FIA RALLY: Rally of Portugal: Makinen Wins

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Tommi Mäkinen celebrated his 100th FIA World Championship rally start in style by winning the third round of this year's series, the Rally of Portugal, which finished near Porto this afternoon. The Finn was made to fight hard for his 22nd victory at this level, though: Carlos Sainz snatched the lead on today's penultimate stage and only a supreme effort from Mäkinen denied the Spaniard victory. Reigning FIA World Rally champion Marcus Grönholm, meanwhile, scored his first points of this season in third.

There was less rain today than the previous two legs, but conditions were still extremely difficult for the remaining crews and event organisers scrapped one of the planned three stages because of its treacherous road surface.

Mitsubishi

Technical: Tommi Mäkinen's Lancer encountered no technical problems during today's two stages.

Sporting: Mäkinen opted for a wider cut tyre in the belief that today's stages would be more muddy but when the first test was cancelled because of poor road conditions, his task became harder. Sure enough, he was unable to stop Carlos Sainz moving 0.3 seconds ahead in the penultimate stage, so Mäkinen had to throw caution to the wind in the final test. He admitted taking several risks but his counter attack succeeded: he moved back into the lead by nearly nine seconds, to win on his 100th World Championship start.

Quotes: Tommi Makinen: "This victory is a bit special. I cut so many corners on that last stage, I took every risk to try to get the victory back. Perhaps our tyre cut was a bit too open for the stages, which made it more difficult because Carlos was very close and pushing extremely hard. People are already talking about the championship but we've still got 11 rallies left and today showed that it's a close season. It won't be easy, but I'm glad we've made this sort of start."

Mitsubishi Ralliart Chairman Andrew Cowan: "I almost had to fight back the tears. For Tommi to win on his 100th world championship start is incredible, and to do it in this fashion is even better. When he has to produce the goods, Tommi can do it - he's showed that before and he showed it again today. We were obviously nervous going into the last stage but we knew we'd done all we could and we had faith that Tommi would do a good job. It's been a great advertisement for rallying."

Ford

Technical: Carlos Sainz's Focus WRC01 performed reliably today, but team-mate François Delecour's example suffered from a slipping clutch in the closing stages.

Sporting: A fastest time on the first of today's two stages was enough to catapult Carlos Sainz ahead of Tommi Mäkinen and into the lead - by just 0.3 seconds. But the Spaniard slid wide on a muddy, rutted corner near the start of the last stage and towards its finish, he encountered rocks that had been pulled into the road by the corner-cutting Mäkinen. As a result, he dropped 8.9 seconds to the Finn and claimed second - his third podium finish in three events. François Delecour concentrated on finishing, since he was under no real threat from behind and couldn't challenge the crews in front. He overcame slight clutch problems to net fifth.

Quotes: Carlos Sainz: "I took many risks in the first of the two stages and it worked. But in the second, I got a bit wide at one corner near the start and then I had to back off because Tommi was leaving me some presents in the road! I couldn't drive over the rocks, so I lost time. Of course I wanted to win but this has been the hardest rally I've done in my whole career. The combination of mist, fog and the muddy roads has been incredibly difficult for the drivers. I'm glad to take some points from that."

Francois Delecour: "Today was straightforward for us. I'm just happy to finish in the points again.”

Peugeot

Technical: The 206 WRCs of Marcus Grönholm and Didier Auriol performed reliably today.

Sporting: Both Marcus Grönholm and Didier Auriol knew that they stood little chance of improving their overnight positions through pace alone on a short final day, so they settled for third and eighth respectively. Grönholm's podium place gave the reigning World champion and Peugeot their first points of the season but Auriol has still yet to score for either himself or his team.

Quotes: Marcus Gronholm: "There was no point in fighting today, so I took things very gently. It's good to get some points at last - I just wanted to see the finish so badly! After we lost time because of road position on the first day, we really didn't have a chance of catching the guys in front. So I'm happy enough to have started my campaign at last."

Subaru

Technical: The sole remaining Impreza WRC2001 of Richard Burns encountered no mechanical problems today.

