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FIA Rally: 2000 Neste Rally Finland, Round 1 Report

19 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

2000 Neste Rally Finland
Round 9 of the FIA World Rally Championship
17-20 August

End of Leg 1
Friday, 18th August 2000

The 'Finnish Grand Prix' has lived up to its reputation for high speed competition and there has been little to choose between the times set by the rally leaders throughout today's opening leg, that ran mainly to the north of Jyvaskyla. Marcus Gronholm was most people's favourite to set the pace and, over the early stages, the Finn has certainly lived up to expectations. Richard Burns has, for the second year running, kept the pressure on the leader despite a considerable difference of local knowledge and the top two drivers in the FIA World Rally Championship have clearly shown why they hold these positions.

Peugeot

Marcus Gronholm set the pace over the day's opening stages although he admitted to visiting the ditch at high speed on the slippery new Konttimaki test (SS5). "I was a bit surprised by a left hander and that caused a problem," he admitted. Gronholm's cousin Sebastian Lindholm is driving the second car on this event and has been playing himself in. "I'm still trying to find the limits of the car and enjoying every single minute of driving ," he said. The third Peugeot is in the hands of team regular Francois Delecour. "I'm please to be on the same pace as Sebastian," he said. "The new gearshift system is working very well. It's incredible how fast the leaders are going."

Subaru

The Subaru team were cleared to start the event after a scrutineering scare when the cars were initially thought to exceed the maximum permitted width. FIA World Championship leader Richard Burns expected to lose a lot of time because of running first on the road but, thanks to the surface still being a little damp after Tuesday's rain, he was able to stay in touch with the Peugeot of Marcus Gronholm. "I went into a ditch on SS3 and the suspension was a little damaged but otherwise there's no problem," he said. " It's not too bad running first on the road but the next few stages are new and so there's loose gravel there. I've got more speed available but I'm not sure what I can do about Marcus."

Ford

The Ford drivers got off to a seemingly steady start over the first stage although Carlos Sainz was soon in trouble on the second. Quite close to the start of the stage the car developed a misfire and would do no more than 30kph. The team radioed instructions to the Spaniard and a change of engine ECU solved the problem but not before Sainz had lost 5 minutes and dropped to 106th place. The Spaniard will continue in the event for testing. Colin McRae took a little while to settle into the groove and completed the first group of stages in eighth place while team-mate Petter Solberg was flying in fourth. "There are no team orders for me," said the Norwegian. "I am allowed to go flat out. That's easy to say but quite difficult to do!" Unfortunately the Norvegian retired in stage 9 after a massive crash. McRae said: "Our pace notes have been perfect but our braking points are a little out." Tapio Laukkanen has taken his first drive in a World Rally Car very carefully and is gradually picking up the pace.

Mitsubishi

World Champion Tommi Makinen started this event eager to regain his form. He got off to a good start on SS1 but then lost his rhythm on the next when he had to brake hard to avoid the stricken Ford of Carlos Sainz. "The first three stages were very fast and I don't think our gear ratios were right. We also took far too soft a tyre for the second group of stages, it was an unbelievable mistake for me to make. The third group of stages (SS7-9) are the ones I enjoy most on this rally so if I don't go well on them I'll have to ask if it's the car or the driver that's not working properly!" Makinen's team mate Freddy Loix had to slow for a couple of the opening stages after landing heavily on the second and bending the new, lightweight, front end. "When we got to service the engineers discovered that the front of the chassis had been pushed up and the engine and transmission had moved," admitted the Belgian. The car was repaired without time penalties but Loix will have to wait and see if the car's performance has been compromised.

SEAT

SEAT's debut event with the third evolution Cordoba WRC has not been an easy one so far with both drivers sounding very dejected at the post-stage radio interviews that are such a feature of this event. Both have been unhappy with the performance of the revised engine and, on the second group of stages, the car's handling has been awry. Gardemeister's initial pace was hampered when he suffered a tyre vibration on SS2 while Auriol is riding a knife edge. "I wait until I see the brake marks from the earlier cars and then make sure I brake later. I've had four big moments in the first three stages!" His car's handling was a nightmare during the early afternoon and he lost all pressure to the front differential. " The car is virtually undriveable at the moment," he said at service before SS7. "We don't know what the problem is but we've got to find it - and find it very quickly."

Hyundai

Alister McRae's event hit an early problem when he punctured on SS2 and had to fit the wrong sized tyre/wheel combination for the third stage. "We bent a front rim and so had to put a rear tyre on the front," he said. The Hyundai has been running in fifth and sixth gear for most of the event and is finding the sandy surface saps the engine power. Team-mate Kenneth Eriksson had a bolt in the front suspension fail on SS2. He fixed the problem himself on the road section after the stage. "The car feels good but if I'm not setting top times then I can't be happy," admitted the Swede. The third car, for Australian Michael Guest, escaped a major 'tank-slapper' moment this morning and continued despite a brush with a large rock.

Other teams

Frederic Dor (F Dor Rally Team) already looks to be on course to take maximum points in the FIA Teams Cup section of this event. With pre-event leader Spike Subaru not competing in Finland, the way was already clear for a new leader. However Abdullah Bakhashab (Toyota Team Saudi Arabia) rolled on SS6 and lost a lot of time and Hamed Al Wahaibi's Arab World Rally Team Subaru retired with a broken driveshaft on SS2. Group N is very much a local affair with Jouko Puhakka locked in combat with Mitsubishi rival Jani Paasonen. FIA series leader Manfred Stohl was third, but already falling away, although still well clear of title rival Gustavo Trelles.

Tyre facts

Michelin

Michelin's WRC partners can be happy about today's first part of the leg, which was led from the beginning by Peugeot-Michelin driver Marcus Grnholm. Teams and drivers have chosen different Michelin patterns throughout the day in order to find the ideal match for the conditions, in search for the tenths of a second that might well make the difference at the end of the rally. On a quite smooth track, Michelin's partners have had no problem with their tyres. As of now (after SS7) Michelin driver (Grnholm) has set the first 5 of the 7 scratch stage times.

Pirelli

For the fifth rally in succession Richard Burns has had to run first on the road for the opening day thanks to his position as FIA World Rally Championship leader. Although today's stages have not been as difficult for the first car as had been feared, the position was still enough to keep Burns out of the fastest time sheets for the first five before he won SS6 and SS7. Pirelli's K pattern tyre was the initial choice although Juha Kankkunen swapped to the KM option in the early afternoon to find better grip on the loose surfaces of the new stages.

Text provided by FIA

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