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FIA RALLY: Sanremo Rally Preview, Round 12

20 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

The San Remo Rally is the second part of the asphalt 'double-header' that began with Corsica last month. It sets up the final push for this year's FIA World Rally Championship and sees the drivers' title chase closer than ever before, with four drivers covered by just five points. A fifth driver, four-time FIA World Champion Tommi Makinen, is also still in the hunt for a fifth successive crown but unless he scores well this weekend he will most likely drop out of contention. Although the days before the event have been warm and sunny, this may mean cold mornings and roads made damp by overnight frost, especially under the trees. Heavy rain before the recce has left many stages coated with sand that was washed onto the surface by the water.

Ford (83 points)

The big news from Ford is that Colin McRae has been passed fit to compete on this event. The Scot was seriously injured in is Corsican accident and required surgery to repair a broken cheekbone. Outwardly, however, there is little sign that McRae was so badly hurt and he has become quite tired answering the constant barrage of questions about his health! To speed his recovery McRae used an oxygen tent at home and has had it transported to his hotel room to maintain the progress. Of his hopes for the year McRae says: "I want to put the accident behind me and concentrate on winning the title. We didn't lose much ground in Corsica and so I'm here just one thing in mind and that's to win the rally." Team mate Carlos Sainz (who has switched to a full-face helmet after McRae's accident) is no great lover of this rally but prefers its wider roads. However, the new 'race track' format with stages being reversed has caused him to sound this warning. "A lot of dirt will be dragged onto the roads from the first run and so, when the stages are reversed, it could make things very tricky." Once again a third Martini Racing Focus has been entered for the unregistered Piero Liatti. As in Corsica the Italian ace will test the semi-automatic gearshift system before it is fitted to the other cars. All three Focuses will use bigger brakes following yesterday's shakedown tests.

Peugeot (74 points)

Peugeot's declared intention of concentrating on the FIA Manufacturers' Championship may not be good news for Marcus Gronholm's hopes of lifting the drivers' title. The Finn currently leads the series by just two points from Subaru's Richard Burns and this, like Australia next month, is not an event where he has a great deal of experience. However, after the performance of the 206WRC in Corsica, Peugeot will be hoping that its registered drivers Gilles Panizzi and Francois Delecour, can pull off another 1-2 result. If that should happen then Peugeot will move ahead in the title race whatever its rivals do this weekend. A brief test near Genoa last week served to settle the set up for the car, but few changes are expected from the successful Corsica specification.

Subaru (69 points)

While Richard Burns' performance in Corsica was solid, if not stunning, Subaru remains confident that it was a useful lesson in preparation for this rally. The team took time to fully understand the new Pirelli tyres for the French event, but expects to be better placed to make full use of them on their 'home' rally. Burns will be looking for another good score here to send him to the final two events of the Championship in good shape to challenge for his first FIA World Rally Championship. Australia and Rally GB are two of his strongest events and he won both last season. As in Corsica, the second official Subaru is to be driven by Martinique's Simon Jean-Joseph while a third, privately entered but Prodrive run, Impreza is on hand for Petter Solberg who aims to get further than the first stage this time out

Mitsubishi (35 points)

Tommi Makinen will be hoping that he can take a hat-trick of San Remo wins and rekindle his championship challenge over the final three events. The four-time champion is 18 points adrift of series leader Marcus Gronholm and if Makinen fails to score here then his fellow Finn needs just two points to end Makinen's reign and leave just four drivers to fight for the 2000 title. The Ralliart team has been working hard to prepare the Finland cars for this event as both its asphalt racers were badly damaged in Corsica. While Makinen's will probably live to fight another day, Freddy Loix's car will not be repaired. Although not registered for the manufacturers' series, Andrea Aghini could affect the drivers' championship placings with his Ralliart Italy Carisma GT. He knows this event well and could be crucial to how the points stack up on Sunday night.

SEAT (8 points)

SEAT tackles its final asphalt event before the factory team withdraws from the Championship with a three-car entry. While Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister drive their usual Cordoba E3s, Belgian ace Renaud Verreydt lines up an older version of the car. Auriol believes that SEAT could get a good result here and says, "I especially liked the stages close to San Remo and so I'm quite happy with the new format." Like many of his rivals he is concerned about the effects of gravel being pulled onto the roads on the first runs. "It will make life difficult on the second and will make tyre choice especially important." San Remo is one of the few events that Gardemeister has driven before. "I'm looking forward to it a lot," he said. "If all goes well then I agree with Didier that SEAT could have a good result this weekend."

Skoda (8 points)

Having missed Corsica to test for this event, Skoda returns to the Championship for the asphalt debut of the second generation Octavia WRC. Armin Schwarz recalls setting the team's first fastest time in Spain earlier this year and hopes that the new car is sufficiently more competitive on asphalt to bring even more this weekend. "Given the right conditions we can compete with the best in the World," he said. "The car has lost even more weight and is now very nicely balanced. The engine is also more driveable than in Cyprus and the new tyres from Michelin are very impressive." While Schwarz sets his sights on a fastest stage time, team mate Luis Climent has a more basic target. The Spaniard has not finished a rally since the Safari and aims to put that right this weekend. "This isn't my favourite event," he said. "However, if I get a good finish I might learn to like it!"

Hyundai (5 points)

Alister McRae hopes that the form he showed towards the end of Corsica can be maintained and improved here in Italy. "We're still a bit off the pace," he admitted. "However things are improving and while I don't expect to be up among the front runners I hope to be able to fight harder on a rally I know." Kenneth Eriksson also has more experience of this rally and has much the same targets as McRae. Like many drivers he is well aware of the difficulties the weather can cause on this rally, especially in the mornings. One Hyundai driver with no experience here is Australian ace Michael Guest. This is his San Remo debut, only his second event in the Winfield version of the Accent WRC and his first asphalt event with it.

Other teams

While the overall drivers and manufacturers championships will remain wide open after this event, one FIA World Championship could almost be settled here in San Remo. Given a favourable set of circumstances, Austria's Manfred Stohl could come close to securing the Group N title this weekend. Although a win here will not immediately end Gustavo Trelles' four-year reign as champion it would leave the Austrian with very little to do over the final two events to achieve that target. The battle for the FIA Teams Cup could swing in a fresh direction this weekend. Series leaders Spike Subaru (with Toshihiro Arai) is not taking part and so the way could be clear for Toyota Team Saudi Arabia to move ahead with Abdullah Bakhashab. Hamed Al Wahaibi (Arab World Rally Team) and Serkan Yasici (Team Atakan) are the other two contestants. The biggest technical changes for this event are on the Toyotas of Markko Martin and Piero Longhi. Steering wheel mounted 'paddle' gearshifts have been fitted and both will make use of a new rear subframe design.

Tyre facts

After competing on Michelin's 'home' event the FIA World Rally Championship now moves to Pirelli's! The battle between the two tyre giants could be fascinating. Of the last 10 San Remo rallies Michelin has won six (including the last two) to Pirelli's four so there is great honour at stake for both manufacturers.

Michelin: The five teams contracted to Michelin will have a total of 3800 tyres available for this event in five different design configurations (plus several compound evolutions) ranging from the Michelin N1 for cool and dry surfaces to the Michelin B for full rain. Pirelli: Subaru, SEAT and the leading Group N Mitsubishi runners will choose from 2500 PZero asphalt tyres in San Remo in five different patterns from the RP 'clean' asphalt tyre to the N that is designed for rain and even snow! Pirelli is also using several compound evolutions within those design parameters.

Text Provided By FIA

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