Network Q Rally of Great Britain

- the first day

The Subaru 555 crew of Scot Colin McRae and Welsh co-driver Nicky Grist led the field by a mere 3.6 seconds over, Spaniard, Carlos Sainz, (Toyota) and 4.2 seconds ahead of his brother and team-mate Alister, after one day and just more than 70 km of special stages of the Network Q Rally of Great Britain.

McRae won seven of the thirteen stages, sharing the first and therefore the lead of the beginning of the rally, with younger brother and team-mate Alister. The stages were the traditional spectator stages, short, very spectacular and easy to watch, held at parkland venues, stately homes and racing circuits in the south Midlands. Very popular with the crowds, they are less so with the competitors, who find it hard to drive with any rhythm on the track's mixed surfaces, usually narrow, muddy and twisty and who often regard these stages as the most tricky of the entire event. This proved very true for the FIA World Championship leader, Finn Tommi Makinen of Mitsubishi, who retired after stage 6 as a result of damage to the rear suspension, having lost a wheel in a collision with a concrete block in stage 5. After a hard fought battle over these first 70 km of competitive route, the top ten contenders are still within forty seconds. The second leg would be more representative and widen the gaps between the leading competitors, with eight timed stages covering 142 km in the forests of mid-Wales, before arriving back at Cheltenham.

Subaru

Colin McRae never relinquished the lead he established from the start of the thirteen stages, to finish 3.6 seconds ahead of championship contender Carlos Sainz. "We have been pushing hard all day and I'm quite happy that we'll be starting first tomorrow," said the Scot. "After a hard landing we severed a brake pipe and we had to complete that stage (SS9) and the following with no front left brake, but aside from that, everything has been just fine." Alister McRae was a revelation, in his first world championship outing in a four-wheel drive car since the RAC Rally in 1995. "I don't know if it was the adrenalin first thing this morning, but I was still shaking at the end of the first stage!" smiled the twenty-seven year old Lanark driver. "I'm obviously pleased with today, but tomorrow is a completely different story, although I feel a lot more confident now and even surprised myself."

Toyota

Starting the final event of the 1998 FIA World Rally Championship in a head-to-head battle with Tommi Mäkinen for the championship crown, Carlos Sainz saw some pressure lift when Makinen retired. "That helped me in a way, because his retirement leaves the championship down to my own efforts," said Sainz. "I now know that I have to finish in the top four to win the title and this means that there is no chance to relax, no cruise to the finish, but to give 100% concentration on what we have to do for the next two days." Team-mate Didier Auriol lost some time on the first Donington run (SS11), when the lights cut out in the middle of the stage. "Apart from that I'm happy for much of the day, as being dry made conditions a little more predictable," said the Frenchman. "We are in a good position, ready for the forests."

Ford

The strategy of fifth placed Juha Kankkunen had been to steer clear of troubles on the notoriously treacherous spectators' stages. "The hardest part of today has been to have to tackle six stages on widely differing road surfaces, using the same set of tyres," said the Finn. "Tomorrow we are going back to the forests and that's where I'm happiest." Bruno Thiry was overjoyed by posting fastest time on the final stage of the day. "I was pushing quite hard, perhaps a little too much, because I clipped a straw bale, but there was no problem," said the Belgian, eighth at Cheltenham's rest halt. "I'm looking forward to the forests, especially the stages on the final day, but first we must ensure we have a good run tomorrow."

Mitsubishi

World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen, who retired when remaining on three wheels, was very unhappy to finish his season with an accident. "It happened on the first left-hand bend, there was black stuff on the surface and it just threw me completely," said a very upset Makinen. "Now I must wait while other drivers decide the championship." Richard Burns had suffered a few minor handling problems, but has fought his way up to sixth place, still in touch (16,4 seconds) with leader Colin McRae. "We have stayed out of troubles after a few little problems in the morning and we have ended up in a pretty good position, not far off the lead," Burns declared. "Tomorrow will be very different."

Seat

Harri Rovanpera finished the opening leg in 12th position. "We made a mistake with tyre selection on the early stages, but afterwards we settled down and set some good times," said the Finn. "With such slippery conditions it is all-too easy to slide off the road and retire and I feel much more confident with tomorrow's forestry stages, to show the improvement of our car." Team-mate Gwyndaf Evans lost time when he drove two stages in only front-wheel drive, but fought back from 40th position to finish the day in 18th place. "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and the stages in my homeland of Wales," he declared.

