Burns takes historic home hat-trick!
BURNS TAKES HISTORIC HOME HAT-TRICK!
STOHL IS GROUP N WORLD CHAMPION
Richard Burns clinched a hat trick of three successive victories on Rally GB but was denied the World Rally Championship by second placed Marcus Gronholm. The Subaru-Pirelli driver gave Pirelli its 117th World Championship rally win and the fifth win for Subaru on this event. Only two other drivers (Erik Carlsson and Timo Makinen) have ever won three Rally GBs in succession although Subaru-Pirelli driver Colin McRae did take three consecutive wins between 1994-1997 broken only by the non-championship 1996 event.
Pirelli is also celebrating Manfred Stohl's win in Group N that has secured for the Mitsubishi-Pirelli driver this season's Group N World Championship. Stohl's only rival was reigning four-time champion Gustavo Trelles (also Mitsubishi-Pirelli). Mitsubishi has won Group N on every round of this year's championship, 10 times with Pirelli, thanks to Stohl, Trelles, Uwe Nittel, Gabriele Pozzo, Claudio Menzi and Gianluigi Galli.
Throughout this event the Pirelli KM6 pattern and compound has been the tyre of choice, performing superbly in the treacherous conditions.
Although narrowly beaten for the Drivers' Championship this year, Pirelli can look back on a highly successful season. Highlights have been the 1-2-3 result for Burns, Kankkunen (Subaru-Pirelli) and Didier Auriol (SEAT-Pirelli) on the Safari Rally where victory was achieved without a single puncture despite the decision to run without the EMI anti-deflation system. After the 4 victories on this year gravel events, we must also reflect with satisfaction on the continuing improvements to our asphalt range of PZero tyres that proved so effective in Catalunya and on subsequent events. It should be noted that Burns was by far the fastest driver of the year, winning more Stages than any of his rivals.
Although the 2000 season is now over, preparations for 2001 begin in two days' time as Monte Carlo Rally testing gets under way in Spain. While Pirelli is sad to lose SEAT-Pirelli from the World Rally Championship because of their retirement at the end of this year, Pirelli is equally excited to gain Ford as technical partner alongside a continuing liaison with Subaru-Pirelli in a fresh long-term agreement.
FINAL STANDING (17 SSs totally)
: 1. Burns (Subaru-Pirelli) 3h43m01.9 ; 2. Gronholm (Peugeot), +1m05.6; 3. Makinen (Mitsubishi) +1m15.0; 4. Sainz (Ford) +1m33.5; 5. Kankkunen (Subaru-Pirelli) +1m46.9; 6. Delecour (Peugeot) +1m48.5; 7. Martin (Toyota) +3m24.4 ; 8. Panizzi (Peugeot) +3m35.6; 9. Auriol (SEAT-Pirelli) +4m27.4; 10 Rovanpera (SEAT-Pirelli) +5m10.1
RALLY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (final)
Drivers: 1. Gronholm pt.65 (World Champion); 2. Burns 60; 3. Sainz 46; 4. McRae 43; 5. Makinen 36; 6. Delecour 24; 7. Panizzi 21; 8. Kankkunen 20; 9. Rovanpera 7; 10. Solberg 6; 11. Auriol, Loix, Arai and Eriksson 4; 15. Gardemeister and Radstrom 3; . . . Manufacturers: 1 Peugeot pt.111 (World Champion); 2 Ford 91; 3 Subaru-Pirelli 88; 4 Mitsubishi 43; 5 SEAT-Pirelli 11; 6 Skoda and Hyundai 8. Group N: 1 Stohl pt.75 (World Champion); 2 Trelles 64; 3 Pozzo 22; 4 Paasonen 21; 5 Menzi and Ferreyros 17; 6 Galli 14; 8 Campos 13; 9 Pykalisto 12; 10 Sanchez and Nittel 10; . . .
Cardiff, November 26, 2000