strongest contender Carlos Sainz had to retire from 6th position on the very last stage of the rally because of gearbox failure. The thrill of the day was the battle for third place between Finnish rising stars Gronholm and Kytolehto which was at the end won by Kytolehto by a mere five seconds. This was a remarkable achievement for both drivers and especially for Kytolehto for whom this was the first time at the wheel of a really powerful machine, a Malcolm Wilson Motorsport prepared Ford Escort. The best non-Finn in the rally finishing fifth was Kenneth Eriksson of Subaru who said that he didn't really have problems, the Finns just were too fast for him. Thomas Raadstrom was sixth after a solid drive with the third Toyota Team Finland Celica. Behind him was the Finnish championship leader, Sebastian Lindholm who had some problems earlier. 8th was a long-time Mitsubishi test driver Lasse Lampi with a works Lancer, and 9th Rui Madeira, driving a group A Toyota. Italian private Subaru entry Angelo Medeghini finished very respectably 10th in front of Bruno Thiry who made it to the finish after all the problems. Group N had a dramatic final day as the leader Juha Kangas retired and the two leaders of the group, Olli Harkki and Pasi Hagstrom, started the the final stage with equal times. Hagstrom was 5 seconds faster on the last special stage and became a surprise winner of gr. N with his Toyota Celica.
Makinen on his way to victory on SS 27, with two stages to go.
| NR | DRIVERS | NAT1 | NAT2 | CAR | TIME | Behind -1ST | - PREV | |
| 1 | 7 | Mäkinen-Harjanne | FIN | FIN | Mitsubishi | 4:04:13 | :: | :: |
| 2 | 11 | Kankkunen-Grist | FIN | GB | Toyota | 4:04:59 | ::46 | ::46 |
| 3 | 17 | Kytölehto-Kapanen | FIN | FIN | Ford | 4:06:50 | :2:37 | :1:51 |
| 4 | 16 | Grönholm-Rautiaine | FIN | FIN | Toyota | 4:06:55 | :2:42 | ::5 |
| 5 | 2 | Eriksson-Parmander | S | S | Subaru | 4:07:35 | :3:22 | ::40 |
| 6 | 12 | Rådström-Bäckman | S | S | Toyota | 4:08:22 | :4:09 | ::47 |
| 7 | 15 | Lindholm-Hantunen | FIN | FIN | Ford | 4:09:30 | :5:17 | :1:08 |
| 8 | 8 | Lampi-Stenroos | FIN | FIN | Mitsubishi | 4:16:14 | :12:01 | :6:44 |
| 9 | 14 | Madeira-da Silva | P | P | Toyota | 4:20:47 | :16:34 | :4:33 |
| 10 | 33 | Medeghini-"Medeghi | I | I | Subaru | 4:22:41 | :18:28 | :1:54 |
| 11 | 5 | Thiry-Prévot | B | B | Ford | 4:23:24 | :19:11 | ::43 |
| 12 | 25 | Navarra-Casazza | I | I | Subaru | 4:24:15 | :20:02 | ::51 |
| 13 | 30 | Hagström-Gardemeis | FIN | FIN | Toyota | 4:26:02 | :21:49 | :1:47 |
| 14 | 26 | Harkki-Mustalahti | FIN | FIN | Mitsubishi | 4:26:07 | :21:54 | ::5 |
| 15 | 19 | Dallavilla-Fappani | I | I | Toyota | 4:26:39 | :22:26 | ::32 |
1. Tommi Makinen Mitsubishi 95
2. Carlos Sainz Ford 62
3. Kenneth Eriksson Subaru 51
4. Colin McRae Subaru 42
5. Piero Liatti Subaru 37
Juha Kankkunen Toyota 37
7. Bruno Thiry Ford 14
Marcus Gronholm Toyota 14
9. Ian Duncan Toyota 12
10. Yoshio Fujimoto Toyota 10
Richard Burns Mitsubishi 10
1. Mitsubishi 240 2. Subaru 234 3. Ford 180
Rally Australia, Sep 13-16.
