| ecco il testo
A good season of motorsport should contain a select number of things- numerous high-performing teams at eachother’s necks at every turn. A gallery of state-of-the-art cars designed from the drawing board to beat everything else. A select group of world-dominating drivers to push these machines to and beyond their limit. A leaderboard that isn’t afraid to change radically throughout the season. And a sprinkle of drama to keep everything fresh. The 1998 WRC certainly had all of these items checked off. A season full of twists and turns, where the driving level was unlike anything seen- 5 world rally champions all on the attack to have their chance to add to their collection of trophies. 25 years later, we look back at one of the greatest seasons in rallying history!
here you find a summary table.
There were a considerable number of factors feeding in to this (or that?) year’s competition- primarily, the drivers. The current reigning world champion, Tommi Makinen, was by all means the bookmakers’ favourite for this year’s title in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. Following on from his back to back wins in 1996 and 1997, a win in 1998 would make for the sport’s first ever consecutive driver’s hattrick. Ex-teammates Colin Mcrae and Carlos Sainz, were the other two drivers most likely to upset Makinen’s triple attempt. The Flying Scotsman, at the wheel of the legendary Subaru Impreza, was the winner 1995 championship, and the runner-up in the previous two seasons. El Matador, on the other hand, had returned to his old home at Toyota after winning with them in 1990 and 1992. Both were eager to claim victory again. They weren’t alone however- every factory-backed team this season had talent up the wazoo. Sainz’s teammate at Toyota, for instance, was Didier Auriol, champion in 1994. As for Ford? Well, they had recruited four time world champion Juha Kankunnen, who had been conquering the sport since the Group B days. Even outside of these 5, there were numerous other drivers with viability of claiming the title- that is certainly a stacked cast to say the least.
The teams were pulling their weight on the this front too. Subaru would once again put their faith in the Impreza, upgraded once again to take advantage of the new World Rally Car rules. Ford, largely the backmarker in previous seasons, would have this year be the final to showcase the Escort, a name associated with rallying since the early 70’s, before they debuted their Focus WRC in 1999. This year would be the first to see Toyota’s Corolla contest a full season, after it was introduced part-way through the 1997 season. And then there was Mitsubishi- while other manufacturers had already made the jump to the previously mentioned World Rally Car rules, Mitsubishi was defiantly staying put in the old Group A ruleset, starting the season with their Lancer Evo 4. So, it wasn’t just the driver’s championship that was going to see some heated competition. With all these factors in place, in the cold January snows of 1998, the season began.
The first round of the season would be the ever-iconic opener, Monte Carlo, and this year the rally welcomed the teams with some crazy conditions, tarmac, snow and of course, heaps of ice. Choosing the right rubber was the name of the game here, at least if you wanted to stay on the road. Almost immediately this was made clear by Auriol in his Toyota- despite scoring the best time on the first stage, he quickly sunk down the leaderboard due to the wrong choice of tires, and would finish by slipping into the wall of a house. By the end of the first day, Makinen took the lead, with Sainz trying to snap at his heels driving at the limit. However, when I said this was a season of twists and turns, well this started pretty much immediately- Makinen, that had over a minute of advantage, would also crash, in his case entering an icy corner with too much speed- the reigning world champion would see his first DNF. Sainz claimed the lead, though he himself would have Kankunnen snapping at his heels in the Ford, and Sainz quickly found out that it ain’t easy trying to hold off a 4 time world champion! But, in the end, the Spaniard managed it- celebrating the first victory of the season, and Kankkunen accepted second. This would make for his first win in a Toyota after 5 years. The battle for bronze would be fought to the bitter end, with Mcrae completing the podium despite starting the final stage with just a 1 second advantage over teammate Piero Liatti. Sainz was ultimately the wild-card here though- a final time over 1 minute ahead of Kankkunen was certainly a shock, considering this was his debut season in the Corolla, which itself had only raced in one tarmac event previously. Auriol, despite the minutes he lost on the first leg, confirmed the good project of Toyota, scoring impressive times. Makinen was likely realizing it wasn’t going to be easy to take his third title.
