FIA RALLY: Burns/Subaru win 48th Sameer Safari Rally in Kenya
28 February 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
48th Sameer Safari Rally Kenya
24-27 February 2000
Subaru hit the jackpot in Kenya with a 1-2 finish headed by Richard Burns with Juha Kankkunen close behind. Today's stages were a repeat of Friday's first leg but happily they were run without the problems caused by animals and loose stones. The result was a remarkable result for the Englishman who, like Marcus Gronholm in Sweden earlier this month, took the lead on the second section and stayed in front to the finish. The World's Toughest Rally certainly lived up to its reputation with neither Mitsubishi nor Peugeot getting their official entries to the finish after mechanical failures. The FIA World Rally Championship now heads for two rallies in Europe with the positions in both the Manufacturers' and Drivers' Championships incredibly close.
Ford
Carlos Sainz had discovered a power steering problem on the run in to Safari Park last night but, despite his team's attempts, it could not be fixed at first service this morning. He gained time penalties for being late out of service compounded by an understandably slow time on the first section. When told that there was a physiotherapist waiting for the crew at the service park, co-driver Luis Moya replied: Carlos doesn't need a physio. After that stage his arms are so thick he could tackle Mike Tyson! Sainz spent most of the service time with his arms in a bucket of ice. Petter Solberg delayed his departure from service to stay behind his team mate on the road but still caught and passed the Spaniard before having to stop and change a puncture. He lost sixth gear on the next section so the gearbox was changed at service. We'll be driving very cautiously from now on, he said. Colin McRae has been in the helicopter 'spotting' for Solberg.
Subaru
Richard Burns continued to control the speed of this event from the front and cruised to his first win of the season. It was Burns' second Safari Rally win in three years, repeating his first World Rally Championship victory in 1998. Today's opening stage was tougher than when we did it on Friday but this time there were no animals to worry about, he said. His team mate Juha Kankkunen, who ensured that with this 1-2 win Subaru moves to the head of the Manufacturers points, agreed that the grip levels were higher than first time round. This has been a fantastic team effort to score a maximum set of Manufacturers' and Drivers' points, said team manager John Spiller. Burns added: It's been fantastic. I'm really grateful to Juha for not putting me under pressure so that I could go on to win. Kankkunen agreed: I was really happy to help Richard. It's a fantastic result for the whole team.
SEAT
In a repeat of his first day performance Didier Auriol set the fastest time on the opening stage and, thanks to problems among the Ford drivers, found himself with a healthy cushion of time behind him. This was fortunate as he suffered from soft shock absorbers which punctured a tyre and broken steering problems on the second stage of the day. He gained some road penalties while the steering was fixed in service but remained well clear of the Ford. We had problems in the dust from Kankkunen's car, he said earlier. We came over a crest in fifth gear and hit a rock. We bounced off the road and narrowly missed some trees. It was quite a hairy moment. Auriol's record on the Safari Rally is impressive. He has now entered the event four times and has never finished out of the top four. Auriol was, aside from Burns, the only other driver to lead this event. This year's result for SEAT was a special moment for team manager Jaime Puig. It's his birthday today!
Skoda
The Czech team's first attempt at the Safari ended with both cars in the top eight and, with neither Solberg or Arai registered for points, both collected Manufacturers' Championship points. Armin Schwarz and Luis Climent decided from the outset to drive a steady event to ensure that the team gained as much experience of Africa as possible. Schwarz had shock absorber problems on the first stage today. At times I could hardly see the road because of the vibration, admitted co-driver Manfred Hiemer. Climent had to stop and change a front puncture on the section but has otherwise had a trouble free run. Skoda's head of motorsport Pavel Janeba said: This is Skoda's Safari Rally debut. We came here to collect as much experience and information as possible for a full programme in 2001 so to get both cars to the finish in the top 10 and for both to score Championship points is a great reward for everyone's hard work. The fact that both Armin and Luis have competed here before has been a great help to the team.
Other Teams
Toshihiro Arai completed his first Safari Rally with maximum points in the Teams Cup for the Spike Subaru Team, run by the Subaru Allstars operation at Prodrive. Today has not been easy, however, as he broke a front driveshaft and had to change the transmission at the first service. Group N proved to be a remarkable result for the Championship's newcomers, Claudio Menzi and Roberto Sanchez from Argentina with Manfred Stohl third. Menzi and Sanchez were tackling their first event of a 10-round programme this season. Sanchez was reprimanded by the Stewards for his part in the clash with Gilles Panizzi at the end of day one but no further action is to be taken.
Provisional Final Results
1 Burns Subaru Impreza 8:33:13,0
2 Kankkunen Subaru Impreza 8:37:50,0
3 Auriol Seat Cordoba 8:55:57,0
4 Sainz Ford Focus 9:01:31,0
5 Solberg Ford Focus 9:04:40,0
6 Arai Subaru Impreza 9:18:06,0
7 Schwarz Skoda Octavia 9:32:11,0
8 Climent Skoda Octavia 9:51:13,0
9 Menzi Mitsu Lancer 10:39:07,0
10 Sanchez Mitsu Lancer 10:57:05,0
Group N
1 Menzi Mitsu Lancer 10:39:07,0
2 Sanchez Subaru Impreza 10:57:05,0
3 Stohl Mitsu Lancer 11:02:53,0
Teams Cup
1 Arai (Spike Subaru Team) Subaru Impreza 9:18:06,0
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (unofficial positions after 3 of 14 rounds):
Makinen (FIN) 16
Burns (GB) 12
Kankkunen (FIN) 11
Gronholm (FIN) 10
Sainz (E) 9
McRae (GB) 4
Auriol (F) 4
Gardemeister (FIN) 3
Radstrom (S) 3
Thiry (B) 2
Solberg (N) 2
Loix (B) 1
Arai (J) 1
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (unofficial positions after 3 of 14 rounds):
Subaru 25
Mitsubishi 18
Ford 13
Peugeot 11
SEAT 7
Skoda 4
Hyundai 0
FIA Cup for Drivers of Production Cars (unofficial positions after 3 of 14 rounds):
Stohl (A) 17
Paasonen (FIN) 10
Menzi (RA) 10
Trelles (ROU) 6
Pykalisto (FIN) 6
Sanchez (RA) 6
Galli (I) 4
Walfridsson (S) 4
FIA Teams' Cup (unofficial positions after 3 of 14 rounds):
W. Turning Point Rally Team 10
Spike Subaru Team 10
Toyota Team Saudi 6
NEXT EVENT
March 16-19 2000, Oporto, Portugal :
TAP Rally of Portugal (P), round 4 of the
2000 FIA World Rally Championships.
Text provided by FIA
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