Rally Australia was held on November 1-4, based in Perth.
World Rally Championship Round 13
It was one of the closest fought World Rally Championships with no less than five crews in the running for the title with two rounds to go. Coming to Australia, McRae and Mäkinen were on 40 points with three wins each, Burns on 34 with only one win, Sainz on 33 with no wins and Harri Rovanperä with one win and an outside chance on 27 points. Grönholm had won in Finland but on just 16 points could no longer take the title.
With 73 entries and five factory teams (SEAT had withdrawn), it was still an impressive entry list, Peugeot had Grönholm, Auriol, Rovanperä and Panizzi. Ford came with Sainz, McRae and Delecour. Subaru brought Petter Solberg in support of Burns, plus Toshi Arai and Possum Bourne. Mäkinen was supported by Lois. And Hyundai were back with Eriksson and Alister McRae.
At the end of the first full day Grönholm, Burns, Auriol and McRae were separated by just 5 seconds. Mäkinen was languishing in sixth and seeing his title slip away. Sainz had ripped a wheel from his focus to drop out of contention. Controversy arose at the end of the day when McRae was late to choose his starting position for Day Two and ended up at the front of the field. His team-mate Delecour was instructed to take early penalties to at least put one car ahead of McRae. Day Two saw Grönholm take charge, pulling 34 seconds ahead of Burns. But importantly, Burns was ahead of those with whom he was fighting for the title. The only significant retirement was Delecour with an accident on Wellington Dam. Positions remained unchanged on the final day. Despite only finishing fifth, McRae took the points lead on 42 from Mäkinen on 41 and Burns on 40 heading to the final round in Wales where McRae had a huge accident and Mäkinen lost a wheel, handing the title to Burns.
The locals didn’t do so well. Bourne lost an engine on SS10, Bates crashed on SS11 and the highest placed local was Ordynski in the Group N Lancer in seventeenth.
