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Rally: Toyota Castrol Team holds the ace in the pack for Corsica

8 May 1999

Having extended its lead in the Championship to a significant 11 points, the Toyota Castrol Team holds the ace in the pack with Didier Auriol. With more Corsican victories to his name than any of his series rivals, the 40-year-old Frenchman, co-driven by fellow countryman Denis Giraudet, is hoping to celebrate his 100th World Championship rally with a seventh win over the twisty asphalt roads. Toyota Castrol team-mates Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya are also no strangers to the winners podium and, having reaped the rewards of recent asphalt development work in the Toyota Corolla WRC, the odds once again favour the two former World Champions.

Master of The Rally of 10,000 Corners, Didier Auriol has an exemplary record in Corsica that includes six victories. In 1988 he claimed the first of a hat-trick of wins and, with the exception of last year, has never since finished outside the top two. He and Denis even took victory here in their first-ever rally together in 1995. With form that demonstrates such crushing domination, the French Toyota Corolla WRC crew are undoubtedly the hot favourites for victory in the 1999 Tour de Corse.

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