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FIA RALLY: Telstra Rally Australia; End of Leg 3 Report

13 November 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

The FIA World Rally Championship moved a step closer to being decided, but all the major title contenders will have to wait until the final event before they can celebrate. Tommi Makinen took his second win of the season here, but is now facing his first day without the champion's crown in four years. Telstra Rally Australia has been a strange event this year with tactics playing a part as big as outright performance for most of the rally. However today's final four stages provided a heart-stopping finale and has set up an all-out blast on the 14th and final event in Great Britain later this month.

Mitsubishi

Late last night Tommi Makinen was handed a 10s penalty for jumping the start of the order-defining SS16, Murray Pines. Normally this would automatically bring about a rush of appeals to have the penalty removed but, not surprisingly, Mitsubishi accepted the punishment without question as it dropped Makinen from the lead and into third on the road for today's four stages. After being shunted back into second by Burns' puncture swap, Makinen then proved that he was in no way disadvantaged and was fastest on the first two stages. "There's not so much difference being second on the road and I couldn't drive any faster. Near the end of SS19 I took a crest flat out and nearly landed in the forest! I'm using the sand banks here to bounce the car off, just I do with the snow banks in Sweden." Makinen was able to hold on to, and indeed extend, his lead in the event today but victory served only to sweeten the blow of knowing that his four-year reign as FIA World Champion is now over. "It's been an incredible four years," he admitted. "I really can't remember what it's like not to be champion."

Peugeot

Hampered by running first on the road, Marcus Gronholm inevitably dropped time today but will go to the final round of the Drivers' Championship as a clear favourite for victory, holding a seven point advantage over Richard Burns. Team mate Francois Delecour's hopes of reeling in Richard Burns were always slim, but disappeared completely after he gained a further 20s penalty replacing a broken spark plug (discovered as he was due to leave) at this morning's first service. He nearly rolled the 206 on the big Sotico jump but recovered to finish fourth. Gilles Panizzi completed the final stage with a damaged gearbox and was unable to reach the final control. Peugeot is at least guaranteed one FIA title this season. If Burns beats Gronholm for the drivers' title the result will automatically prevent Ford from denying Peugeot the manufacturers' crown!

Ford

Tapio Laukkanen stalled on last night's Langley Park superstage and so dropped a place in the running order. However, this proved to be helpful to his cause and after two of today's stages in the Sotico plantation the Finn was back into a points-scoring position. With no drivers now left in the Drivers Championship Ford must now aim for a major points haul on Rally GB if it is to stop Peugeot winning the Manufacturers' Championship. Ironically, had Richard Burns passed Marcus Gronholm on the final stage, Colin McRae would have rejoined the title race.

Subaru

The latest bizarre twist in this mobile game of chess came when Richard Burns had to change a wheel in the start control for SS18, Bannister West. The manoeuvre cost him no time penalty but dropped him again behind Tommi Makinen to run third on the road and partially wiped out the advantage the Finn had gained from his jump-start penalty! You wouldn't want to be in the car with us today," quipped Burns. "It's been balls-out, pedal to the metal stuff all the way." Going into the penultimate stage, the final long test of the event prior to the Michelin TV stage that concluded the event, Burns added, "Unless Tommi has a problem then I don't think I can catch him. My target now is to get past Marcus to give me the best chance to win the title on the final round." Unfortunately for Burns it wasn't to be and Gronholm now holds a strong hand for the final round.

Hyundai

Hyundai lost the second of its three cars this morning when Michael Guest was unable to restart from service after SS18. The cause of his retirement remains a mystery as the engine would turn over but not fire. Meanwhile Kenneth Eriksson continued his fine drive to fifth, equalling the team's best result of the season. Had he not picked up one minute of road penalties during the event the Swede would have taken fourth place! "I'm really happy with this result," said veteran Swede. "It shows the good potential of our car and it is a good omen for the future."

SEAT

The SEAT team completed the event with both cars in the top 10, one of the Spanish team's best overall performances in what has been a difficult final season for the factory team.

Other teams

Despite a late charge today, Manfred Stohl was unable to overhaul Group N leader Gustavo Trelles and so the battle for the FIA Championship that centres on these two drivers alone will be resolved in two weeks' time on the Rally GB. Splitting the Mitsubishi pair was Toshihiro Arai's Group N Subaru that was also contesting the FIA Teams Cup on this event, representing Spike Subaru. Arai was facing an unequal struggle this time against Teams Cup rival Sercan Yazici (Team Atakan). The Spike team now leads the series by four points from Toyota Team Saudi Arabia and this is another contest that will go to the season's finale in Britain. Mathematically Spike can not be beaten but needs to start the final round to complete the minimum number of event starts required to qualify. Top Southern Hemisphere driver was the reigning five-time Australian Champion, New Zealander Possum Bourne (who has recently added the FIA Asia-Pacific title to his trophy cabinet) while top Aussie crew was again Neal Bates and Coral Taylor. Bourne's performance has secured the Australian manufacturers' championship.

Tyre facts:

Michelin:

After the tactical competition seen on Legs 1 and 2 during which tended to lessen the importance of tyres, the fast and furious final shoot-out required products that were adapted to and competitive over the marbles of the last day. Despite the recognised handicap of running first on the road, Michelin's Tommi Makinen (1st) and Marcus Gronholm (2nd) shared the fastest times on the day's four stages using the specially-developed Michelin ZE, q tyre that made its debut in Australia in 1999. The result of Rally Australia 2000 means that Michelin is now sure of collecting its third consecutive Manufacturers' title (with either Peugeot or Ford), its fifteenth in the history of the series.

Pirelli:

The bizarre circumstances that saw tactics playing a too-large part in this rally may have conspired against Richard Burns today as Pirelli's lead driver narrowly failed in his bid to overhaul title rival Marcus Gronholm. The final stages were in better condition than expected and so the tactical efforts came to nought. Burns remains in contention for the Drivers' title on his home event, however. Throughout the event Pirelli used both the K and KM pattern tyres to set fastest times but, in general, this year's Rally Australia was as much about tactics as about outright performance.

Text Provided By FIA

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