Southern Crews

Richard Worts & Graham Hopewell suffered from the engine cutting out intermittently and from a lack of rear brakes from stage 3 until they could get to the next service. On stage 4 they lost all but 1st gear. The engine problem was traced to a faulty master cut out switch. With some road penalties, they finished the day 118th overall. Wug Utting & Nick Starkey were 113th overall, whilst Tony Jardine partnered by Des Kelly, admitted to "fumbling like a tart with this gearbox" were 84th overall after the 13 stages. Marcus Dodd & John Bennie chose tyres that were too soft and had to back off on stage 4 to try and preserve them. They ended the day 15th overall.

Other Teams

Belgian Gregoire de Mevius ended the day seventh in his Belgacom-Subaru and Finn Sebastian Lindholm was ninth in a Ford Escort WRC, while his fellow-countryman Marcus Gronholm retired on SS11, when the engine of his Corolla WRC caught fire. Polish, Krzysztof Holowczyc (Subaru), after setting some fast times suffered gearbox problems and dropped to tenth place. The Vauxhall driven by Finn Jarmo Kytolehto led the 2-Litre category while in Group N promising Austrian driver Manfred Stohl led the way in his Mitsubishi.

There were rumblings of discontent from several of the top teams at rally headquarters following Makinen's incident at Millbrook. Apparently some oil which had been dropped by one of the historic cars some one and a half-hours earlier had not been cleared up nor had competitors been warned of the oil prior to starting the stage! To compound the issue concrete blocks had been put in place to define the road after crews did their recce. Eye-witnesses alleged that the concrete blocks only went into place about am in the morning when it was realised that the road running across the top of the corner was to be used as access for corporate guests. The radio crew and another marshal pointed out the oil to the FIA safety car but were advised that it would not be a problem. The sector commander took one look at the oil and summoned the stage commander and safety officer, who replied that with one hour to go they could not leave the start! A Millbrook staff member arrived with some oil dispersant but had insufficient water to remove the oil. Those blocks were marked as weighing one ton each and so dangerous did Dave Richards of Subaru & the Ford deputy team manager consider the situation that they took it upon themselves to try and warn the following cars of the danger. Not seen on TV was the accident to Pavel Sibera's Skoda, which hit one of the blocks head on, destroying the car and ripping off the sump guard! As you may be aware, the Winter Rally was observed in 1998 for possible inclusion in the 1999 British Rally Championship. One of the points that the observers made was NOT to use concrete blocks for chicanes or to define the route. There were some strong words used regarding the organisation of the event including 'incompetence' from Colin McRae

day two

As both spectators and crews were keen to point out, the Network Q Rally of Great Britain would really begins in earnest when it headed into the forest stages of Wales. As well as providing an amazing spectacle for the thousands of fans lining the gravel tracks, the event provided its usual share of drama for competitors.

McRae's determination to maintain his overnight lead became obvious as he soon as the field reached the first stage of the day at Radnor. Mitsubishi's Richard Burns soon answered back by taking the first fastest time of the morning. A feat he was also to repeat on the following two stages -- it looked as though a classic battle of the Brits was shaping up.

Unfortunately McRae's mechanical misfortune was to crop up again, a damaged piston ending his rally after SS19 Cefn. "It's a sad way to end what's been an annus horribilis, " said co-driver Nicky Grist

Tyre choice had also proved exceptionally difficult throughout the day, a thin covering of slimy mud covering the rocky surfaces, World Championship hopeful Carlos Sainz almost falling victim to the treacherous conditions when he overshot a junction while in sixth gear. He was fortunate to regain the stage without damage.

With the departure of Ari Vatanen with gearbox problems, second-placed Alistair McRae was the Subaru team's sole remaining hope, and they were to be heartened by the stunning performance he put in on this, his first drive in the Impreza.

Burns, however, remained unruffled: despite one or two close moments at high speed, he kept the Mitsubishi on the road to hold a 1m 15s overnight lead over McRae, going into day 3. Ford's third-placed Juha Kankkunen proved that while the Escort's official days are numbered, it's still a force to be reckoned with.

The massive crowds caused problems for the organisers on stage 19. When Colin McRae arrived at the stage finish he reported spectators standing in dangerous positions. Although six cars had already entered the stage, the stage was stopped and safety cars sent in to move the spectators, resulting in a delay of 27 minutes.

