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RALLY: San Remo FIA World Championship Report

14 October 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Round 12 (of 14), 1999 FIA World Rally Championship
11-13 October

Gilles Panizzi has taken the lead of the San Remo Rally by passing team mate Francois Delecour on the final stage (Panizzi leads by 3 seconds). The Peugeots didn't have it all their own way today but were well placed after yesterday not to cost either Panizzi or Delecour any positions. Both Peugeots had minor problems including brakes, differential settings and some driver errors liking spining in stages and choosing incorrect tyres. Makinen remain only 20 seconds behind.

Today was the longest day of the rally with almost 170km of competitive kilometres. The stages were much narrower than yesterday and were very twisty and difficult on cars and drivers. A number of leading competitors experienced problems today which helped World Championship contenders Makinen & Auriol. But although McRae retired and Gronholm and Bugalski had problems, dropping them down the field, Makinen certainly increased the pace and won 4 of today's 8 stages and this was clearly the drive of the day. Auriol tried in vain to catch Tommi: I cannot keep going that fast. Im going to leave the road! said Auriol. Makinen is in 3rd and Auriol 4th.

Colin McRae had a disasterous day. Water was leaking into the engine leaving only 1 or 2 cyclinders firing. When the problem was fixed at service, McRae set about winning 2 stages before the problem occured again. Unfortunately, on the final stage, it came to an end when he left the road, badly damaged the car and retired from the event.

Marcus Gronholm's day wasn't quite so good either - he had gearbox problems early in the day. Then once fixed, he went off the road and rolled twice but was able to continue. The very next stage he went off again but lost 3 minutes - and then, again on the next stage he hit a wall and had to be push started by spectators. "This time I stop trying!" he said after the 3rd accident. Gronholm finished in 9th overall.

Bugalski experienced differential problems which dropped him to 11th. He commented on today's stages: It is real world rally car country!

In the Subaru camp, Richard Burns retired on the 1st stage today with transmission failure and Kannkunen crept up to 6th: "We cannot do anything. Im ready for Australia!"

The Seats had a quiet day again today. As this is the first tarmac event for the E2 Cordoba, there is still much to learn and develop. Liatti is in 12th, Gardemeister in 15th and Rovanpera is in 20th.

Tomorrow there are just four stages with a competitive distance is 111kms, as it includes two passes over the longest stage of the event (40km). The roads are in the same region as the 1st leg, with some stages using the same roads.

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