It would be in the second round, among the snowy landscapes of Sweden, in which Mitsubishi would have to make a quick response. Conveniently, it was an event where Makinen always excelled. A quick note of importance, in particular for this event, is that at this time in the sport only two drivers chosen before an event can score points for their team in said event. This will become important as the season progresses. With this in mind, Toyota would change their lineup, bringing in snow specialist Thomas Radstrom as their second driver, with Auriol unable to bring points for the team- likewise, at Subaru, Piero Liatti would be replaced by three-time Rally Sweden winner Kenneth Eriksson, in his last drive for the team. Would these changes make for a considerable difference?
Radstrom would win 6 of the 8 special stages on the first day, but Makinen was hot on his tail in second. Sainz, who had lost time in the opening stages, followed up in third. The rest of the pack, however, were finding it much harder to keep pace, with numerous problems and a few crashes. However, Radstrom would not be the only big surprise this round, as a young Marcus Gronholm pushed his Toyota Celica along into a comfortable fourth position. The spotlight still remained on Toyota’s wizz-kid, Radstrom, though, and despite his excellent skill in the snow, had never won a WRC event- could this be his chance? He kept up his strong pace, and went on to win the first 3 special stages of the second day too. There was no doubt he was fast… maybe a little too fast. Flying through stage 12, Radstrom’s dream of a win would find itself submerged into a snowbank, and it was game over. Makinen took the lead, now with more than one minute of advantage. However, unlike his crash at Monte Carlo while ahead of the pack, the flying finn made sure his advantage was not wasted, and took his first win of the season. Behind him, Sainz and Kankunnen would battle for second- Sainz being just 1 second behind the Ford with 2 special stages to go. Over the two stages, he would manage to edge out the number 7 Escort for a well-earned second place. Subaru would fail to make the podium, but their decision to recruit Kenneth Erikson for a points drive ended up being a good one, as Mcrae retired due to electrical problems and Liatti failed to make good times on the snow. With Erikson’s fourth place, relative unknown Marcus Gronholm was relegated to fifth- his time was yet to come.
This would be Makinen’s 10th win in the Lancer, and considering that the car, through its various evolutions, had won 12 WRC events in total, only 2 without him, Mitsubishi’s decision to bring the finn onto the team in 1994 had certainly paid off. However, one star driver, even a back-to-back world champion, normally is not enough to take the manufacturer’s title without support- two successful cars are needed to bring success in this department. Up to this point, Mitsubishi was unable to secure the championship for makes, despite their driver winning in 1996 and 1997. The second driver for this season was the young Richard Burns. This was his first full season for Mitsubishi, and the team was sure he could give good help, considering he had previously shown good pace as a part-time driver. Despite claiming only 2 points so far, placing 5th at Monte Carlo and DNFing in Sweden, there was still a majority of events to play out, and perhaps he would have other chances to show Mitsubishi he was the right man for the seat.
From the sub-zero snows of Sweden, the teams moved to the hot dusty roads of Kenya for the Safari Rally. Long-gone are the days of this being the absolute behemoth of a round with thousands of kilometres to tackle, but it does still remain the toughest and longest round of the calender. Proving this, even before the event began the Safari took its first victim- Bruno Thiry, Ford’s second driver, was injured during the recce- Ari Vatanen would step in to take his place for two rounds. A world champion in 1981 and 4 time Paris-Dakar winner, he is certainly a driver who knows how to win a rally like this. And, as usual, the streets of Kenya did not leave the drivers to race comfortably! Even by the end of the first day, among punctures, suspension problems, brake issues, crashes, rolls and a number of other problems, everyone had some sort of issue to face. Makinen, however, did not face as many as most others, and finished the first day in the lead. Behind him is teammate Burns and Mcrae in the Impreza, fighting for second. The second leg would end up being very bitter for the Subaru team, which lost both cars to engine problems. Mitsubishi, by contrast, was looking to take a very comfortable 1-2. But, if there’s one thing you don’t do in the Safari Rally, is think you’ve won halfway through the race. Makinen would be forced to retire due to a timing belt failure, handing the lead over Burns. Despite the oil temperature gauge giving him grief, he arrived at the finish without any major drama, and took his maiden win in the WRC. After a poor start for the guy, Mitsubishi now had two drivers that had claimed victory one after the other- and they were now leading the title fight. Behind Burns, the problems didn’t stop- Sainz retired due to a suspension KO and a puncture cost Auriol his third position- not a good day for the Toyota team. Ford would end up completing the podium, with Kankkunen leading Vatanen home for a 2-3 finish. Kankkunen, for three straight rounds, had appeared on the podium, and was actually tied with Sainz at the top of the driver’s standings. No one would have expected this at the start of the season- Kankkunen had won his last championship in 1993, and hadn’t won a single event since 1994, and many people were under the impression that his WRC career was in it’s sunset years. So sure, maybe you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but if it’s a four-time world champion it may have some surprises left in it yet.
With a season already full of surprises, the teams returned to Europe for the fourth round in Portugal. At this point, it was the legendary Subaru team to appeared in bad shape- after winning the title three years in a row, they now found themselves dead last in the standings. Mcrae, the team’s lead driver, was someone known to push his car to the maximum. At times, he was simply uncatchable to those following him- other times, he was simply just too fast, earning nicknames such as Rolling Colin and Colin Mcrash from his detractors. But the Scottish legend was determined to come back into title contention and did what he did best- going flat out, pushing the subie to the limit. He was first at the end of the first day, winning 6 of the 10 special stages on the schedule. With Kankkunen, Sainz and Makinen already distanced, could this be the turning point in Subaru’s season? Furthermore, Auriol, who was Mcrae’s biggest rival at the star and had the same time at the end of ss2, was already out of contention due to gearbox issues. And, for the first time in the 1998 season, the early event leader didn’t retire! While he did suffer a puncture at the end of the day, things didn’t fare much better for his competitors- Kankkunen fell out of the top 6 due to differential problems, Sainz had fading brakes and Tommi was definitely out after causing irreparable damage to his Evo IV. But Colin wasn’t out of the dark yet. The sensation of the day, Freddy Loix piloting a privateer Toyota, finished first in the last 4 SS of the day and was quickly catching up to Mcrae! Loix even began to think to overtake him, but yet another gearbox problem would strike, and he fell off the battle for the lead. However, without having to retire, the Belgian would manage to secure third, impressive for a non-factory driver!
Rally Portugal, like always, had been full of thrills- but they weren’t over yet. Indeed, somehow, with just one stage to go, Carlos Sainz was only 7 seconds behind Mcrae and he had a whopping 11km to win that time back. It's fair to say that the crowd went crazy for this final duel, bringing back memories of the pair’s time as Subaru teammates back in 1995. The #3 Subaru started before Sainz and when he concluded the stage, Mcrae was told that El Matador had gained 4 seconds by the halfway point. Everyone waited with bated breath for the Corolla, but unfortunately for Sainz, he crossed the finish line with just 5 seconds recovered- Mcrae and Grist had won Rally Portugal with just 2 seconds advantage, one of the closest margins in WRC history!
The teams remained on the Iberian peninsula following Portugal, for the Rally of Spain- the first pure asphalt round! After his astonishing performance in Portugal, Freddy Loix was given the seat to win Toyota points here- for a second time, ex-champion Auriol would run solely for the driver’s championship, not a great situation, but its fair to say that he had been fairly unlucky up to this point. The big news before the event would come from Mitsubishi, who were to debut their new weapon- the Lancer Evo V, yet again following Group A rules! But something else would also catch the attention of everyone at the event, a new gallery of protagonists- Kit cars. Despite being of a lower class than the main WRC cars, a tarmac event like Rally of Spain was their hunting ground. They weren’t competitive at most events, but their 2WD systems, a weight 270kg lighter than the WRC cars and a power output a mere 20hp less meant that on an all-tarmac event like Spain, the kit cars had every chance to be faster than the queens, and so the pool of potential winners dramatically increased. Therefore, the fans were eager to see if a fresh face would top the podium, and by the first leg they had their first hint- Auriol, the man relegated to drivers’ only points, was in the lead, ahead of the new Citroen Xsara kit car of Jesus Puras, the retouring Escort of Bruno Thiry and the Peugeot 306 Maxi of tarmac expert Gilles Panizzi. From the leader to Makinen, down in 9th position, there were just 48 seconds of different. Subaru was the only one of the big teams unable to keep pace- their Pirelli tyres apparently weren’t providing the grip that the Michelin tyres of the other teams were able to.
