Rally
If Subaru is famous for one thing, it's rallying.
Here you will find the latest world rally championship news and
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|
Rally |
2000 |
|
20 - 22 January | |
|
10 - 13 Febuary | |
|
24 - 27 Febuary | |
|
16 - 19 March | |
|
30 March - 2 April | |
|
11 - 14 May | |
|
8 - 11 June | |
|
13 - 16 July | |
|
17 - 20 August | |
|
8 - 10 September | |
|
28 September - 1 October | |
|
San Remo |
12 - 15 October |
|
Australia |
9 - 12 November |
|
GB |
23 - 26 November |
* Please note event change from China
Monte Carlo
First rally of the 2000 season. Makinen wins, Kankkunen 3rd for Subaru, Burns going well untill retirement.
Sweden
Unusually green this year for the usually snowy leg of the championship. Pirelli tyres not coping as well as the Michelins on the mixture of gravel, ice and snow. Despite the Subaru drivers pushing, only 5th for Burns, 6th for Kankkunen, with 1st going to Gronholm in the Peugeot.
Safari (Kenya)
Subaru could not have done better on this leg of the championship with Burns as the winner, and Kankkunen in 2nd. Also putting some of the works drivers to shame was Arai driving a privatley entered Subaru Impreza finishing 6th. Both the Subaru cars, and the Pirelli tyres were at their best on the 'worlds toughest rally'.
Portugal
Subaru's new version of the Impreza rally car, the P2000 or WRC2000, unveiled, and rallied. Unfortunately Kankkunen had suspension problems early on and went off. Burns on the first day had no such problems, and at the beggining of the second day was vanishing into the distance when steering problems struck. Forced to slow he lost position to Gronholm who took the lead. Having had the power steering problems remedied, Burns frustratingly lost more time because of visibility problems. The third day was dominated by Burns setting fastest times to claw back time to Gronholm. The last stage was crucial and Burns managed to win it convincingly which gave him the win. Only 6.5 seconds separated Burns and Gronholm at the finish, Sainz was third a little over 2 minutes behind. Burns now takes the lead in the championship, and Subaru extend their lead.
Catalunya (Spain)
The event started well for Burns, gaining the lead and keeping it throughout the first day. Kankkunen's rally was a complete contrast with mechanical problems almost from the start. Power steering failure similar to that which Burns experienced in Portugal, meant that much time was lost to leave the Subaru number two running with the privateers. The team chose to pull his car out of the rally after the second day as he was nowhere near point scoring territory. Burns continued to charge at the beginning of the second day, but had the Ford Focus' of McRae and Sainz chasing hard. During the second day a problem struck Burns' gearbox which lost him time and the lead to McRae. Throughout the third day with his gearbox now fixed Burns battled to regain the lead, but with a 5 second gap remaining on the last stage set exactly the same time as McRae to give the Scot the win, Burns second place and Sainz third.
Argentina
It's becoming a familiar sight to see Richard Burns'
Subaru shoot into the lead at the beginning of a rally. Argentina was
no exception, with the Englishman taking the lead from the outset. A
win looked doubtful at one stage because Burns' Impreza had problems
with the engine overheating and was slowed as a result. This led to
Burns losing the lead to Colin McRae in his Ford Focus. He ended the
day over 30 seconds from the leading car, but the service crews
ensured the Impreza was going to be on form the next day to enable
Burns to catch the lead. Burns dominated the remaining stages,
gaining the lead from McRae who remained his only real threat until
his Focus developed engine trouble and was forced to retire. McRae's
team mate Carlos Sainz also fail to get his Focus to the finish
because of an error he made which he made cutting a corner too fine
destroying the car on a rock. In the number two Subaru Kankkunen
failed to shine, loosing position to Makinen and finishing in 4th
over two minutes behind his team mate Burns. The Hyundai team
achieved their first championship point thanks to Alistair McRae
taking the Accent to 7th position over all.
The end result was Burns winning for Subaru, Gronholm second for
Peugeot, Makinen third in the Mitsubishi and Kankkunen forth in the
second Impreza. This has extended Burns' and Subaru's lead in the
driver's and manufacturer's championships, although it's only early
in the championship, they must be both looking good for taking their
respective champioships of 2000.
Acropolis (Greece)
A disappointing rally for Subaru, as it was for many
of the manufacturers, with less than half of the World Rally
Championship cars making it to the finish. The rally was going
moderately well for Burns with him holding third place over the first
two days, but his Impreza was hampered by the tough conditions
resulting in a few technical problems with the suspension amongst
other things. Similar problems were experienced by Juha Kankkunen in
the second Subaru which was running in fourth place behind the sister
car.
Things got worse for Burns during the first stage on the third and
final day when the car's turbo failed. Having made repairs to the car
on the road section between stages 13 and 14, Burns' and Reid's car
refused to start and so they were forced to retire. Kankkunen
inherited third place but wasn't able to catch the Fords which were
around eight minutes ahead of the number four Impreza. He maintained
his place to pick up four championship points for himself and the
team. Only the Ford team seemed immune to the conditions of the
rally, with McRae managing to take the win after team orders forced
Carlos Sainz to slow his charge which would have led to Sainz winning
the rally. Burns maintains his lead in the drivers' championship as
do Subaru in the manufacturers'.
