The Rally of Monte Carlo opened, as always, the WRC season. The action started on Monday and after two stages Mitsubishi's Armin Schwarz was leading. Colin McRae was second. On the 3rd stage, the 41 km Burzet, both Schwarz and McRae went off the road, at almost the same spot, because of the unexpected snow and ice thrown on the road by the spectators. Schwarz lost 15 mins and McRae 40 mins, and they weren't very happy on the behaviour of the spectators: "This is really dangerous and unforgivable" Schwarz said.
Toyota's Didier Auriol inherited the lead, but he had and off on SS 5, broke the gearbox, and had to retire. At the end of the day Francois Delecour (Ford) had taken the lead. Second was Carlos Sainz, showing very good speed on his first drive for Subaru. Third was Juha Kankkunen, 25 secs behind Delecour.
Things settled a bit on Tuesday. On the second stage of the day Kankkunen passed Sainz, and in the evening Sainz was already 1.22 mins behind him, but Kankkunen was still 44 secs behind leader Delecour. Juha said he had started his attack. Tire choices are crucial in Monte, and even a gap of 44 secs can be closed with right, or wrong, choices. Fourth was Miki Biasion and fifth Bruno Thiry, on his first drive with a works Ford Escort Cosworth.
Kankkunen's charge didn't seem to take off on Wednesday morning; on the first stage he lost 25 secs to Delecour. The reason was interesting: "You could see from Francois' tracks that he had taken a shortcut over a field, gaining approx. 20 secs in that way" Kankkunen said, not even a little angry or frustrated, "this is the name of the game, Francois knows the local roads better than others, no reason to be angry". Talk about sportsmanship! Later on the day Delecour increased his lead, this time simply by driving faster.
On the first stage of the (in)famous Monte Night, Turini, Delecour spun twice and lost 28 secs to Kankkunen. Twice before Delecour had lost the lead of Monte during the last night, but this year he made the right tire choices and stayed mostly on the road, and at the finish he was still 1.05 ahead of Kankkunen. This was a great win both for Delecour and Ford; it was 41 years since Ford's last victory in Monte Carlo.
Second was Juha Kankkunen, who was also very happy on the result. Toyota hoped for more snow and slippery conditions, so that they could have had more advantage from their traction control, but at least it was shown that the t.c. doesn't slow them down. Carlos Sainz came very fast behind Kankkunen on the last stages, but couldn't catch him. Carlos is definitely back there, after one bad year with Lancia. Fourth was Miki Biasion of Ford. Kenneth Eriksson won Bruno Thiry by only one second, and came fifth, showing that the potential Mitsubishi showed in RAC is still there. Armin Schwarz proved this by finishing 7th and winning as many as nine stages. 8th in the rally was the winner of group N, Pierre-Manuel Jenot of Monaco with a Ford Escort Cosworth. Colin McRae came really fast after his shunt and was at the end 10th.
Monte Carlo showed that it is going to be a very interesting year. Subaru, Ford and Toyota seem all to be equally fast, so it's now up to the drivers. I'd say Sainz and Subaru are going to be a very dangerous pair this season. McRae is fast, but can he yet keep it on the road? Kankkunen and Auriol are the best team anyone could hope for, and I'd think they'll bring at least the manufacturers title for Toyota. Ford is fast, and Delecour is becoming faster all the time and Biasion has what Delecour may lack, reliability. And what about the newly found speed of Mitsubishi? It is really too early to make any predictions on this season.
1. Francois Delecour Ford Escort Cosworth 6:12.20 2. Juha Kankkunen Toyota Celica -1.05 3. Carlos Sainz Subaru Impreza 555 -1.47 4. Massimo Biasion Ford Escort Cosworth -4.36 5. Kenneth Eriksson Mitsubisi Lancer -6.57 6. Bruno Thiry Ford Escort Cosworth -6.58 7. Armin Schwarz Mitsubishi Lancer -16.59 8. Pierre-Manuel Jenot Ford Cosworth (gr. N) -36.56 9. Jesus Puras Ford Cosworth (gr.N) -41.29 10. Colin McRae Subaru Impreza 555 -46.10 ... World Rally Championship standing, drivers: 1. Delecour 20 points 2. Kankkunen 15 3. Sainz 12 4. Biasion 10 5. Eriksson 8 ... Manufacturers: 1. Ford 20 points 2. Toyota 17 3. Subaru 14 4. Mitsubishi 10
(C) 1994 WRC Infosystem By Petri Karonen (pakar@tukki.jyu.fi). May not be reproduced without author's permission. Permission is automatically granted for non-commercial use provided that the author is notified of the reproduction.