Pirelli disappointed but confirms asphalt potential

The two Peugeots driven by Panizzi and Delecour to 1st and 2nd place respectively dominated the Sanremo Rally, allowing the French Manufacturers to be the new World Championship leader.

Richard Burns' retirement from 3rd place during Leg 2 was a big disappointment for Pirelli but the Subaru driver had already provided a great deal of useful information about the latest developments to Pirelli's range of PZero asphalt tyres.

Intensive development work after a strong performance in Catalunya led to Burns being highly competitive both in Corsica and San Remo. The team now has fresh inspiration and new ideas for next season's asphalt events where Subaru and Pirelli's new partners, Ford, will see the benefit.

San Remo was the final asphalt event of the year. The championship goes now to Australia and Great Britain for two of Pirelli's strongest events and Burns remains confident that he can still fight for the World Rally Crown.

The Group N battle in San Remo was incredibly close with Mitsubishi-Pirelli drivers completely dominant. Gianluigi Galli eventually beat Alex Fiorio to take a third successive San Remo Group N win while third and fourth places were taken by the two drivers chasing this season's World Championship, Gustavo Trelles (the current World Champion) and Manfred Stohl (the championship leader).

FINAL STANDINGS (after 17 SSs totally):
1. Panizzi (Peugeot), 3h52m07.3;2. Delecour (Peugeot) +16.8; 3. Makinen (Mitsubishi) +53.0 ; 4. Gronholm (Peugeot) +1m02.3; 5. Sainz (Ford) + 1m11.3; 6. McRae (Ford) +1m40.0; 7. Jean-Joseph (Subaru-Pirelli) +1m56.7 ; 8. Loix (Mitsubishi) +2m23.0 ; 9. Solberg (Subaru-Pirelli) +2m31.7; . . .

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after 12 of 14 events)

Drivers:
1. Gronholm pt.49; 2. Burns 44; 3. McRae and Sainz 43; 5. Makinen 32; 6. Panizzi 21; 7. Delecour 19; 8. Kankkunen 18; 9. Rovanpera 7; 9. Solberg 6; 10. Auriol, Loix and Arai 4; 13. Gardemeister and Radstrom 3; . . .

Manufacturers:
1. Peugeot pt.90; 2. Ford 88; 3. Subaru-Pirelli 70; 4. Mitsubishi 39; 5. Skoda and SEAT-Pirelli 8; 7. Hyundai 5

Group N:
1. Stohl pt.61; 2. Trelles 54; 3. Pozzo 22; 4. Paasonen 21; 5. Menzi 16

NEXT EVENT:
Australia (gravel), 9-12 November

Sanremo (Italy), October 22, 2000