New Zealand
Disappointment was felt by the Subaru team for the
second consecutive rally with neither of the cars making it to the
finish. Being the leader of the championship proved to be a
disadvantage to Richard Burns because this puts him first on the road
which the dry and dusty conditions did not favour. This led to the
loss of a lot of time on the first day, putting Burns in 8th place.
Kankunnen faired little better running ahead of his team mate in 7th
place. Because of Burns being low down the field, he would run later
on the road on the second day. He used the cars in front of him
cleaning the road to his advantage and set several fastest stage
times in the first half of day 2. Unfortunately his luck would not
hold as it began to rain during day 2. This gave the advantage to the
early runners on the stages, the leader being Gronholm in the Peugeot
206. On the third and final day, Burns was heading for a 3rd place in
the rally but still pushing for higher position, but on stage 20 a
problem struck. Meanwhile, less than a kilometre behind Burns,
Kankunnen was experiencing the same problem. The power steering had
failed on both of the Imprezas, when the cars finished the stage and
the respective crews investigated their problem: both cars then
refused to re-start.
Gronholm went on to win the rally, putting him closer to Burns in the
drivers' championship. McRae finished 2nd in his Focus, with his team
mate Sainz 3rd in the sister Ford. An excellent result for Petter
Solberg also in a Focus in 4th, and the best result yet for the
Hyundai team using their new lighter Accent with Kenneth Eriksson
finishing 5th. There was some consolation for Subaru fans with New
Zealander Possum Bourne finishing 6th in his non-works but Subaru
supported Impreza.
Finland
The championship moves to the Finland rally (formally
know as the 1000 lakes rally) with its challenging roads where home
knowledge is a great advantage, to such an extent that a British
driver has never won here. At the start of the rally Burns was
determined to put this tradition to an end, putting in some great
times on the first three stages. This would only be good enough to
put him in second place, with Gronholm, the Fin in the Peugeot 206
using his home experience to his advantage. The two pulled away from
the other competitors, but only maintaining a small gap between the
Fin and Brit. Young Focus driver, Petter Solberg, was fortunate to be
unhurt in a huge accident where his Ford flew rolling for 30 metres
on stage 8. The challenge for the lead was maintained, with Burns
making a few fastest times but Gronholm dominating and maintaining
the lead by 4.9 seconds.
On the first stage of day two the trend was maintained, with Gronholm
making the fastest time and Burns coming second quickest over the
flying finish. Just after the finish was a 6th gear corner which
Burns said was tighter than expected and led him to make a mistake
which rolled the car several times and put them out of the rally.
This was the first mistake made by Burns which led to the car being
put out of the rally since driving for Subaru, but the third time in
a row he has retired from a rally, which made it likely that he would
loose his lead in the driver's championship.
Burns' retirement took the pressure off Gronholm, and the fight was
now on for 2nd place between Rovanpera in his private Toyota, McRae
in the Focus, and Kankunnen who was now catching the pack in his
Subaru in 4th place. The Subaru team were to experience yet more bad
luck, with Kankunnen sustaining a puncture in one of his Pirrelis
which needed changing on the stage and lost him 4 minutes and
realistically any chance of a podium finish and made a points finish
very hard to reach. At the end of day two, Gronholm kept his lead and
a win was now almost certainly his, Rovanpera kept second but had
McRae looming behind and eager for te extra points. Makinen was in
forth, continuing his unconvincing year in the Mitsubishi, and it is
now looking increasingly unlikely that he will take his 5th driver's
championship in succession.
Day three was again closely fought but Subaru's chances looked bleak
after Kankunnen's misfortune. Harri Rovanpera lost 2nd place because
of time penalties so McRae inherited the 6 point position and managed
to keep it in a close battle with Rovampera. As predicted throughout
the rally, Gronholm took the win and now leads the driver's
championship. Kankunnen took 8th position so no driver's point for
him, but the Subaru team took 2 points because some of the cars ahead
were not selected for manufacturers points. Subaru's run of bad luck
has led to losing the lead in both championships, hopefully that luck
will change for the next rally in Cyprus, this being the first time
the island has help a World Rally Championship event.
Cyprus
The Cyprus rally, with it's very rocky and winding
roads, makes it's debut to the championship this season. There has
been a lot of talk about team and driver line up changes. It has been
announced by SEAT that they will not be competing in next year's
world rally championship. Subaru have announced their driver line up
for 2001 and revealed that it will include no less than 4 drivers.
Joining Richard Burns and Juha Kankunnen in the Imprezas will the
young talent of Petter Solberg, driving in a Ford Focus this year,
and Marko Martin in a private Toyota Corolla this year.
Subaru and Burns were hoping for a good result here to regain control
of their respective championships. Burns and co-driver Robert Reid
started well making the fastest time on stage 2 and maintaining 2nd
place. The first of their problems for the rally struck on stage 4,
putting them in 3rd place some way off the lead. The pace setters
from the start were the Focus drivers Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz.
In the second Impreza, Kankunnen was already facing problems running
down the leader board in 7th place. The Skoda team started well with
their new evo of the Octavia until Armin Schwarz rolled the car and
his team mate, Louis Climent's car lost it's oil and was also forced
into retirement. Another retirement on day 1 was championship leader
in the Peugeot 206. Kankunnen's rally was effectively distroyed by a
5 minute time penalty for missing an entry to a stage. This was
reduced to 3 minutes after review by the stewards. The first day
ended with Sainz in the lead, the Peugeot of Delecour in 2nd place,
and Burns 3rd.
Burns moved up into 2nd place ahead at the beginning of day 2, but
McRae took it from him when the Impreza's suspension failed and lost
them time. This failure was very similar to those experience on the
Acropolis rally, and so is something that clearly the team need to
improve on if Burns is to take the championship. The next problem in
store for the Subaru was in the gearbox and again lost them time
meaning they ended up in fourth at the end of the day. Sainz
continued to dominate the rally and McRae in the other Focus in
second.
Kankunnen managed to take seventh position at the end of the rally
despite the penalty endured, this earned the team 1 championship
point. Subaru's driver for next year Marko Martin managed sixth place
in his non works Toyota. Tommy Makinen finished fifth in his
Mitsubishi, but him managing a fifth driver's title this year now
seems ever increasingly unlikely. Burns brought the Impreza home in
fourth having struggled with all the car's problems. Delecour was
third in his Peugeot 206, but it was the team who had dominated
throughout who took the first and second places, McRae being 37
seconds behind Sainz in the winning Focus.
The pressure is now on for Burns and Subaru to do well on the
remaining rallies if they are to stand a chance in winning their
championships. It seems clear though that if the car had complete
reliability, Burns would be a (if not the) driver to beat.
Corsica
Subaru's driver lineup on this rally was different to
the usual Burns and Kankkunen: this time Burns would be in the lead
Impreza, next year's signing Simon Jean-Joseph would be in the second
car, and another bright hope driving an Impreza next year, Petter
Solberg, would drive a third works car to gain some experience within
the team.
Richard Burns started the rally in 3rd place in the championship, a
few points behind leader Gronholm. Richard started well, setting the
fastest time on the first stage, and keeping on the pace throughout
the day. Petter Solberg's first Subaru outing finished prematurely, a
gearbox fault on the first day was a big disappointment to the
talented young Norwegian. Peugeot, the only team who had been allowed
to test on the island all year, set the pace on the first day, with
Gilles Panizzi leading and Francois Delacour 2nd. Carlos Sainz
followed in 3rd in his Ford Focus, then the sister Focus of Colin
McRae. 25 seconds from the lead was Burns, closely followed by Tommi
Makinen in his Mitsubishi and Simon Jean-Joseph in the 2nd
Impreza.
There was rain overnight which made tyre choice a big factor on the
damp asphalt. Colin McRae and co-driver Nicki Grist were involved in
a major crash and McRae was trapped in the car for some time while
rescue teams cut him free. He was taken to hospital with a broken
cheek bone and bruising. During the day's stages the Peugeots
continued to dominate; Sainz followed in 3rd, 25 seconds down on the
leaders; Burns was a further minute down in 4th.
Day 3 began with another big accident, this time Tommi Makinen was
the victim in his Mitsubishi: both he and his co-driver emerged
unscathed. Burns began the day cautiously, which allowed championship
rival in the 3rd Peugeot 206 to catch up to him to within a few
seconds, but thanks to better performances on the last few stages
Burns held onto his 4th position, around 1 and a half minutes behind
the winner. Team orders were issued by the Peugeot team for Panizzi
to take his first world championship win and a disappointed Delacour
took 2nd. Sainz took his Focus home in 3rd having coped well with
power steering problems during the final day. Markus Gronholm came
5th on his first outing in Corsica, and Liatti in a 3rd Ford won a
battle with Subaru's new recruit to take 6th, but Jean-Joseph still
earned some manufacturers' points for the team in 7th.
The drivers' championship is now very close with 4 drivers within 5
points of each other at the top. Subaru must perform well in the
remaining rallies to maintain a chance of taking the manufacturers'
championship.
Drivers' Championship Standings
|
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
|
1 |
Markus Gronholm (Fin) |
Peugeot |
46 |
|
2 |
Richard Burns (GB) |
Subaru |
44 |
|
3 |
Colin McRae (GB) |
Ford |
42 |
|
4 |
Carlos Sainz (Esp) |
Ford |
41 |
|
5 |
Tommi Makinen (Fin) |
Mitsubishi |
28 |
|
6 |
Juha Kankkunen (Fin) |
Subaru |
18 |
|
7 |
Didier Auriol (F) |
SEAT |
4 |
|
8 |
Toni Gardemeister (Fin) |
SEAT |
3 |
Manufacturers' Championship Standings
|
Position |
Manufacturer |
Points |
|
1 |
Ford |
83 |
|
2 |
Peugeot |
74 |
|
3 |
Subaru |
69 |
|
3 |
Mitsubishi |
35 |
|
5 |
Skoda |
8 |
|
6 |
SEAT |
8 |
|
7 |
Hyundai |
4 |
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