With such narrow margins the position table would change around numerous times during the second leg, but no one could get any closer to Auriol, who remained firmly the leader. Byt the end of the second day, there was good and bad news for Toyota. The good? Three cars in the top three positions. The bad? They were in the wrong order- their frontrunner unable to take manufacturer points, and Sainz, Toyota’s top driver, in third. However, the team bosses ordered no position switching. Day 3 concluded the rally with another shock- El Matador, the local hero, suffered a puncture that would finish him firmly out of points. Makinen would keep the race alive by trying to overtake Loix but without success. It was a 1-2 for Toyota, with Auriol taking a win after 3 years. Not a bad situation for Mitsubishi either, with third and fourth being a good way to break their new car in- they remained at the top of the standings, just 1 point ahead of Toyota. Unlike Portugal, it was a very bad weekend for the Ford team- after seeing both cars reach the finish line in every event until now, here they registered a double retirement. Two kit cars would register in the top 6- Philipe Bugalski’s Citroen, and Panizzi’s Peugeot. This surely did not help to calm down the discontent among queen-class WRC teams regarding regulation, even considering that Puras' Kit car blew its engine while in second.
With a rather impressive five different winners in 5 different events, it was time to head to France for the Tour de Corse. The drivers were welcomed by some bizarre weather, meaning wrong tire choice could cost them valuable time. To add more chaos, this was another event where the kit cars could upset the leaderboard, being the second all asphalt event in a row! Out of the gate, however, it would be the Subaru of Colin Mcrae that lead the pack, and he held this pace throughout the first day. After their mishaps in Spain, even the scot was surprised at the speed- however, it was due to Pirelli, learning from their mistakes, providing new tires for this event. Even Piero Liatti was flying along, closing in on the Peugeot 306 Maxi that was in second, driven by François Delecour. Behind this trio, The new Evo V, was suffering with some early career teething troubles, and Makinen was forced to retire- his fourth DNF in just 6 events for the reigning champion, and he had slumped down to sixth in the standings. Things weren’t going much better for Sainz- the father of the homonymous F1 driver had to repair the car during a road transfer- the engine had a hole in it! He and his co-driver Luis Moya had to find a solution without a mechanic nearby. Moya proposed covering it with a glove, and Sainz ran to a tree in the hope of finding the perfect branch to wedge it in. One of the most memorable scenes of this season! Carlos then gently dosing the accelerator as he arrived at service, being helped along by the gradient of the road. By this point Mcrae’s leadership appeared to be unchallengable- second was the place to win for the rest of them. While Delecour and Liatti bitterly fought over it, Sainz swooped in and snatched the bone from the pair of them on the second day. His engine repairs appeared to have worked- and then a damaged wheel led to a tyre deflation during SS15, throwing him out of the top 6. Not a lucky event for the Spaniard. The events didn’t stop there either, with Panizzi’s Peugeot arriving back 4th after an intense dogfight with Auriol and Thiry- his teammate, Delecour, would successfully hold on to second, however, leading Liatti home in third with just 3 seconds between them! Thanks to their second victory, and despite a horrendous start to the season, Mcrae and Subaru were both leading their respective championship standings- who would’ve guessed that?
For round seven, after so many rounds in Europe, the cavalcade took a quick detour for the only time of the season to South America- Argentina awaited with its notoriously rough gravel stages! Even in the first hours of the rally, the excitement was already ramping up- Makinen, Auriol and Mcrae all kept an intense pace in a close battle for the win, finishing the first day in that order. Behind them, we saw the reawakening of Kankkunen. The Finn always struggled on tarmac rallies, but the gravel had now returned- maybe he had the chance at some good results here. Come the second day, Makinen would feel the handicapped nature of starting first, and Mcrae took the lead. With the ever-unlunky Auriol soon out due to engine failure. Colin had a solid chance of winning for the first time Argentina, but then a major hit. The Scot would hit a protruding rock and the side of the track- the suspension was badly damaged, and worse news for him and co-driver Nicky Grist, the soonest they could get proper assistance was 2 whole stages later. They were going to have to repair it alone if they wanted to remain in the rally. It wasn’t possible to remove the wheel, and they seemed out of luck- but then came a spark of genius! They would drive on the damaged suspension until the tire blew up, then they can swap it out for a new one and then straighten the bent control arm using a big rock, of course with the consultation of an expert… and it worked! Of course, the operation took a fair bit of time, and they received a 2 and a half minute penalty, but they were still in the race. Even more shocking, the number 3 Impreza would go on to score the best time on the following SS, leaving the Subaru team, and everybody else, speechless. At the end he finished the rally 5th, behind Richard Burns but still ahead of their teammate Liatti.