Sporting: Richard Burns started today's short leg nearly a minute behind Marcus Grönholm and as such, he knew that he only had a faint chance of making the podium. He closed the gap on the Finn but eventually finished fourth to bag his first points of the season.

Quotes: Richard Burns: "It's disappointing to work so hard just for fourth place, but there wasn't much I could do to stop losing time on the opening day. With regard to the championship, I've been in far worse situations and come out well, so I'm certainly not too concerned."

Hyundai

Technical: Alister McRae's and Kenneth Eriksson's Accent WRC2s both finished on the car's debut. McRae's example needed work in first service this morning after the Scot had to effect fan belt repairs on the road section back to Parc Ferme yesterday evening. He picked up 20 seconds of road penalties as a result but thereafter, the car ran reliably.

Sporting: Neither Alister McRae or Kenneth Eriksson had a chance to improve their position during today's short schedule so they adopted a cautious approach. It paid off: the finished sixth and seventh respectively, earning the Korean marque three manufacturers' points. In addition, Alister McRae scored his first drivers' point for the team (and the first ever with navigator David Senior alongside). Hyundai was also the only works team to get all of its cars to the finish.

Quotes: Alister McRae: "If you'd told me before the start that we'd score a point I'd hardly have believed you. I know how late the cars were being prepared for this rally and to get both to the finish - in these conditions - is a real achievement. The mechanics deserve the point, not me! We've still got a lot of work to do and we need more speed for sure, but if the car's this strong then it gives us a good base.”

Kenneth Eriksson: "I would have expected to have had some problems during this rally, as with any new car, but it is extremely strong. You can't imagine how hard it has been on these stages and the punishment the cars have been through.”

Other teams

Former British champion Tapio Laukkanen was the top privateer, finishing ninth in a Toyota Corolla. But the Finn is not registered for the FIA Teams Cup for privateers, so countryman Pasi Hagstrom (10th overall) claimed maximum points in the series. Local driver Rui Madeira finished 11th in a Ford Focus, ahead of Peugeot driver Gilles Panizzi. The Frenchman was troubled by poor handling yesterday afternoon, but he was pleased to gain further experience of the 206 WRC on loose surfaces. Hamed Al-Wahaibi finished 13th and claimed second in the FIA Teams Cup section - rich reward for the Oman driver's efforts to get a replacement car to the start after he'd damaged his original machine during the pre-event shakedown test.

In the Group N section for more standard machinery, reigning category world champion Manfred Stohl moved back ahead of Marcos Ligato this morning but then received a time penalty for early arrival at the final service. Argentina driver Ligato thus claimed the class win, and joined Stohl at the top of the Group N World Championship standings. After scrutineering though, both cars were referred to the stewards, who therefore suspended the classification, subject to further scrutineering of the cars by the FIA.

Tyre facts

Throughout the event, Michelin runner Tommi Mäkinen benefited greatly from a pre-shakedown test decision to hand-cut a circumferential groove in Mitsubishi's tyres. The Finn believed that he might have made too many cuts for this morning's final group of stages, however. Like all Pirelli competitors, second-placed Carlos Sainz used the Italian firm's KM6 tyre/compound, with extra cuts when the conditions were particularly muddy.

FINAL RESULTS

OUTRIGHT

• 1 Makinen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3:46:42,1
• 1 Sainz Ford Focus RS WRC 3:46:50,7
• 3 Gronholm Peugeot 206 WRC 3:49:37,7
• 4 Burns Subaru Impreza WRC 3:50:06,4
• 5 Delecour Ford Focus RS WRC 3:56:48,9
• 6 A.McRae Hyundai Accent WRC 3:58:50,5
• 7 Eriksson Hyundai Accent WRC 4:00:14,6
• 8 Auriol Peugeot 206 WRC 4:02:50,7
• 9 Laukkanen Toyota Corolla WRC 4:03:17,6
• 10 Hagstrom Toyota Corolla WRC 4:06:14,6

Text Provided By FIA

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