1997 World Rally Championship

Last updated April 02, 2024

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 Toyota, Hyundai, Seat, Citroën, 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 with Ford second and Mitsubishi third.

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

The 1997 championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania.

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	RAC Rally
Sources:^[1]^[2]

Teams and drivers

Manufacturer teams
Team	Manufacturer	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
				2	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
				4	Kenneth Eriksson	2–4, 7–11, 13–14
				8	Piero Liatti	14
Ford Motor Co Ltd	Ford	Escort WRC	M	5	Carlos Sainz	All
				6	Armin Schwarz	1–6
				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
Source:^[3]

Major entries not registered as manufacturers
Team	Manufacturer	Car	Drivers	Rounds
R.A.S. Sport	Ford	Escort RS Cosworth	Didier Auriol	1
R.A.S. Sport			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
Gazprom Rally Team		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
			Karim Hirji	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
Mitsubishi Ralliart Sweden			Stig-Olov Walfridson	2
Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland			Juha Kangas	2, 10
Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland			Jouko Puhakka	10
Ralliart New Zealand			Geoff Argyle	9
			Reece Jones	9
			Marty Roestenburg	9
			Craig Marshall	9
Renault Team Sweden	Renault	Mégane Maxi	Jonas Kruse	2, 10
Renault Gest Galp			José Carlos Macedo	4
Renault Gest Galp			Pedro Azeredo	4
Renault Elf Team			Raphael Sperrer	4–5, 10, 12
Renault Sport España			Miguel Martínez	5
Société Diac			Philippe Bugalski	6
			Serge Jordan	6
			Claude Balesi	6
Italian Promotor Sport			Paolo Andreucci	12
Italian Promotor Sport			Corrado Fontana	12
Renault Dealer Rallying UK			Robbie Head	14
Renault Dealer Rallying UK			Martin Rowe	14
Subaru Allstars	Subaru	Impreza WRC 97	Frédéric Dor	12
		Impreza 555	Frédéric Dor	3–4, 8–10
			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
Subaru Rally Team Australia			Greg Graham	9, 13
Subaru Rally Team Japan			Yoshihiro Kataoka	9
			Hideaki Miyoshi	9, 11, 13
			Toshihiro Arai	13
Peugeot Esso Competição	Peugeot	306 Maxi	Adruzilo Lopes	4
Peugeot Sport			François Delecour	5–6
Peugeot Sport			Gilles Panizzi	5–6
Peugeot Sport España			Jaime Azcona	5
Source:^[3]

Results and standings

Drivers' championship

Pos.	Driver	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	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	GRE	NZL	FIN	INA	ITA	AUS	GBR	Pts
Sources:^[4]^[5]

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from 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
1	555 Subaru World Rally Team	4	1	1	Ret	Ret	2	5	3	Ret	1	Ret	3	2	Ret	Ret	114
2	Ford Motor Co	5	2	2	Ret	Ret	10	2	Ret	1	2	Ret	1	4	Ret	3	91
2	Ford Motor Co	6	4	6	4	3	Ret	9	Ret	2	3	2	2	6	Ret	2	91
3	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	1	3	3	Ret	1	1	Ret	1	3	Ret	1	Ret	3	2	6	86
3	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	2	5	Ret	2	Ret	8	8	Ret	4	4	7	4	Ret	4	4	86
Pos.	Manufacturer	No.	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	INA	ITA	AUS	GBR	Points
Sources:^[5]^[4]

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

Group N Cup

Pos.	Driver	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	INA	ITA	AUS	GBR	Pts
1	Gustavo Trelles	1	4		1	1		1	1	1	4		Ret			84
2	Luís Climent				3	Ret	Ret		2		7			Ret	1	26
2	Manfred Stohl	3	6		2	5		3			6		4			26
4	Shigeyuki Konishi									Ret		2		1		21
4	Karamjit Singh									3		1		Ret	4	21
6	Kenneth Bäcklund		1													13
	Johnny Hellier			1												13
	Jean-Marie Santoni						1									13
	Jouko Puhakka										1					13
	Mario Stagni												1			13
	Reece Jones									2				Ret	3	13
12	Hideaki Miyoshi									Ret		3		3		10
13	Armin Kremer	2														8
	Stig-Olov Walfridsson		2													8
	Sobiesław Zasada			2												8
	Antonello Fidanza					2										8
	Jacques Andreani						2									8
	Roberto Sanchez							2								8
	Olli Harkki										2				Ret	8
	Luca Baldini												2			8
	Yoshihiro Kataoka									Ret		Ret		2		8
	Jeremy Easson														2	8
14	Juha Kangas		3								5					7
23	Anwar Azar			3												5
	David Nafría					3										5
	Achim Mörtl						3									5
	Pavlos Moschoutis								3							5
	Marko Ipatti										3					5
	Boris Popovič												3			5
Pos.	Driver	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	INA	ITA	AUS	GBR	Pts

