Colin McRae doing some mudwrestling with his Subaru.
Mitsubishi offer Safari Rally information at their pages.
The Safari Rally was this year the second round of the gr A World Championship and all the teams competing in the manufacturers championship shipped their equipment to Kenya. Juha Kankkunen wasn't among the starters as there were accusations of Toyota violating the ban they are in by having too much Toyota Team Europe personnel working for them. The FIA didn't see problems in Kankkunen's participation but apparently Toyota's bosses in Japan and Toyota Kenya decided to avoid all accusations and perhaps save some money by not entering Kankkunen in the rally.
The rally was preceded by very heavy rains so the course was wet and muddy and some stages were in so bad a shape that they had to be cancelled. The normally almost dry rivers were full and the fast flowing waters were a real hazard for the competitors and teams. The saddest incident claimed three lives as a service vehicle of a Kenyan private team was captured by the current and all persons in the car were drowned.
Colin McRae doing some mudwrestling with his Subaru.
The FIA is molding the Safari towards being more like an ordinary WRC rally by limiting it to three days and making Nairobi the start and finish of the legs each day. The Safari is, however, still a great adventure of 3000 kilometres where preserving the car is as important as driving fast. The first one to experience this fact was the early leader Colin McRae, who broke the drive-shaft in a river-crossing and lost his lead to Subaru team-mate Kenneth Eriksson.
After the first day second to Eriksson and only 27 secs behind was Tommi Makinen who also had some drive-shaft problems. Third was McRae and fourth 1994 winner Ian Duncan driving for Tyota Kenya. 5th was Carlos Sainz who was struggling with the suspension and overheating engine.
All through the second day Makinen and Eriksson continued their battle for the lead. The battle ended in Makinen's favour and at the end of the day his lead was some two minutes, which in the Safari is by no means a very large margin. Ian Duncan took the 3rd spot as McRae was having suspension problems and punctures. The engine of Carlos Sainz' Ford decided to call it a day and he was out of the rally.
On the first competetive section of the last day Eriksson suffered drive-shaft problems so common in the Safari, so with no problems during the last day Tommi Makinen took his second win this year. This was the first time Makinen participated the event but with the help of the experienced co-driver Seppo Harjanne and the dedicated testing and work of the Mitsubishi Ralliart team he was able to take the honours.
First timer's luck or sheer mastery? Tommi Makinen on his way to the
winner's podium.
Subaru were happy to finish in their first Safari outing 2nd (Eriksson), 4th (McRae) and 5th (Piero Liatti). Between them in 3rd was the experienced Kenyan Ian Duncan. Ford's effort wasn't a very succesful one, Stig Blomqvist finishing, after a troubled run, 7th almost four and a half hours behind the winner.
Next up is Indonesia, a new rally in the WRC calendar. For Tommi
Makinen it will be a good opportunity to further increase his lead in the
championship but undoubtably also Subaru drivers will be strong there as
they are very experienced in the Asia Pacific series. It also seems that
we'll see Juha Kankkunen on the line in Indonesia, with backing from
Toyota Australia.
Group N was won by Hideaki Miyoshi with Subaru Impreza Sportswagon!
1. T.Makinen / S.Harjanne Mitsubishi Lancer 12.41.12 2. K.Eriksson / S. Parmander Subaru Impreza +14.16 3. I.Dancan / D.Williamson Toyota Celica +44.00 4. C.McRae / D.Ringer Subaru Impreza +1.07.04 5. P.Liatti / M.Ferforlia Subaru Impreza +1.27.30 6. Kenjiro Shinozuka / P.Kuukkala Mitsubishi Lancer +2.03.15 7. S.Blomqvist / B.Melander Ford Escort Cosworth +4.27.28 8. H.Miyoshi / T.Khan Subaru Impreza (N) +3.09.08 9. P.Njiru / R.Mathews Subaru Impreza (N) +3.17.32 10. J.Toroitich / I.Choge Toyota Celica +4.27.29
1. Tommi Makinen Mitsubishi 40 2. Kenneth Eriksson Subaru 23 3. Colin McRae Subaru 22 4. Carlos Sainz Ford 15 5. Ian Duncan Toyota 12 6. Juha Kankkunen Toyota 10 7. Piero Liatti Subaru 8 8. Stig Blomqvist Ford 7 9. Kenjiro Shinozuka Mitsubishi 6 10. Thomas Radstrom Toyota 6
1. Mitsubishi 97 2. Subaru 93 3. Ford 53
Tour de Corse, May 1-5.
