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RALLY: 55th Network Q Rally of Great Britain Introduction and Background

21 November 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Welcome to the final round of the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship.

Although the major championships were decided at the recent Telstra Rally Australia, the Network Q, Rally of Great Britain is shaping up to be a battle of pride. Local drivers Colin McRae and Richard Burns are already in a war of words and both are desperate to win their home event - the Network Q rally is largely expected to be a battle between these two, the "Battle of the Brits". McRae, after a frustrating season is out to prove he still has it while Burns is on his way up and is still on a high following his Rally Australia win. Burns said this week: "I have to say I think Colin is living on his reputation, a bit like Damon Hill has been in Formula One" and McRae: "He (Burns) believes he is Britain's number one but opinions always vary". Perhaps the start of the rally this Sunday will sort them out.

There is a spectacular field entered in this years rally with 194 entries including 47 FIA seeded drivers.

Team Toyota Europe
http://www.tte.de

Toyota in their final event have entered four Corollas for Carlos Sainz, Didier Auriol, Markko Mrtin and also F1 GP driver Martin Brundle. In 2000, Carlos Sainz will leave Toyota and become team mates with Colin McRae in the Ford camp. Auriol also leaves and will become the lead driver in the Seat team.

Carlos Sainz has been very successful in past year at the Rally GB and has won twice (90 & 92): The fact that Toyota has won the Manufacturers' Championship takes a lot of the pressure off us, but victory in this event would be very sweet for me. I have always gone well here, know I can win and will be doing everything possible to finish the season on a high."

Didier Auriol has competed here 7 times: "I have to say it is not one of my favourite events," said Didier. "It is not so much that I dont go well, but in the past I have been quite unlucky and the wet and muddy conditions are not really to my liking.

Ford Martini
http://www.fordracing.net

Colin McRae, now fully recovered from his Australian accident is out to win as he did in 1994 and 1997. "It should be very close" said McRae, "but I'm certainly not going into the event thinking second place would be a good result. I want to win, Ford Martini wants to win and that would be a great way of ending the year - an ideal preparation for the start of next season."

Ford are also entering Thomas Radstrom and a 3rd car for young gun Petter Solberg.

Subaru World Rally Team
http://www.swrt.com

Last year, Richard Burn's win was overshadowed by the Championship win of Tommi Makinen and the disappointment of Carlos Sainz. This year, Richard Burns is out to win again and get the credit he deserves. Burns: "I want a victory. I'm finishing the season strongly. I'm just determined to go out on a high and I know the terrain well."

Mitsubishi
http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/motorsports/

There are over 40 Mitsubishi Lancers entered but the leading two are as usual for Tommi Makinen and Freddy Loix. Having already won the Drivers Championship, the pressure is off Makinen who can now really afford to go for it. Both Makinen and Loix retain their positions with Mitsubishi for next year.

Makinen: "I think we can win. Of course its going to be difficult, but we have exactly the same chance as Richard and Colin. I have been rallying in Britain for many years and I know what the stages are like. We have made some improvements to the car recently and it should work really well here. I am looking forward very much to the rally"

Team mate Freddy Loix: "I am quite impressed - the rally goes to so many beautiful areas! The stages are incredibly quick - faster than I expected - and very slippery in places. The most important thing is finishing of course. We will just do our thing".

Peugeot Sport
http://www.peugeot.com/

With four previous visits to the event, Franois Delecour has more experience of the former RAC Rally and came away three times with 5th and 4th place in 1991 and 1993 respectively. Meanwhile, Marcus Gronholm has started the Rally of Great Britain on two previous occasions, finishing 5th in 1997. The Finn will be keen to build on his promising performance in Australia where his magnificent come-back with the 206 WRC on the second and third legs was rewarded with fifth place and two points at the finish.

Because of a shortage of time, and also because of the sheer distance involved, Peugeot Sport was unable to get in any pre-event testing in Australia and was therefore unable to fully exploit the lessons learned two and a half months prviously in Finland. For the Rally of Great Britain, on the other hand, the French manufacturers will be looking to profit from the valuable data collected during recent testing in Wales: "We spent a total of six days in the forests, with Franois, Marcus and myself driving two days each" confirms Gilles Panizzi. "front suspension. For me, it feels much easier to drive on gravel."

Seat Sport
http://seat-sport.seat.es

Seat Sport have again entered three cars. Harri Rovanpera will have his last drive for Seat before he leaves the team to be replaced by Carlos Sainz. Rovanpera has extensive rally experience in Britain and earned Seat's first championship last year in the Cordoba. Rovanpera: "I enjoy the Rally of GB and have a good record, but it is also a very difficult event. The weather is usually not so nice. Fog and rain makes the roads very slippery and anything can happen. When we tested in Wales conditions were dry, so things could be very different come the event. I'm confident we can set good times and finish in a points scoring top six position."

Toni Gardemeister will continue to drive for Seat next year and is looking forward to this rally: "I have a lot of confidence with the Cordoba WRC E2 and will try to be very quick. It's important not to make any mistakes and try to reach the finish, but we will also drive flat-out!"

Gwyndaf Evans is driving the third car. Evans has twice won the Gp N and F2 categories but has not had a car capable of winning outright. Evans: "This is the best chance I have ever had to score a top result on the Rally of GB and I want to repay SEAT for giving me this fantastic opportunity by recording a good result."

Skoda Sport
http://www.skoda-auto.com/sport/

Skoda arrives with its best team yet. Two cars are entered for Armin Schwarz and Bruno Thiry. Thiry had been contract to Subaru this year but was released early so that he could enter with Skoda for this round. Schward won the Rally GB in 1996 and Thiry finished third last year. Pavel Janeba comments: "Naturally I am of aware of the competitions strength and the challenging nature of the forest stages, however I would like to see at least one of our Octavias finish in the top ten."

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