Report on the 1999 Finnish WRC rally

August the 22th / Day 3

Another unusually sunny and dry day even though the event's last, televised, stage was run under some showers. The day's stages were run approximately 90km to the south of Jyväskylä with the exception of the last stage 23 which was broadcasted live and was run 30 km to the east of the city.

We watched stage 20 and 22 Tammimäki I and II, 9.27km long. This stage was run twice and for the first set of shots we were located between 2 and 3km into the stage. The following pictures were shot at this location:

Special Stage 20 and 22

Special stage 20 was won by Markus Grönholm with a time of 4:29.8 (avg. speed 123.7km/h). Markus was 0.9 seconds faster than Colin McRae. Richard Burns was third 0.8 seconds behind Colin and Harri Rovanperä was fourth 2.3 seconds behind Richard. Note that the second Seat Cordoba WRC evo II driven by Toni Gardemeister signed the exact same time as the one driven by Rovanpera on this stage.

For the second pass on this stage, special stage 22 Tammimäki II, we moved towards the beginning of the stage at 1km from the start. The following pictures were shot there:

Special stage 22 was won by Juha Kankkunen with a time of 4:30.7 (slower than the previous time set by Markus Grönholm avg. speed 123.3km/h) in front of Richard Burns for only 0.1 seconds. Markus Grönholm was third 0.6 sec behind Richard and Carlos Sainz fourth 0.7 behind Markus.

Overall a very exciting and animated event and the first to which all major WRC contenders took part.

The final classification was:

1 Kankkunen Subaru Impreza 3:08:54,5
2 Burns Subaru Impreza 3:09:04,2
3 Sainz Toyota Corolla 3:09:12,5
4 Grönholm Peugeot 206 3:10:26,7
5 Rovanperä Seat Cordoba 3:11:04,6
6 Gardemeister Seat Cordoba 3:12:04,0
7 Lindholm Ford Escort 3:12:59,5
8 Tuohino Ford Escort 3:17:59,5
9 Delecour Peugeot 206 3:18:48,9
10 Loix Mitsubishi Carisma 3:19:43,5

You'll find all the pictures starting at this page.

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