1990: Finns finally beaten on home turf

With typical aggression the Finn never gave up, his fans treated to some of the most dazzling driving imaginable, over the sweeping crests and blind brows which test drivers like no other event ever could.

Kenneth Eriksson resisted Markku Alen's advances in the Subaru to stay third, so that the top Lancia was Juha Kankkunen in fifth after his luck again deserted him on home ground. The Italian team had its worst result for a long time and is now under real pressure from Toyota in the World Championship for Manufacturers.

There is no doubt that Lancia arrived in confident mood with three cars and lead driver, Juha Kankkunen, quite open about the prospects: "I start as favourite, but that isn't a problem, we are all edgy, every year is just like the first time."

Of course, it was the first time for the Mazda 323 4WD GTX and the Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4, Boreham's return to the world series taking place on schedule with a trio of Q8-liveried Cosworths for Wilson, Airikkala and Cunico. The team probably had more reason than most to be nervous, but such is the depth of company support for the project there is real enthusiasm in the ranks.

"This place has changed since I was here in 1986 with Austin Rover," commented Malcolm Wilson. "That was when they used some farm roads, but now it is so fast. The first short leg on Thursday night is the quickest, hard fast gravel roads, it's something else."

In fact, the route was very similar to that run one year ago, drivers - and co-drivers - expressing some concern on the day before the start that the recce period had been dry and the rain now pouring from the skies would introduce a further hazard. The danger of a hosepipe ban is something that Finns are not likely to have to come to terms with in the near future.

What was prominent in the mind, however, was the potentially horrific accident which befell Carlos Sainz on Tuesday night and left him hobbling for the rest of the weekend. Nobody explained how two cars were parked stationary across the track, and while the "Green" protesters later in the event were peaceful, one wondered if extremists had been at work. Juha Kankkunen also had a pre-event testing accident, ripping a wheel from the Lancia, but that one was his own fault and no lasting damage was done. Attention soon focused on Thursday's 6.30am start, held in downtown Jyvaskyla to celebrate the event's 40th anniversary.

Victory here is so often decided by mere seconds, that drivers know they are under pressure, so the first test in town on a mixture of asphalt, cobbles and little sections of soggy gravel saw the brave out on cut intermediate tyres (suitably prepared in tyre warmers, of course).

And they were soon in the wars: Didier Auriol whacked his Lancia, Malcolm Wilson had a couple of wild moments as did Franco Cunico.

But to underline how competitive this event was going to be, the top six places were taken by six different manufacturers, Kankkunen (Lancia) ahead of Alen (Subaru), Ericsson (Toyota), Airikkala (Ford), Eriksson (Mitsubishi), and Salonen (Mazda).

Out of town, into the forests for the first real stage, rated by most as one of the quickest tests of the event, and then down to service for 5 minutes, the teams all spread out in a clearing with radios crackling out the times even before the cars appeared.

A stream of helicopters descended to the far corner of the clearing, dis-gorging key engineers who just had time to run to their respective camps before the first cars splashed their way into position.

Mikael Ericsson, 1989 winner, had bent a front strut after a hard landing but set joint fastest time with team mate Carlos Sainz. "That really was fast enough," sighed co-driver Claes Billstam, "it is l0km and we did it in four and a half minutes. Think about it over those jumps."

"I am too short geared," barked Alen in his new Subaru corner, "all the time I am on the limiter, maximum speed is 183kph, 7300 revs."

"I wasn't looking at the rev counter," laughed Wilson, still in some sort of shock, "...this is just so much quicker than the last time."

All around there was controlled activity, except where you would least expect chaos. The Martini mechanics had the hammers out trying to rebuild the whole left side of Auriol's car. Remarkably, it was entirely cosmetic and the Frenchman, who crashed out early on last year, would have a second chance.

The anti-clockwise lap to the south of Jyvaskyla saw Sainz pick up three more quickest times, although a punc-ture had cost a couple of seconds as he arrived at the service point before SS5. "Yesterday I could not use the left foot to brake," he explained, "but today it is much better, the doctor is looking after me and we have moved the pedals a little so there is no problem." Behind him, with darkness descending, Pirelli technicians hand cut a few more covers by torchlight, the subtle-ties of the science underlined by Andy Hallam standing with Ford a short distance away. "Pentti used the M8 compound uncut on one stage, Mal-colm used the M7 cut, both were happy and both recorded an identical time."

A few moments later saw real gloom and darkness descend over the Ford camp with the news that Pentti Airikkala's involvement was over. The new 7-speed gearbox had failed, there was no chance of rescue and senior engineer John Wheeler now had to work out how to protect his remaining cars, aware that the first real opportunity to do major work was on Friday after-noon. Ultimately, the problem was considered to be in the heat treatment of the gears - there had been problems in testing.

The order that night suggested that maybe Kankkunen had reason to be confident, his Lancia two seconds ahead of Sainz. "The only mistake today was that we chose to run the ATS Michelin on SS5 because it had been very rough in recce."

Positions after 6 stages: 1, Kankkunen (Lancia), 32m26s; 2, Sainz (Toyota), 32m28s; 3, Ericsson (Toyota), 32m37s; 4, Vatanen, (Mitsubishi), 32m45s; 5, Salonen (Mazda), 32m51s; 6, Alen (Subaru), 32m56s; 7, Eriksson (Mitsubishi), 33m14s; 8, Mikkola (Mazda), 33m16s; 9, Wilson (Ford). 33m24s; 10, Auriol, (Lancia), 33m26s.

The first stage on Friday morning, appropriately sponsored by the Actionman company, was important. Held around the perimeter of Laukaa, Juha's home town, Carlos had beaten the Finn on this stage last year so personal honour was at stake here.

The Lancia burst into view from the trees absolutely sideways, engine on the limiter and just dancing along this road winding its way across the patch-work fields. Sideways one way, then the other, it was commitment which could have no equal and which delight-ed the crowd. Sainz tried, but con-firmed later that the tracks left by the first man had amazed him.

Timo Salonen looked impressive, at last enjoying a Mazda which has both balance and power; Vatanen was get-ting into his stride; Alen's flat four Subaru sounded the part with its side exhausts; and Wilson also looked good.

An hour or so later, the rain had almost stopped, but Radio Jyvaskyla took on a sombre tone: "We have an update from the 1000 Lakes Rally where the rally leader is Carlos Sainz... from Spain." Dour voices confirmed that Kankkunen's bad luck - which has always denied him a chance of a home win despite his two world titles - had struck again. The throttle cable had snapped, the driver had to perch on the bonnet and operate the mechanism, Piironen in the driving seat.

About 5 minutes had been lost and the battle for victory now looked to be between Sainz and Vatanen, the Mitsubishi man brimming with confidence after notching up his first fastest time. "We are all the time setting new limits in this sport, it's not like athletics where there are boundaries. Success depends on mental as well as physical feeling, I feel good, but this would be interesting for a pyschologist - it's all in the mind."

Tyre warmers continued to help to convince the drivers everything was on their side in the Galant camp, although at Subaru Alen was lacking in confidence. Prodrive mechanics were at the start of several days changing transmission components and brake parts trying to give their man a good, consistent, pedal.

Ericsson seemed hesitant as well, anxiously looking over the mechanics' shoulders as they checked the car. "There is nothing anybody can do about a certain crazy Finn," commented Billstam. "Ari is so quick, but at least we now have a few seconds over Timo, that was getting too close."

By the time the convoy crept (80kph is usually the strict maximum in this part of the world) its way towards the lunch break in Piekssamaki east of the headquarters, Lancia personnel were beginning to realise what trouble they were in - Auriol and Fiorio involved in a great head-to-head battle, but for eighth place. Was it the drivers, or was the Delta feeling its age? Certainly it's not as young as it was, one recent addition the fitment of automatic shock absorber water cool-ers which spray the units, necessary in order to allow the use of wider rims in narrow wheel arches.

And Ford's troubles were multiplying, Wilson arriving at the parc ferme with horn blaring and enough urgency to send the odd spectator back into the trees. One minute from exclusion, he met the leaders on their way to the re-start, repeating the story of how his gearbox had broken, how mechanics trailed a new 'box into the stage, heaved the car onto its side, and kept him in the event. Later that night it was decided to withdraw the car rather than spend the next two days clamber-ing over back-markers.

Jyvaskyla, by this time, was in full fever mode, the town seething with humanity. Over 18s head for the discos/bars/hotels and fall over, under 18s can't get in so usually are content to fall over in the streets.

"Is this normal?" I asked the hotel receptionist.

"Oh no," she replied, "it only happens on Friday and Saturday nights." The revellers didn't entirely ignore the rally, some packing into the headquar-ters for some fun, one intrepid soul driving off in a Subaru service truck while the team were on a late night tyre-fitting session. The efficiency of the police was for once on the rally's side, the drunk soon caught in a rou-tine trap, and life continued.

Positions after 18 stages: 1, Sainz (Toyota), 1h37m19s; 2, Vatanen (Mitsubishi), 1h37m35s; 3, Ericsson (Toyota), 1h38mO8s; 4, Salonen (Mazda), 1h38m36s; 5, Eriksson (Mitsubishi), 1h39mO4s; 6, Alen (Subaru), 1h39m20s; 7, Mikkola (Mazda), 1h39m41s; 8, Auriol (Lancia), 1h40m09s; 9, Fiorio, (Lancia), 1h40m18s; 10, Lindholm (Lancia), 1 h41 mO3s.

Saturday provided the longest day, heading south to Tampere and returning late at night. The early start saw low mist keep the choppers (16 were in use on the rally) out of action, and suddenly the pressure was beginning to tell. Franco Cunico was first in the news, destroying the last remaining Ford after another unimpressive run; followed by Mikkola, who switched off his new Mazda engine when the oil pressure disappeared; and Ericsson who set fastest times on two of the three tests he finished that morning. Then came the accident.

"It was caused by myself: a fast left, right, left, right and I must have hit something in the second right and taken a puncture so I could not make the next corner," said Ericsson. It was a sizeable barrel-rolling accident from which both parties emerged unscathed, until someone holding a door let go and his fingers were trapped in the frame.

Vatanen picked up a slight puncture, half spun and stalled losing about 15 seconds; team mate Eriksson told of his 200m bobsleigh run down a ditch deeper than his car with a lucky escape at the end; and Gwyndaf Evans - pursuing Group N leader Tommi Makinen with style - was also on his roof for a while.

But the sun was shining, and Vatanen was still intent on upholding Finnish honour if at all possible. "We have just been fastest on SS24, if we can take 2 seconds off him each time it will be enough."
The 'back seat' of the car looked strangely empty. "We have no spare tyre, if we need it, then it is finished anyway," he smiled, perhaps unaware that Toyota had often run with a spare tyre from the outset.

"Toyota has a higher top speed than us," commented co-driver Berglund, although while maybe the Celica could run at about 205kph maximum, Mitsubishi engineers were happy with the ratios which combined a 188kph top whack with advantages in accelera-tion.

Tampere offered a break, an opportunity for some to lie in the sun or sleep, and a town centre asphalt blast. Sainz was the first to warm his tyres on the run down through the shops to the arrival control by the lakeside, clock-ing 2m02s. Vatanen was 1 second slower, then Alen a further second quicker, knocking down a post on route and leaving the rest to benefit from a shortcut. Kankkunen would trim another second from the Legacy's time, and while he was rattling back up the order, there was little humour in the Lancia camp, Auriol having crashed out just before the halt.

"I found it so difficult to get going again after that halt," explained Sainz, after the road north to Jyvaskyla, "but really it is an incredible battle. On that long stage this morning, 32km, we were one second apart - different cars, tyres, everything and just a second to split us. Ari has nothing to lose, yet the people are so good - cheering us as if we were native Finns."

He'd had one bad moment when a couple of rocks were put in the road and he had to drive over them, but typically remained unconcerned: "You get people like that in any country."

But his composure, so obvious in any service point where he is happy to mix and talk, was somehow not there as he queued for parc ferme. He looked under pressure for the first time. "I thought it was an 80 limit, but it was a 50, if the police catch me again tomorrow, I lose five minutes..." The horrors of another ticket were all too evident.

Eriksson was more relaxed. "I tried really hard on this last leg from Tampere, really needed to get ahead of Alen and now there is a little time." His rival, meanwhile, explained the latest Legacy transmission/braking characteristic, the cause of which was a centre diff failure, the result of which was, "like driving an Escort or Mira-fiori."

Positions after 34 stages: 1, Sainz (Toyota), 3h49m36s; 2, Vatanen (Mitsubishi), 3h50m24s; 3, Eriksson (Mitsubishi), 3h53m44s; 4, Alen (Subaru), 3h54m28s; 5, Kankkunen (Lancia), 3h56mO5s; 6, Salonen (Mazda), 3h57mO1s; 7, Lampi (Mitsu-bishi), 3h57m32s; 8, Lindholm (Lancia), 3h57m51s; 9, Saarenpaa (Audi 90 Quattro), 4hO9m42s; 10, Makinen (Mitsubishi), 4h10m18s.

Realistically, Ari Vatanen could hardly have expected to take 48 seconds off Sainz on those last eight stages on Sun-day. But there was no point in being realistic, and when the lead Toyota eased the pace slightly on the opening test (Carlos not having practised this test as thoroughly as others), Ari's motivation grew with the minute.

More time on the next stage and the fans were once again believing in the man who has given Finland so much to celebrate during his career.

Yet for one of the coming-men of Finnish rallying, Tommi Makinen, there was anxiety. He had led Group N since the first day, repelled the advances of Recalde (who rolled and would finish back in 22nd), Trelles and Soto, but was now using just second and fourth gears.

Only when they reached the Rantasipi finish line could they relax, although by that time banner-waving Spaniards had greeted their heroes, Carlos and co-driver Luis Moya with a chant of "CampionelCampione!"

Vatanen and Bruno Berglund were left to rue those precious seconds lost on the opening day: "At the end of the first evening I was 19 seconds behind Juha, now I am 19 seconds behind Carlos - that's it. But I know that my recent rallies have not gone well. I have not really proved a point and feel that sometimes I let my team down. So I had to keep pushing."

Eriksson was happy just to notch up his first result of the season, admitting he did not have the pace of the leaders but taking satisfaction from keeping Alen's Subaru behind.

"I wanted third position," explained the tall Finn, "but it was fourth and now I must have more power, maybe I am giving away minimum 30 horse-power. But car is good."

So, too, was the Mazda. "This engine was not the proper one," explain-ed Salonen. "We have much better torque coming and if we had had that then it's no problem to make the best times here." His only major problem had been a couple of failures in the centre diff, which meant road penal-ties, prompting him to adopt a more leisurely style at stage starts.

Kankkunen had at least recovered to take some points for his team, but this was heartbreak time. He headed for a private drink while the winners gathered for the post-event press conference, Sainz and Moya for Toyota, surrounded by Mitsubishi drivers Vatanen and Eriksson, plus Group N winner, Makinen.

"When I was young, I watched television and saw drivers like Ari and really wanted to be able to drive like a Finn," said Sainz to an admiring audience. "Years have passed and now we are here, no one can understand what that means to us.

"It's such a fast rally, we first came three years ago and I know that before I jumped the car too much, this time I tried to make it stay on the ground and not go so high. But that's difficult -there are no tactics - Ari never allowed us to slow down and I couldn't believe his times this morning.

"Yes, after four or five stages today I wondered about being safe, about championship points or victory. But it didn't take long to decide to take the risk and I think that the spectators enjoyed it."

Certainly they had. Carlos was heartened by the support he found, fans warming to his driving and his personality. A year ago, Juha Kankkunen abandoned Toyota after his car broke on the 1000 Lakes. Team boss Ove Andersson was upset, never believing he would lose him and only afterwards taking heart from the impact Carlos was making: "You never know," he remarked at the end of 1989, "maybe Lancia got the wrong one."