With Colin penalised, Makinen was once again leading and did not throw away the result: the third victory in a consecutive hattrick of wins in Argentina. Behind his, Kankunnen’s second place was being threatened by someone he had fought against many a time, Carlos Sainz. Yet again this season, the two legends entered battle. They were both full committed, really testing the limits of their respective Ford and Toyota. When Carlos made a better time, Juha replied by beating the Spanish driver on the next stage, and this went on. But in the end, the Corolla of Sainz won the two-way contest with less than a second to spare… another close call this season, made more impressive by the fact that the total 400km length of the rally.
This marked the halfway point of the 1998 season, with everything very much still to play for, and the second half kicked off with one of the toughest rounds of the season- Rally Acropolis in Greece, also known as the European Safari due to its unrelenting nature. And its reputation was already being upheld just 4km into the first ss, with Makinen having to retire due to electrical problems. Bruno Thiry would become the second major retirement not long after when his engine blew up on SS5, while he was leading. By the end of the first day pretty much every driver had suffered with some sort of problem, whether that be mechanical or self-inflicted. Despite a start not exactly in Mitsubishi’s favour with Makinen out, they were delighted to find their number 2 Richard Burns leading, though Mcrae was on his tail. But the red-haired brit suffered a lot the handicap to open the road in the second day and quickly lost time and positions. Mcrae leaded the rally till the end of SS10, then Auriol overtook him and established himself and co-driver Giraudet as the new race leaders. Behind Didier and Colin, Sainz was trying to pass the remaining factory backed Escort of old rival Kankkunen. Day 3 was sizing up to be an exciting one- just 16 seconds enclosed the first four cars. Burns made a solid attempt to wriggle his way back into the top spots, but the Acropolis took its next victim, when he was forced to stop his attack due to suspension problems. Sainz and Kankkunen, too, would see problems, and so the Auriol and Mcrae began to pull away from the pack. Auriol was absolutely flying and had built up a solid lead over the Scotsman. However, maybe he flew a bit too close to the sun, when a heavy landing cost him 45 seconds, and ultimately, the victory. Mcrae stayed consistent and he and his Impreza wrangled their third victory of the year! Auriol and Kankkunen flanked him on the podium, with Sainz, Loix and Liatti finishing up the points positions. Following this result, Mcrae was once again leading the standings, with Sainz, Kankkunen and Makinen right behind him- four different drivers from four different teams!
Round 9 brought the competition back to the southern hemisphere in New Zealand; Auckland welcomed the teams with heavy rain, and the route was now a dangerous concoction of slippery gravel! Geographically, this was the closest event to Japan, and considering 3 of the 4 factory teams were Japanese, there was a great number of official, semi-official and privateer WRC cars ready to battle. Subaru, for example, had high expectations for this event, and so beyond their star drivers of Mcrae and Liatti, entered a 3rd Impreza S5 for Finnish driver Juha Kangas, not to be mixed up with Juha Kankkunen, and a semi-official Impreza 555 for local hero Possum Bourne. Despite this, only one of their drivers would be in contention for the victory- Colin Mcrae, with the other Subies all outside of the top 8 by the end of the first day. However, the Scotsman, who had won in New Zealand three years in a row between 1993 and 1995, did find some competition elsewhere- the two Corollas of Sainz and Auriol, and the three cars would repeatedly interchange their positions at the top of the leaderboard. Despite the continuing downpour, the crowds were no less eager to see this titanic battle unfold, even to the point where they began to spectate from less than safe places on the stages. While in full-attack mode, Colin would end up hitting a spectator, that would luckily walk away with just a broken leg. Behind the leading trio, Burns was fourth, patiently waiting for his moment to make a lunge for the podium, while team leader Makinen was racing rather more cautiously, as he had crashed at the last 3 editions of this rally. Ford, the only non-Japanese factory team, had arrived at the event with two brand-new Escort WRCs, intended to be the last two built before the team debuted the brand new Focus WRC in 1999. Unfortunately for them, Bruno Thiry crashed one badly. While the crew was alright, another new Escort WRC was required to finish the season. Kankkunen would make an attempt to salvage the event for Ford by establishing himself in fifth place by the end of the first day. The rally continued with the torrential rains not seeming to let up. In fact, two stages had to be cancelled as they had essentially become rivers. However, anything less than a stream was deemed fine, and the show went on. Mcrae would spin on SS12 and so the two Toyotas had the opportunity to build a solid 1-2 lead- Auriol was half a minute ahead of Sainz, before he too would spin, and lost 40 seconds. Things were worse for the other leading drivers- Burns would roll his Mitsubishi, while Mcrae suffered a puncture. This left the two Toyota drivers alone at the top in open battle for first position, and arrived at the end of SS23 with just half a second between them! The two put a hard performance in on the last two stages with some properly thrilling driving, but it would be Carlos Sainz who triumphed this time, his 22nd WRC victory, which would be a record for the time. Auriol followed him over the line, with Tommi Makinen, who had put in a more reserved and cautious drive than most others, completed the podium, ahead of fellow flying finn Kankkunen.
