FIA RALLY: VRally de France - 44th Tour De Corse
29 September 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
VRally de France - 44th Tour De Corse
Round 11 of the FIA World Rally Championship
28th September - 1st October
The FIA World Rally Championship moves from one Mediterranean island to another! From the twisty gravel roads of Cyprus the battle has now moved to the twisty asphalt roads of Corsica and a completely fresh challenge for the leading crews. Tipping a winner here is notoriously difficult, but the rally will doubtless be a crucial point in the series. With just three rounds to go after this event, Corsica will determine which teams and drivers are seriously in the hunt for the Championship. Based at Ajaccio, the rally faces a unique combination of tortuous mountain roads and unpredictable weather that can bring tyre choice into the equation as much as it does in Monte Carlo and Catalunya.
Ford (79 points)
Ford Martini comes to Corsica on the back of its dominant win in Cyprus but the two Mediterranean island events could hardly be more different. Nevertheless both Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz remain confident that they can score well in their quest for both the drivers' and manufacturers' World Championship titles. Ford can also draw confidence from a 1-3 result in Catalunya but, as Sainz points out, That was a long time ago and Corsica has a very different character. McRae believes that the positions in the title race will be clearer after the two asphalt events, here in Corsica and then in San Remo. Both are classic asphalt events that may not suit [series leader] Marcus Gronholm who has relatively little experience of them. It's a good opportunity for all of us to score points. A third Martini Ford Focus is entered for Italian ace Piero Liatti, drafted in to bring extra asphalt firepower for Corsica and San Remo but not registered for manufacturers' points. Liatti's car is being used as a test bed for the electronic joystick gearchange that may appear on Ford's main cars in San Remo.
Subaru (64 points)
Subaru arrives in Corsica with a very different driver line-up to the one normally seen. While Richard Burns continues to lead the team Juha Kankkunen is replaced (for Corsica and San Remo) by Martinique driver Simon Jean-Joseph. A third works prepared - but privately entered - Subaru is also competing here, driven by Norway's Petter Solberg who has recently joined Subaru from Ford. Of the trio, only Burns and Jean-Joseph are registered for FIA World Championship points in the manufacturers' competition while Corsica marks Solberg's first ever drive in a Subaru apart from a familiarisation test 10 days ago in England. Subaru's fourth driver for 2001, Estonian Markko Martin, is also on the island. He is not competing on the rally but made the recce for future experience.
Peugeot (58 points)
Corsica 1999 was the debut event for Peugeot's 206WRC and the team hopes that Corsica 2000 will mark its first asphalt victory. The team has entered three cars in Corsica but interestingly Peugeot has not nominated FIA World Championship leader Marcus Gronholm for manufacturers' points. For that purpose the pressure will fall on Francois Delecour (several people's tip for victory, it appears) and Gilles Panizzi while Gronholm is left to concentrate on the drivers' series. Normally Gronholm would have to start the event after the manufacturer nominated drivers but the FIA has clarified that, as championship leader, he can still start the event first on the road. Team director Corrado Provera says: Corsica will be a turning point for our championship challenge. Because our rivals have scored well on recent events we are behind in our mathematical expectations and so must win here to maintain a chance of winning the championship.
Mitsubishi (35 points)
Corsica will provide a major test of the latest revisions to Mitsubishi's Lancer Evolution. It feels very different to the car we had in Catalunya, said reigning four-time FIA World Champion Tommi Makinen. There have been many changes to the suspension and transmission and, until the rally begins, it is hard to say how much better it is. There is less weight on the front and the turn-in is better but it is a long time since we did an asphalt rally so we don't know where we are compared to other teams. Team mate Freddy Loix has limited experience of this rally but is an acknowledged asphalt expert and arrives in Corsica following a superb drive in Cyprus where he seemed to rediscover his form at last. The car feels quite precise but I agree with Tommi about not knowing how we compare with our rivals, he said. It's good for me that only four stages have been used before but it's still going to be an interesting week!
SEAT (7 points)
Didier Auriol has won the Corsica Rally six times, equal to Bernard Darniche's all-time record and more time than any of his rival drivers put together. As a result he completed the recce and admitted: That was a bit like a holiday for me! Even though so many stages are new, I know the island very well and so it was not too much of a problem. However, I expect Toni [Gardemeister] might not think the same. As Auriol expected, the Finn had found the recce a little harder than his French team mate but not the event itself. I was quite surprised to find that the roads are not as twisty as I expected. Some of the roads close to Ajaccio are quite difficult but the rest are actually very nice to drive.
Hyundai (5 points)
Having missed Cyprus, Hyundai returns to the championship and only the second asphalt event for the Accent WRC (Hyundai also missed Monte Carlo). Catalunya had been used as a test exercise and, following a recent test in the south of France, Kenneth Eriksson and Alister McRae come to Corsica seeking a good result. We've achieved a lot in testing, said Eriksson. We covered a full rally distance without any problems and after some good results in New Zealand and Finland I'm well prepared for Corsica. McRae is also happy enough with the car's preparation for this event. Reliability seems to be good and we've sorted out the settings for the suspension and differentials so I'm happy with the car's potential here.
Skoda (8 points)
Skoda is absent for this event but will return to the FIA World Rally Championship in San Remo next month.
Other teams
Last year's Corsica winners Citroen are again present but with the Saxo kit car (for Philippe Bugalski and Jesus Puras) and not the winning Xsara version. Also, because the Xsara T4 is ineligible for this event, Corsica should be the first round of the 2000 French Championship not to be won by Bugalski! The FIA Teams Cup entries in Corsica are for the Arab World Team (the Subaru of Hamed Al Waihibi) and Team Atakan (Serkan Yazici's Toyota Corolla WRC). Mitsubishi's Group N teams are the clear favourites for Group N victory having been unbeaten all season. Manfred Stohl leads the FIA Championship but quadruple champion Gustavo Trelles closed the gap with his Cyprus success. Bot have won the category in Corsica before and so this event could be a crucial point in the quest for this season's championship. Argentine drivers Claudio Menzi and Gabriel Pozzo are also in contention for the title but have limited asphalt experience.
Tyre facts
Michelin: Tyre choice may be critical here, says Ford's Carlos Sainz. If the weather is changeable then three days' good work can be ruined by one poor tyre choice. Michelin's rally manager Aim Chatard agrees that Corsica remains one of the biggest challenges of the year for the tyres, despite a date change that reduces the risk of the changeable weather to which Sainz refers. The weather forecast for tomorrow suggests, however, that 'changeable' is the key word.
Pirelli: On the subject of how critical the tyre wear will be in Corsica, Gianfranco Martelli of Pirelli's technical division joked, If the tyre wears out then it's critical! More seriously he points out that the modern Corsica Rally is not as bad as the old because the roads are now much better surfaced than in the past and not so abrasive. Pirelli made big improvements to its asphalt performance in Catalunya so there is plenty of interest to see if that can be sustained here in Corsica.
Text provided by FIA
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