Rally
Australia homepage.
Check out the great Rally
Australia photos by Darryl Peroni!
After dominating the WRC for the whole season Tommi Makinen clinched in Australia the drivers Championship with two rounds to go in the series.
Going to Australia, Spaniard Carlos Sainz still was in the reach of the championship. In case of Makinen winning, the Spaniard had to finish second to keep the possibility of taking the championship alive.
Of the other top contenders, Juha Kankkunen and Toyota were missing from the start line as they already are in preparation for next year and the introduction of the Corolla World Rally Car. Rally Australia started traditionally with the great Langley Park super special in the city of Perth on Friday. The 2.2km dash in the park was won by Sainz with the Ford Escort, but Makinen of Mitsubishi along with Subaru drivers McRae, Eriksson, Liatti and Ford's Bruno Thiry lost only 1 second on this only stage of the day.
The weather in Western Australia was rainy prior to the event which made the gravel roads very muddy and slippery. Although Friday was sunny the conditions were mixed and very demanding for the drivers on Saturday as the real action started. Makinen and Sainz started the day quite evenly but then Carlos hit one of the deep puddles and got water in the electronics of the engine which caused ignition problems for the rest of the day. In the evening Makinen had a lead of 37 seven seconds. Sainz was still 2nd but Kenneth Eriksson was breathing hard on his neck only three seconds behind. Colin McRae was slipping and sliding on 4th place almost a minute off the pace. Richard Burns was 5th and Bruno Thiry, who had trouble in keeping his engine running and staying on the road, 6th.
Tommi Makinen tackling the wet conditions
On Sunday the rains came back, making the roads even more slippery and treacherous. Two stages had to be cancelled as the cars couldn't make it through the deep water-crossings. This didn't make Tommi Makinen lose the control of the race, on the contrary. He was fastest on five of the six stages driven during the day and extended his lead into almost a minute and a half. In the evening he said that he wasn't even driving at full speed, but was taking it carefully! Eriksson was very fast as always Down Under and conquered the second place by 31 secs making Sainz' situation quite desperate. McRae also took it carefully and continued solidly in 4th.
Nothing could take the victory from Tommi Makinen on the last day of the rally, Monday. Behind him, Sainz was having a hair-raising battle with Eriksson to keep his possibilities for the championship title existent. The Matador charged with all his might and the Swede tried to stay ahead with equal efforts. Sainz was out of the road twice and Eriksson damaged slightly his Subaru by jumping too hard. On the last stage Sainz drove absolutely on the limit and took a huge 15 seconds from Eriksson but at the end he was still 4 seconds behind.
This meant that Tommi Makinen with his superb and experienced co-driver Seppo Harjanne was the new World Champion. 'I'll have to buy several drinks for Kenneth tonight for keeping Carlos third', was Tommi's comment on the last day's fight behind him. The delirious Makinen was later congratulated, among others, by Carlos Sainz for the title which the Finn won after absolute dominance in the WRC this year.
Pos No Driver\Co-Driver Nat Grp Vehicle Time Diff Prev 1 7 Makinen\Harjanne FIN\FIN A MITSUBISHI LANCER 04:08:50 - - 2 2 Eriksson\Parmander S\S A SUBARU IMPREZA 04:10:07 00:01:17 00:01:17 3 4 Sainz\Moya E\E A FORD ESCORT 04:10:11 00:01:21 00:00:04 4 1 McRae\Ringer GB\GB A SUBARU IMPREZA 04:12:01 00:03:11 00:01:50 5 8 Burns\Reid GB\GB A MITSUBISHI LANCER 04:12:15 00:03:25 00:00:14 6 5 Thiry\Prevot B\B A FORD ESCORT 04:17:38 00:08:48 00:05:23 7 3 Liatti\Pons I\I A SUBARU IMPREZA 04:20:21 00:11:31 00:02:43 8 13 Bourne\Vincent NZ\NZ A SUBARU IMPREZA 04:20:57 00:12:07 00:00:36 9 14 Nittel\Thorner D\S N MITSUBISHI LANCER 04:32:49 00:23:59 00:11:52 10 10 Fujimoto\Hertz J\S A TOYOTA CELICA GT4 04:36:42 00:27:52 00:03:53 11 9 Ordynski\Stacey AUS\AUS N MITSUBISHI LANCER 04:37:37 00:28:47 00:00:55 12 29 Kataoka\Hayashi J\J N MITSUBISHI LANCER 04:37:55 00:29:05 00:00:18 13 17 Singh\Oh MAL\MAL N PROTON WIRA 4WD 04:40:13 00:31:23 00:02:18 14 33 Taguchi\Gocentas J\AUS N PROTON WIRA 4WD 04:46:08 00:37:18 00:05:55 15 19 Sibera\Gross CZ\CZ A2 SKODA FELICIA 04:52:18 00:43:28 00:06:10 ...
San Remo Rally, Oct 12-16.
