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RALLYE MONTE CARLO 1999

January 18-20

The 1999 World Rally Championship got off to a storming start at Monte Carlo. A new (and possibly illegal) Ford World Rally Car was allowed to begin the rally, having failed scrutineering. Fortunately for Ford the other manufacturers had already agreed to allow the Focus to run under appeal. Mitsubishi, fresh from last year's championship win begun this year with the new Evolution 6 Lancer and Marlboro as a major sponsor. Skoda and Seat both joined the fray with WRC challengers of their own.

Tommi Makinen brought the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution to 1st place in the Monte Carlo Rally - click here to go to Mitsubishi's Motorsport page

In the very first stage, Carlos Sainz (Toyota Corolla WRC) crashed twice, the second time ending his rally. Having lost the final rally last year (and the championship) due to mechanical failure, Carlos was bitterly disappointed to end the first rally in this way. He put the blame on his ice-notes, claiming that there was more ice than reported. His team mate, Didier Auriol also spun in unexpected ice but managed to return to the road to finish in a respectable 4th place overall. The Toyotas were not alone! Subaru's Richard Burns also left the road, as did Ford's other new driver - Simon Jean-Joseph.

The big surprise of the first day, however, was the privately entered Subaru Impreza of Gilles Panizzi and his brother Herve. Their tremendous pace in the ex-Colin McRae Impreza left the works cars behind. For a moment, it looked like their efforts were in vain as the brothers had to resort to pushing the car to restart it (previously a 30 second penalty). Luckily, the penalty was withdrawn and they finished day one ahead of Tommi Makinen in the Mitsubishi and Juha Kankkunen in the factory Subaru.

The controversial new Ford Focus WRC in Monte Carlo. Click here to go to Ford's motorsport site.

Photograph provided by Ford

Colin McRae started to enjoy himself as the Ford mechanics modified the Focus, claiming two fastest stage times. This pace and the apparent reliability of the new car rewarded Ford with a podium finish. Not a bad start for a brand-new car. Of course, the result may well be taken away from Ford if the FIA Court of Appeal rule the car out for the remainder of the championship.

After such a promising start Panizzi was soon caught by the major championship contenders - first Makinen, then Kankkunen, then the very-impressive Seat WRC of Piero Liatti. The final standings are then no real surprise. Mitsubishi is obviously well-prepared to defend it's title. It promises to be an exciting season however, as Ford, Toyota, Seat, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Skoda seem very intent on being competitive. Skoda, it seems have some catching up to do, as neither of the cars made the start. Watch this space for the next round....
S.O'

MONTE CARLO ENTRYLIST
Race No.	Car	Driver/Co-driver	Team
1	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution	Tommi Makinen / Risto Mannisenmaki	Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
2	Mitsubishi Carisma GT	Freddy Loix / Sven Smeets	Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
3	Toyota Corolla WRC	Carlos Sainz / Luis Moya	Toyota Castrol Team
4	Toyota Corolla WRC	Didier Auriol / Denis Giraudet	Toyota Castrol Team
5	Subaru Impreza WRC	Richard Burns / Robert Reid	Subaru World Rally Team
6	Subaru Impreza WRC	Juha Kankkunen / Juha Repo	Subaru World Rally Team
7	Ford Focus WRC	Colin McRae / Nicky Grist	Ford Motor Co Ltd
8	Ford Focus WRC	Simon Jean-Joseph / Fred Gallagher	Ford Motor Co Ltd
9	Seat WRC	Harri Ronavpera / Risto Pietilainen	Seat Sport
10	Seat WRC	Piero Liatti / Carlo Cassina	Seat WRC
11	Skoda Octavia WRC	Armin Schwarz / Manfred Hiemer	Skoda Motorsport
12	Skoda Octavia WRC	Pavel Sibera / Petr Gross	Skoda Motorsport
16	Subaru Impreza WRC	Bruno Thiry / Stephane Prevot	Subaru World Rally Team
17	Subaru Impreza WRC	Gilles Panizzi / Herve Panizzi	Gilles Panizzi
18	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V	Gustavo Trelles / Martin Miles Christie	Ralliart Italie
19	Ford Escort WRC	Francois Delecour / Savignoni	Francois Delecour
20	Toyota Corolla WRC	Isolde Holderied / Catherine Francois	Toyota Castrol Team
21	Toyota Corolla WRC	Henrik Lungaard / Freddy Pedersen	Henrik Lundgaard
30	Toyota Corolla WRC	Fabrizio Tabaton / Nicola Gullino	Fabrizio Tabaton

MONTE CARLO RESULTS
Position	Driver/Co-driver	Car
1	Tommi Makinen / Risto Mannisenmaki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
2	Juha Kankkunen / Juha Repo	Subaru Impreza WRC
3	(Focus banned - points lost) Colin McRae / Nicky Grist	Ford Focus WRC
4	Didier Auriol / Denis Giraudet	Toyota Corolla WRC
5	Francois Delecour / Savignoni	Ford Escort WRC
6	Bruno Thiry / Stephane Prevot	Subaru Impreza WRC

Click here to view the championship standings to date.

Swedish Rally

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