After conquering the element of water down in New Zealand, for round 10 the teams would have to conquer the element of air at Rally Finland, a true classic of the WRC calender! Cars at full throttle threading the needle through the trees and over the many, many jumps. The rain hadn’t been completely left behind in New Zealand however, and the first two days would be sodden, only adding to the difficulty.
This round saw the debut of a new World Rally car- the SEAT Cordoba. The Spanish team had won the kit car title from 1995 to 1997 , with their main driver being Harri Rovanpera, the father of Kalle Rovanpera, the current WRC world champion. Despite a stellar showing in the kit car category, their performance at the top level was not quite as bright as their livery, and they would go on to finish the season with just 1 point. But if the yellow squad were having a hard time getting up to speed, the blue squad over at Subaru were having a much worse time. Both Imprezas of Mcrae and Finnish driver Jarmo Kytolehto were already out of competition due to driver error, and not even that far from the start. The other Finnish drivers, however, were proving their superiority on their home soil, with three of the top 4 spots being taken up by them, with Makinen in the lead, Kankkunen in third and Gronholm in 4th. In second place was the ever ferocious Spaniard Carlos Sainz, but as he was the first non-Scandinavian to win the event in 1990, he had a real chance of unseating the finns here once again. By the end of the first leg, the top 3 cars were within just 10 seconds of eachother- however, during the second and third legs, the Makinen-Mannisemaki pairing would absolutely fly away, and simply put they could not be caught, and they would win the event for the fifth year in a row, and in one fell swoop reopened their chance for the title. Sainz and Kankkunen would follow on the podium, after another ferocious battle, naturally. Behind them Gronholm would finish his event off the track, allowing Auriol, Burns and Radstrom to complete the point scorers.
In the originally-planned 1998 calender, the 11th round was to be Rally Indonesia, first seen on the WRC calendar in 1996. However, the round was cancelled due to a political crisis in the country at the time, and the event has never been seen in the WRC since. Instead, Rally San Remo in Italy would be moved forward to round 11. For the first time since the 6th round, the teams found themselves at an all-asphalt event, and so the entry list was full of potential winners. Subaru arrived with the strong 1-2 from the previous year, though Mcrae would already be held back by a puncture on SS3. In any case, the Imprezas confirmed their speed on the tarmac, and home-favourite Liatti, supported by all the Italian fans, now had a real possibility of finding his breakthrough. Unfortunately for him though, he had a very strong opponent in his way- Tommi Makinen. Despite winning just a single tarmac event prior to this season, he had arrived here in excellent shape following his win in Finland. The battle for first, therefore, was once again tough, and the two finished the first day with just 3 seconds separating them. The two Corollas followed them, with Auriol and Sainz each waiting for the right occasion to attack. However, after Auriol retired after he hit a rock while attempting to cut a corner, and with the Makinen and Liatti fighting a great distance up front, Sainz realized he would have to relegate himself to a defensive position- Mcrae was scoring some incredible times following his early-race puncture, and he was going for third! Sainz for the moment would lose this battle, spinning out and suffering brake problems, and so Mcrae established his third position. At the front of the rally, Liatti and Makinen were still battling mere seconds apart from eachother, until SS18, when the Finn was able to win the stage with a 15 second advantage over the Italian, and had now built up a solid lead of half a minute. While many drivers would call this the end of the game, Liatti was not such a driver, and the last day began with the top positions still largely unknown. Thiry was the only Ford remaining after Kankkunen destroyed the #7 Escort during the day 2. The Belgian found himself in fifth, but was struggling to maintain a good pace, and behind the Peugeot 306 Kit car of Gilles Panizzi was closing in. Despite the kit cars already proving to be more than a match for the WRC cars on tarmac, the humidity and a few slippery sections slowed this class of car down considerably on the first day, and so they were spending the rest of the race playing catchup. In fact, Panizzi was recovering- he won 4 of the 6 SS in the last leg, and so Thiry could do not too much, finishing sixth, behind the Peugeot Kit Car. Ahead of them, Sainz and Mcrae were bitterly fighting for third, and despite Sainz wanting his bronze as much as possible, Mcrae was able to defend it, finishing with just 1.5 seconds of advantage, a well-earned spot for him not giving up after his puncture. Teammate Liatti, however, had definitely lost the battle for first- despite pushing till the end, Makinen simply managed his drive perfectly, and set a blistering pace, winning in Italy for the first time. This put the Finn just 2 points behind Sainz, with just 2 rounds left to race! Thanks to the third place, McRae was mathematically still in contention for the title too, but his possibilities were really poor.
