1997 World Rally Championship

The 1997 World Rally Championship was the 25th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season saw many changes in the championship. Most notably, Group A was partially replaced by the World Rally Car with manufacturers given the option which regulations to construct to. One inherent benefit to manufacturers by adopting WRC regulations was removing the need to mass-produce road-going versions of the cars that they competed with, under the previous rules for homologation. This meant that vehicles such as the Escort RS Cosworth and Subaru Impreza Turbo no longer had to be mass-produced for general sale in order to compete at World Championship level, and thus acting as a means of attracting increased competition and involvement by manufacturers. In the few years that follow, the Championship saw the added presence of WRC cars from companies such as Hyundai, Seat, Citroen, and Peugeot, who would all compete under WRC regulations without having to manufacture equivalent specialised road cars for public sale. Both Ford and Subaru switched to WRC in 1997, except Mitsubishi who stayed with Group A to maintain the links to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road cars. Subaru's transition was much more gradual for similar reasons with the early Subaru Impreza WRCs still largely Group A in nature.

Events also became shorter and more compact, event rotation system used in previous three seasons was dropped and registered manufacturers were required to contest the expanded 14 event calendar for the first time. In due course the World Rally Car rules would bring new manufactures into the sport, but at the start of 1997 it was still Subaru versus Mitsubishi versus Ford as before, although, by mid season Toyota Team Europe were back with a Corolla World Rally Car. The Drivers' championship was very tightly contested and in the end Tommi Mäkinen won his second drivers' world championship in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV by a single point ahead of Subaru Impreza WRC driver Colin McRae after the final round in Great Britain. Carlos Sainz was third in the leading Ford Escort WRC. The Manufacturers' title was won by Subaru.

One major flaw in the new class system was exposed by the increasing speed of the naturally aspirated front-wheel-drive FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup cars. The tarmac specification cars built by Peugeot and Renault that competed in the all-tarmac French and Spanish championships became major threats on WRC tarmac events Rallye Catalunya and the Tour de Corse with Gilles Panizzi defeating all but two of the WRC four-wheel-drive turbos in his Peugeot 306 Maxi, taking third place in both events.

Calendar

Round	Dates	Race
1	19–22 January	Monte Carlo Rally
2	7–10 February	Swedish Rally
3	1–3 March	Safari Rally
4	23–26 March	Rally Portugal
5	14–16 April	Rally Catalunya
6	5–7 May	Tour de Corse
7	22–24 May	Rally Argentina
8	8–10 June	Acropolis Rally
9	2–5 August	Rally New Zealand
10	29–31 August	Rally Finland
11	19–21 September	Rally Indonesia
12	12–15 October	Rally Sanremo
13	30 October-2 November	Rally Australia
14	23–25 November	Network Q RAC Rally

Teams and drivers

Manufacturer teams
Team	Constructor	Car	Tyre	No	Drivers	Rounds
Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo IV Lancer Evo III	M	1	Tommi Mäkinen	All
				2	Uwe Nittel	1–2, 5–6, 10, 12
					Richard Burns	3–4, 7–9, 11, 13–14
				10	Uwe Nittel	8
				11	Ed Ordynski	13
				13	Kenjiro Shinozuka	13
555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru	Impreza WRC 97	P	3	Colin McRae	All
				4	Piero Liatti	1, 5–6, 12
					Kenneth Eriksson	2–4, 7–11, 13–14
				8	Piero Liatti	14
Ford Motor Company	Ford	Escort WRC	M	5	Carlos Sainz	All
				6	Armin Schwarz	1–6
					Juha Kankkunen	7–14
				16	Angelo Medeghini	14
Toyota Castrol Team	Toyota	Corolla WRC	M	7	Didier Auriol	10–14
				8	Neal Bates	11, 13
				9	Marcus Grönholm	10, 14
				10	Freddy Loix	12
Peugeot Sport	Peugeot	306 Maxi	M	7	Gilles Panizzi	5–6
				9	François Delecour	5–6
				16	Adruzilo Lopes	4
					Jaime Azcona	5
Société Diac	Renault	Mégane Maxi	M	8	Philippe Bugalski	6
				10	Serge Jordan	6
				22	Claude Balesi	6

Major entries not registered as manufacturers
Team	Constructor	Car	Drivers	Rounds
R.A.S. Sport	Ford	Escort RS Cosworth	Didier Auriol	1
			Jean-Pierre Richelmi	4, 8
Mobil Ford Motorsport			Stig Blomqvist	2
Blue Rose Team			Jarmo Kytölehto	2
Bo-Be Plastindustri AB			Mats Jonsson	2
Gazprom Rally Team			Alexander Zheludov	14
		Escort WRC	Bruno Thiry	14
Totta Peres Competicao			Fernando Peres	4
Belgacom Turbo Team			Gregoire de Mevius	4, 8, 12, 14
Ford Motor Hellas			Leonídas Kyrkos	8
Blue Rose Team			Jarmo Kytölehto	10
Ford Team Finland			Sebastian Lindholm	10
Jolly Club			Gianfranco Cunico	12
Motorsport Consultancy			Ari Vatanen	14
Toyota Castrol Team	Toyota	Celica GT-Four ST205	Freddy Loix	1, 4, 8, 10, 13
			Isolde Holderied	1
			Henrik Lundgaard	1
			Thomas Rådström	2, 8
			Tomas Jansson	2, 10
			Marcus Grönholm	2, 4, 7
			Mats Thorszelius	2
			Ian Duncan	3
			Neal Bates	9
			Fujimoto Yoshio	11, 13
H.F. Grifone SRL			Raúl Sufan	4–5, 7–13
			Didier Auriol	7
			Andrea Aghini	12
			Pierlorenzo Zanchi	12
Mitsubishi Ralliart Germany	Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo III Lancer Evo IV	Gustavo Trelles	1–2, 4–5, 7–10, 12
			Manfred Stohl	1–2, 4–5, 7, 10, 12
			Luis Climent	4–6, 8, 10, 13–14
			Kris Rosenberger	12, 14
Mitsubishi Ralliart Sweden			Kenneth Bäcklund	2
			Stig-Olov Walfridson	2
Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland			Juha Kangas	2, 10
			Jouko Puhakka	10
Ralliart New Zealand			Geoff Argyle	9
			Reece Jones	9
			Marty Roestenburg	9
			Craig Marshall	9
Subaru Allstars	Subaru	Impreza 555	Rui Madeira	4–5
			Yukihiko Sakurai	4, 8, 14
A.R.T. Engineering			Angelo Medeghini	5, 10
			Andrea Navarra	8, 12, 14
			Massimo Ercolani	12
Subaru Rally Team Australia			Peter 'Possum' Bourne	9, 13
			Greg Graham	9, 13
Subaru Rally Team Japan			Yoshihiro Kataoka	9
			Hideaki Miyoshi	9, 11, 13
			Toshihiro Arai	13

Results and standings

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRC NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR  Pts  1 Tommi Mäkinen 3 3 Ret 1 1 Ret 1 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 6 63 2 Colin McRae Ret 4 1 Ret 4 1 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 1 1 62 3 Carlos Sainz 2 2 Ret Ret 10 2 Ret 1 2 Ret 1 4 Ret 3 51 4 Juha Kankkunen Ret 2 3 2 2 6 Ret 2 29 5 Kenneth Eriksson 1 Ret Ret 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 Ret Ret 28 6 Piero Liatti 1 2 5 2 7 24 7 Richard Burns 2 Ret Ret 4 4 4 4 4 21 8 Armin Schwarz 4 6 4 3 Ret 9 11 9 Freddy Loix 16 2 Ret 37 5 7 8 10 Gilles Panizzi 3 3 8 11 Didier Auriol Ret 5 8 Ret 8 3 Ret 6 12 Marcus Grönholm 8 Ret 4 Ret 5 5 13 Ian Duncan 3 4 14 Jarmo Kytölehto Ret 3 4 15 Thomas Rådström 5 5 4 16 Possum Bourne 5 5 4 17 Grégoire De Mévius 4 7 Ret Ret 3 18 François Delecour DSQ 4 3 19 Sebastian Lindholm 4 3 20 Uwe Nittel 5 Ret 8 8 6 7 Ret 3 21 Jonathan Toroitich 5 2 22 Jean-Pierre Richelmi 5 Ret 2 23 Angelo Medeghini 5 Ret 10 2 24 Tomas Jansson 7 5 2 25 Yoshio Fujimoto 5 Ret 2 26 Henrik Lundgaard 6 1 27 Frédéric Dor 6 17 11 23 29 15 1 28 Masao Kamioka 6 Ret 14 1 29 Rui Madeira 15 6 1 30 Philippe Bugalski 6 1 31 Gustavo Trelles 9 16 7 13 6 13 7 17 Ret 1 32 Neal Bates 6 Ret 8 1 33 Pasi Hagström 6 1 34 Karamjit Singh 11 6 Ret 17 1 35 Ed Ordynski 6 1 Pos Driver MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRC NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR  Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (DNF) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR Points 1 555 Subaru World Rally Team 3 Ret 4 1 Ret 4 1 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 1 1 114 4 1 1 Ret Ret 2 5 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 Ret Ret 2 Ford Motor Co 5 2 2 Ret Ret 10 2 Ret 1 2 Ret 1 4 Ret 3 90 6 4 6 4 3 Ret 9 Ret 2 3 2 2 6 Ret 2 3 Team Mitsubishi Ralliart 1 3 3 Ret 1 1 Ret 1 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 6 86 2 5 Ret 2 Ret 8 8 Ret 4 4 7 4 Ret 4 4 Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (DNF) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Events

1997 World Rally Championship event map

Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Ice/Snow	Red = Mixed Surface

See also

• FIA World Rally Championship 1997 at rallybase.nl