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

Events

**1997 World Rally Championship event map**
Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Ice/Snow	Red = Mixed Surface

**1997 World Rally Championship schedule and results**
Rally Name	Dates Run	Podium Drivers (Finishing Time)	Podium Cars
Monte Carlo Rally	19 January–22 January	Piero Liatti (4h:26m:58s) Carlos Sainz (4h:27m:53s) Tommi Mäkinen (4h:29m:29s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Swedish Rally	7 February–10 February	Kenneth Eriksson (3h:51m:49s) Carlos Sainz (3h:52m:05s) Tommi Mäkinen (3h:52m:15s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Safari Rally	1 March–3 March	Colin McRae (11h:29m:00s) Richard Burns (11h:36m:04s) Ian Duncan (11h:40m:18s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Mitsubishi Carisma GT Evolution IV Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Rally Portugal	23 March–26 March	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:53m:01s) Freddy Loix (4h:57m:06s) Armin Schwarz (4h:59m:34s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 Ford Escort WRC
Rally Catalunya	14 April–16 April	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:08m:46s) Piero Liatti (4h:08m:53s) Gilles Panizzi (4h:11m:55s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Peugeot 306 Maxi
Tour de Corse	5 May–7 May	Colin McRae (4h:31m:08s) Carlos Sainz (4h:31m:16s) Gilles Panizzi (4h:31m:46s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Peugeot 306 Maxi
Rally Argentina	22 May–24 May	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:25m:38s) Colin McRae (4h:26m:39s) Kenneth Eriksson (4h:30m:06s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Subaru Impreza WRC 97
Acropolis Rally	8 June–10 June	Carlos Sainz (4h:56m:24s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:56m:41s) Tommi Mäkinen (5h:01m:27s)	Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Rally New Zealand	2 August–5 August	Kenneth Eriksson (4h:14m:11s) Carlos Sainz (4h:14m:24s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:14m:30s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC
Rally Finland	29 August–31 August	Tommi Mäkinen (3h:16m:18s) Juha Kankkunen (3h:16m:25s) Jarmo Kytölehto (3h:18m:18s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC
Rally Indonesia	19 September–21 September	Carlos Sainz (4h:37m:30s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:37m:46s) Kenneth Eriksson (4h:38m:49s)	Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 97
Rally Sanremo	13 October–15 October	Colin McRae (4h:08m:25s) Piero Liatti (4h:08m:31s) Tommi Mäkinen (4h:08m:37s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Rally Australia	30 October–2 November	Colin McRae (4h:05m:31s) Tommi Mäkinen (4h:05m:37s) Didier Auriol (4h:05m:52s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Toyota Corolla WRC
RAC Rally	23 November–25 November	Colin McRae (3h:54m:31s) Juha Kankkunen (3h:57m:18s) Carlos Sainz (3h:58m:24s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC
Source:^[1]

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References

1 2 "WRC 1997". eWRC-results.com . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
↑ "1997 WRC calendar". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
1 2 "FIA World Rally Championship Entry List 1997". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
1 2 "Season 1997 – Championship standings". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
1 2 "FIA World Rally Championship Standings 1997". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 16 January 2024.

External links

FIA World Rally Championship 1997 at ewrc-results.com

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[WRC1997-1] 1 2 "WRC 1997". eWRC-results.com . Retrieved 16 January 2024.

[2] "1997 WRC calendar". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 16 January 2024.

[EntryList-3] 1 2 "FIA World Rally Championship Entry List 1997". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 16 January 2024.

[1997Juwra-4] 1 2 "Season 1997 – Championship standings". Jonkka's World Rally Archive. Retrieved 16 January 2024.

[1997Standings-5] 1 2 "FIA World Rally Championship Standings 1997". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 16 January 2024.

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