The penultimate round brought the competition for the final time to the southern hemisphere, for Rally Australia- an event plagued by narrow dirt tracks and roadside trees just waiting to end your race. For this event, the organizers experimented with a revolutionary new start light that somehow, ended up being one of the protagonists of the event! We’ll come back to that. The event started as normal, but Makinen, winner of the two previous rounds, suffered a suspension problem part way through the first day while in second position. Not only did this cost him time in the stages themselves, but he also incurred a more than one minute penalty for repairing his car longer than the maximum allowed time. The Finn’s chances of claiming his third title were beginning to slip through his fingers. Mcrae was also suffering with suspension issues, and was quickly losing time and positions, and he finished in 6th on the first day. The Scot was the only Subaru remaining after Piero Liatti crashed out, in his last event with the Impreza. And where was Sainz? With his rivals all struggling, the Spaniard had a real chance of shutting down any contention for his title. He was pushing along in fifth, not far behind Kankkunen and Loix, but with just a 10 second gap between him and Mcrae, he needed to keep up the pace if he wanted any points. Ahead of everybody, the #2 Evo of Burns was absolutely dominating the event, over one minute ahead of Auriol in second.
But Rally Australia, like most other rounds this season, quickly proved that just because you have a solid advantage doesn’t mean you’re safe- during the second day Burns would ultimately roll his car, breaking the turbocharger and his massive advantage was eradicated. Mcrae, meanwhile, in his bid to catch up to the front of the pack, broke his driveshaft, though despite other time lost, his desire to reel in his rivals remained intact. In first we now find Carlos Sainz, his tactic of not pushing overly hard during the first day seeming to pay off, giving him a fairly unobstructed performance on the second day. In second, incredibly, was Makinen, who’s speed in his Mitsubishi had clawed him back on to a podium spot. If he was going to catch Sainz, every second counted. But maybe he was a bit too eager to catch him- Makinen would be penalized 1 minute for a jump start- apparently, he had left the line when the lights went green as opposed to waiting for the timed countdown. This was all thanks to the new lights system I mentioned earlier. However, the following night there would be another twist- the stewards decided to overturn the penalizaton, because the new electronic lights system was not yet covered by the regulations. Toyota and Sainz were naturally very displeased with this decision, but ultimately did not protest it. Years later former Toyota team manager George Donaldson told Dirtfish that it was to save the reputation of the sport and of the team, as they didn’t want to be a part of such an awful mess. Thanks to this whole ordeal, a hard fight was to be expected on the final day. With Sainz and Makinen trying to fight eachother off, Mcrae proved to showcase the strongest drive, absolutely on fire and gaining valuable seconds by the kilometer on the leading pair. By the end of SS22 of 24, the scot was leading. Behind Mcrae, Makinen Sainz and Burns were all hot on his tail- just 10 seconds separated the four! What a rally! However, the final two stages did not smile on the British drivers, with Burns hitting a tree and breaking his radiator, and Mcrae had managed to blow his turbocharger. The Scot, after his hard driving, bad luck and thoroughly damaging his Impreza, would finish in fourth, behind Auriol- this would spell the end for his hopes at getting the title. The two drivers left in contention were Makinen and Sainz. The Finn would end up winning Rally Australia, his third in a row, and overtook the Spaniard- he now sat on top with a 2 point advantage, with one round to go.