Fog was also causing problems - not only to the drivers - at Esgair Dafydd the Ford, Subaru, Renault and Toyota helicopters were grounded for a while.

Day two was not a great one for Southern crews. Richard Worts retired on SS14 with a driveshaft problem. Of the same stage Tony Jardine reported "This thing frightened me in there. The rev indicator kept coming on telling me to change up a gear. I had to cool it. It would have been very easy to go off." Wug Utting & Nick Starkey were either having a relatively trouble free run or were keeping very quiet when approached by any of our correspondents.

Stage 15 caused problems for Marcus Dodd & John Bennie "It's mega slippy, really rough. We have to keep to the middle of the stage. We're bottoming out - literally scooting on the sump guard. God knows what it will be like later."

There were more problems for Marcus on stage 16 when he hit a tree branch and went off for around 12 minutes. John Bennie said " It was treacherous - it was about four mile from the end and we just understeered straight off. I ran back up the stage and managed to warn Schwarz and Lyall about it because we could quite easily imagine them ending up on top of us. In the end some spectators turned up and managed to get us back on the stage." Things did not improve later in the day when at the end of stage 21 the crew reported third, fourth and fifth gears missing and were dubious about restarting the third day.

day three

It was another early start for event leader Richard Burns, 5 am, with a long run out of 1 hour 25 minutes for a service before tackling the first of the days stages. Marcus Dodd & John Bennie, Wug Utting & Nick Starkey and Tony Jardine & Des Kelly, all made it to the restart, although Marcus was very worried that his gearbox problems would re-occur in his Sunseeker backed WRC Escort.

Stage 22, St Gwynno, saw the demise of Alistair McRae. Around 3 miles from the end of the stage his fog lights failed in fifth gear on a left right left sequence and the Subaru's rear dropped into a ditch and rolled out of the event. The next stage at Tyle, marshalled by the ASWMC, saw Marcus Dodd again having gearbox problems.

At the end of stage 24 the drivers were feeling the pressure and not all liking the conditions. Bruno Thiry however was the exception " I want more fog! Over half the first stage was covered in fog and the notes worked very well. At home in Belgium we have a lot of fog, so I like these conditions!" Sainz had found the conditions grim and was not enjoying himself. Kankunnen had been pressing hard, but had been unable to catch Burns. Richard was taking things very carefully on the stages but said " We've been going quicker on the roads this morning than we have on the stages! We've got a police escort from the local inspector and he's just fantastic! "

Stage 25 was Resolfen: and Burns reported conditions as very wet and tricky where logging had been carried out. The Mitsubishi hit a large hole about 10 km from the end of the stage and had a bit of a moment. Tony Jardine reckoned that "my co-driver is doing a brilliant job on the notes, I have total faith in him. He's 33 and the youngest sports editor on a national newspaper, but he reckons that after the last two days he's got a body age of around 45!" Marcus Dodd had an off on this stage. The car was initially reported to be badly damaged and have only 3 gears working, whilst subsequent reports stated that they had lost yet another gear and slid off while in neutral, but escaped without serious damage. It was worse news for Wug & Nick who stopped on this stage in their Subaru Impreza. At the end of stage 26, Burns declared it to be his best stage of the day. " We could actually see where we were going!"

At the end of stage 27 Burns was holding a lead of three and a half minutes but would approach Margam with caution as he felt it was the most difficult of the whole event.

For the waiting crowds the tension was almost unbearable and the coming dramatic finale almost unbelievable. Richard Burns completed the stage three minutes forty-six seconds ahead of second placed Juha Kankunen with Ford team-mate Bruno Thiry in third place ensuring the Escort two places on the podium after 30 years of international competition. For Carlos Sainz to win the world championship he had to finish in fourth place. As he burst from the trees to enter the park, his car slowed to a halt, stopping with an under bonnet fire just 300 yards from the stage finish in front of a stunned crowd.

Cruel luck for Carlos Sainz, inconsolable as he walked away from the Toyota, after leading the world championship for much of the year. For Tommi Makinen a third world championship, which he must have thought out of his reach and for Richard Burns his long awaited maiden victory on the Rally of Great Britain.

Tony Jardine & Des Kelly, finished in 43rd place.

Marcus Dodd & John Bennie finished 23rd, albeit with only 1st, 2nd and 5th gears.

The final quote comes from Richard Burns: