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
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 |
.svg.png) 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
|
|
| 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