The final round would bring us to the forests of Britain for the aptly title Rally of Great Britain, the first year in which it wasn’t called the RAC Rally. It was a very challenging round, famous for it’s slippery, muddy forest roads. However, while the spectators were likely expecting a fiersome two-way battle for the title at the final round, this was false. It would simply have been too banal to expect a head-to-head like you’d see in a film. Still, the round began without much fanfare, but it all started to go wrong on SS5. The stage was located at Vauxhall testing ground at Millbrock- 90 minutes before the main cars arrived, the historic rally contestants drove through. One of them, a Hillman Imp, would leave an oil stain on a left turn- Makinen, the first of the WRC lot to come through, didn’t see the spill until far too late, and would rip the rear right wheel clean off his Mitsubishi after spinning out into a concrete block. The following drivers would be waved down on a yellow flag by a marshall, but for the Finn, it all seemed to be over. Due to a portion of the event taking place on public roads, Makinen could not continue driving by law, and he even had police after him! With Makinen out, all Sainz had to do to take his third championship after six long years, was place fourth or higher- by the end of the first leg, the Spaniard was in second. In first place was Mcrae, in absolutely brilliant form in his last drive for Subaru: the end of a legendary pairing. To mark this occasion, the Subaru team doubled down on the presence of Mcraes for the event, with Colin’s younger brother Alister, winner of the 1995 British Rally Championship, who impressively was in third position, ahead of great names such as Auriol, Kankkunen and Burns! The following day, however, continued the surprises. Toyota had lost two of their Corollas, when both Gronholm and Auriol were forced to retire due to technical problems. Richard Burns and his Mitsubishi, however, had risen themselves to podium positions, fighting with Mcrae for that top spot. Unfortunately for Mcrae, the fight didn’t last longp his last drive for Subaru ended with an engine KO and a rather unceremonious retirement. Burns, therefore, took hold of first with nobody really able to compete for this position. Sainz, meanwhile, had dropped to fourth, the lowest position he needed to be crowned champion. All he had to do was avoid any major mistakes and not put to much stress on the car. Easy right? The final leg, therefore, was rather quiet, with most drivers settle into their positions, and Alister Mcrae being the only other major retirement. Carlos’ fans were ready to celebrate the triumphant victory of their hero. Not long after seeing Burns fly across the finish in his Mitsubishi, his second ever win, they waited eagerly for the Spaniard. And they waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, Sainz appeared, his Corolla moving along the stage very slowly, and smoking badly. A flame then appeared under hood/bonnet, and then, to the shock of everyone watching, the Toyota stopped. The Sainz-Moya crew was a mere 300 meters from the finish, but try as they might, there was absolutely no starting the car back up again. Sainz had lost his third title. Makinen, who had already left the rally and was at the airport waiting to return home, received a call from his brother telling him that he was, for the third year in a row, the world champion. He initially believed it was a prank call, before the elation set in. He would later say that he felt sorry for Carlos. Who doesn’t? In any case, with such a poor bout of results in the first half of the season, and ultimately clawing it all back with 5 wins in just 13 rounds, its not like the Finn didn’t deserve his third title. However, it wasn’t the only celebration in the Mitsubishi garage that night. Thanks to Richard Burns’ win at the final round, the Japanese team found themselves as the manufacturer’s champions for the first time! With this being the only manufacturers’ title Mitsubishi would ever win, it remains a very special season for fans of the three diamonds. Trelles added more satisfaction about this season for them, winning Group N title with his Lancer. With Burns at the top of the Rally GB leaderboard, and so many other retirements, the two Fords of Kankkunen and Thiry would position second and third for the Ford Escort’s final WRC race, a fitting goodbye for the historic model, which had been racing since before the WRC began. There were also smiles over at the SEAT team, who had scored their first point in the queen-class of the WRC.
With these final results, a truly incredible season of motorsport ended. Makinen took his hatrick, Sainz in second, Mcrae in third, Kankkunen in fourth, Auriol in fifth and Burns rounding it all out in sixth. 1998 was truly a season of twists, turns, bumps and bashes, and there were definitely some unforgettable battles. Not to mention, one of the most dramatic finales to a season of any motorsport, ever. I doubt Carlos Sainz remembers it quite so fondly though.
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