The 1999 World Rally Championship was the 27th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. Tommi Mäkinen won his fourth drivers' world championship driving for Mitsubishi, ahead of Richard Burns and Didier Auriol. The manufacturers' title was won by Toyota, ahead of Subaru and Mitsubishi.
In an upset predicted two years earlier a two-wheel-drive car won a rally for the first time since Alain Oreille won the 1989 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire in his Renault 5 when Philippe Bugalski took his Citroën Xsara Kit Car to victory in the Rally Catalunya. Bugalski backed it up three weeks later winning the Tour de Corse. With such specialised tarmac cars now beating WRC cars while at the same time not competing in the FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup designed for them a revamp of two-wheel-drive regulations was created for the 2000 season.
Calendar
The 1999 championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania.
Rd.Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistance117 January20 January 67th Rallye Automobile Monte CarloMonte CarloMixed14424.69 km212 February14 February 48th International Swedish RallyKarlstad, Värmland CountySnow19384.30 km325 February28 February 47th 555 Safari RallyNairobiGravel131009.91 km421 March24 March 33rd TAP Rallye de PortugalMatosinhos, PortoGravel23399.51 km519 April21 April 35th Rallye Catalunya - Costa Brava - Rallye de EspañaLloret de Mar, CataloniaTarmac19396.01 km67 May9 May 43rd Tour de Corse - Rallye de FranceAjaccio, CorsicaTarmac17373.99 km722 May25 May 19th Rally ArgentinaCarlos Paz, CórdobaGravel22396.63 km86 June9 June 46th Acropolis RallyAgioi Theodoroi, PeloponneseGravel21376.06 km915 July18 July 30th Rally New ZealandManukau, AucklandGravel27399.84 km1020 August22 August 49th Neste Rally FinlandJyväskylä, Central FinlandGravel23377.26 km1117 September19 September 3rd 555 China Rally 1999Huairou, BeijingGravel22385.72 km1211 October13 October 49th Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'ItaliaSanremo, LiguriaTarmac18384.88 km134 November7 November 12th Telstra Rally AustraliaPerth, Western AustraliaGravel23395.88 km1421 November23 November 55th Network Q Rally of Great BritainCheltenham, GloucestershireGravel22389.39 kmSources:
Teams and drivers Team Manufacturer Car Tyre No. Driver Co-Driver Rounds Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 1 Tommi Mäkinen Risto Mannisenmäki All 2 Freddy Loix Sven Smeets 1–3, 5–14 Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen4Lancer Evo V (Grp. N)14 Hamed Al-Wahaibi Tony Sircombe349224 Ed Ordynski Iain Stewart13 Toyota Castrol TeamToyotaCorolla WRC3 Carlos Sainz Luis MoyaAll4 Didier Auriol Denis GiraudetAll20 Isolde Holderied Catherine François145 Martin Brundle Arne Hertz14 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC 99 5 Richard Burns Robert Reid All 6 Juha Kankkunen Juha Repo 1–4, 7–14 Bruno Thiry Stéphane Prévot 5–6 14 1–4 Juha Kankkunen Juha Repo 5 Ford Motor Co Ford Focus RS WRC 99 7 Colin McRae Nicky Grist All 8 Simon Jean-Joseph Fred Gallagher 1, 5–6, 12 Thomas Rådström 2, 7–11, 13 Gunnar Barth 14 Petter Solberg Fred Gallagher 3 Phil Mills4*2, 10, 12, 14 SEAT Sport SEAT Córdoba WRC 9 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen All 10 Piero Liatti Carlo Cassina 1, 3–8, 11–12 Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen 2 Toni Gardemeister Paavo Lukander 9–10, 13–14 16 Gwyndaf Evans Howard Davies 14 20 Toni Gardemeister Paavo Lukander 12 Škoda MotorsportŠkodaOctavia WRC11 Armin Schwarz Manfred Hiemer1, 4–5, 8, 10, 12, 1412 Pavel Sibera Petr Gross1, 5 Emil Triner Miloš Hůlka4, 8, 10, 12 Bruno Thiry Stéphane Prévot14 Peugeot Esso Peugeot 206 WRC 14 François Delecour Daniel Grataloup 6, 8, 10, 12–14 15 Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen 8, 10, 13–14 Gilles Panizzi Herve Panizzi 6, 12 16 1021 Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen 12 22 Gilles Panizzi Herve Panizzi 14
Non Manufacturer Entries Major entries not registered as manufacturers Team Manufacturer CarTyre DriversCo-drivers Rounds Gilles Panizzi Subaru Impreza WRC Gilles Panizzi Herve Panizzi 1 A.R.T Engineering Andrea Dallavilla Danilo Fappani 1, 12 Procar Rally Team Rui Madeira Nuno Rodrigues da Silva 4 Jean-Pierre Richelmi Freddy Delorme 8 Diego Oldrati Dario D'Esposito 12 Ioannis PapadimitriouImpreza 555 Ioannis Papadimitriou Nikolaos Petropoulos 4Impreza WRC 8, 14 Subaru Allstars Endless Sport Toshihiro Arai Roger Freeman 4–6, 8 Subaru Rally Team Australia Peter 'Possum' Bourne Craig Vincent 9, 13 Treviso Rally Team Paolo Andreucci Giovanni Bernacchini 12Impreza 555 Corrado Fontana Massimo Sacchettino 12 Subaru Rallye Team DeutschlandImpreza WRC Armin Kremer Fred Berssen 14 François DelecourFordEscort WRC François Delecour Dominique Savignoni 1 Gazprom Rally Team Sebastian Lindholm Jukka Aho 2 Ford Team Finland 10 EOS Rally Team Markko Märtin Toomas Kitsing 2, 4 LPM Human Heat Janne Tuohino Miikka Anttila 10, 14 Jolly Club Andrea Navarra Simona Fedeli 12 Marlboro / Mobil 1 Rally Team Janusz Kulig Jarosław Baran 14 Henning Solberg Henning Solberg Runar Pedersen 14 Toyota Castrol Team GermanyToyotaCorolla WRC Isolde Holderied Catherine François 5–6, 12 Matthias Kahle Dieter Schneppenheim 4, 8–9, 14 Toyota Castrol Team Denmark Henrik Lundgaard Jens-Christian Anker 1, 5–6, 12 Toyota Castrol Team Finland Pasi Hagström Tero Gardemeister 2, 4, 10 EOS Rally Team Markko Märtin Toomas Kitsing 8, 10, 12, 14 Toyota Kenya Ian Duncan David Williamson3 Telecel Castrol Team Pedro Chaves Sérgio Paiva 4 Toyota Hellas Armodios Vovos Ioánnis Alvanos 4, 8 Tein Sport Takuma Kamada Allen Oh 9, 11 Jesús Puras Jesús Puras Marc Martí 11, 14 H.F. Grifone SRL Andrea Aghini Loris Roggia 12 Nicola Caldani Maurizio Barone 12 Carlo Zucchetti Renzo Casazza 12 Toyota Team Australia Neal Bates Coral Taylor 13 Mitsubishi Ralliart New ZealandMitsubishiLancer Evo? Geoff Argyle Bernard Teal9, 13 Lewis Scott Jane Black9 Team Advan Ralliart Yoshihiro Kataoka Satoshi Hayashi 9, 11, 13
FIA Teams Cup Team Manufacturer CarTyre DriversCo-drivers Rounds Valencia Terra y MarMitsubishiLancer Evo (Grp. N) Luis Climent Álex Romaní 1–3 Pernilla Walfridsson Pernilla Walfridsson Ulrika Mattsson 2, 4–5, 10, 14 Team Mitsubishi Oman Hamed Al-Wahaibi Tony Sircombe4–14 Wizja TV / Turning Point RTSubaruImpreza WRC Krzysztof Hołowczyc Jean-Marc Fortin 2, 4, 14 F.Dor Rally Team Frédéric Dor Didier Breton 4, 8, 10, 13 Kevin Gormley 3, 7, 9 Mark Fisher 14 Valencia Terra y Mar Luis Climent Álex Romaní4–6, 8, 10, 12, 14 Winfield Rally Team Michael Guest David Green4–5, 8–9, 11, 13 Toyota Team Saudi ArabiaToyotaCorolla WRC Abdullah Bakhashab Michael Park2, 4–6, 8, 11–12, 14 Toyota Mobil Team Turkey Volkan Isik Erkan Bodur4–5, 7–8, 10–12
FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup Manufacturer Entries Team Manufacturer CarTyre DriversCo-drivers Rounds Andrea Maselli Renault Clio Williams Andrea Maselli Nicola Arena 1, 5–6 Frédéric Maniccia? Frédéric Maniccia Richard Thaon 1 Jennie-Lee Hermansson? Jennie-Lee Hermansson Stefan Bergman 2 Gaël Lecerf? Gaël Lecerf Yvon Catala 9 Renault Elf Dealer RallyingMégane Maxi Martin Rowe Derek Ringer 4, 6, 10, 12–14 Tapio Laukkanen Kaj Lindström 4, 6, 10, 12–14 Renault Gest Galp Pedro Azeredo Carlos Magalhães 4 Renault Sport España Oriol Gómez Oriol Julià Pascual 5 Yacco Rally Team Benoît Rousselot Jack Boyère 6 Renault Sport Belgium Kris Princen Dany Colebunders 8, 12 Renault Sport Greece "Leonidas" Maria Pavli-Korre 8 Treviso Rally Team Piero Longhi Lucio Baggio 12 Renault Sport Austria Raphael Sperrer Per Carlsson 12 Ricardo Bissio18 GTX? Ricardo Bissio Claudio Henin 7 Heriberto Ortiz Heriberto Ortiz Guillermo Flores 7 Hyundai MotorsportHyundaiCoupe Evo 2 Kenneth Eriksson Staffan Parmander 2, 4–5, 8–14 Alister McRae David Senior 2, 4–5, 8–14 Phineas KimathiCoupe? Phineas Kimathi Abdul Sidi 3 Graham Middleton Graham Middleton John Morgan 14 Giórgos VomvilasAccentS Giórgos Vomvilas Ioánnis Athanassiou 8 Volkswagen Motorsport SwedenVolkswagenGolf III Kit Car? Harry Joki Ingemar Karlsson 2 Andreas Eriksson Patrick Henriksson 2 Blue Rose Team Jani Pirttinen Timo Hantunen 2, 10 Volkswagen Motorsport Australia Simon Evans Sue Evans 9, 13 Janne Vähämiko Janne Vähämiko Veijo Vainio 10 Volkswagen Motorsport UKGolf IV Kit Car Mark Higgins Bryan Thomas10, 13–14 Polsat Dialog Rally TeamGolf III Kit Car Tomasz Kuchar Maciej Szczepaniak 12
FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup Non Manufacturer Entries Team Manufacturer CarTyre DriversCo-drivers Rounds Astra Racing SEAT Ibiza Kit Car Evo2 Toni Gardemeister Paavo Lukander 1–2, 4 Seat Dealer Team Sweden? Jörgen Jonasson Pecka Svensson 2 Patric Carlsson Peter Johansson 2 RACC Motorsport Salvador Cañellas Carlos del Barrio 2, 4 Seat Sport UK Gwyndaf Evans Howard Davies 7 Mike Brown Aled Davies 14 Citroën SportCitroënSaxo Kit Car Philippe Bugalski Jean-Paul Chiaroni 1 Jesús Puras Marc Martí 1 Vítor Lopes José Janela 4Xsara F2 Philippe Bugalski Jean-Paul Chiaroni 5–6, 12 Jesús Puras Marc Martí 5–6, 12 Equipe de France FFSASaxo Kit Car Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena 5–6, 12 Fabien Véricel Vincent Ducher 5–6, 12 Opel Team SwedenOpelAstra Kit Car Per Svan Johan Olsson 2 Anders Nilsson Markku Kangas 2 Ford Motor CoFordPuma Kit Car Stig Blomqvist Benny Melander 2 Patrick Magaud Guylène Brun 5, 12 Priscille De Belloy Christiane Nicolet 5, 12 Simon Jean-Joseph Patrick Pivato 8, 10 Peugeot Esso Silver Team SGPeugeot306 maxi Adruzilo Lopes Luís Lisboa 4–5, 12 Peugeot Sport España Manuel Muniente Diego Vallejo 5 F.P.F. Sport Renato Travaglia Flavio Zanella 12 Silverstone Suzuki SportSuzukiBaleno Wagon Kit CarS Nobuhiro Tajima Visut Sukosi 9, 11 Vauxhall MotorsportVauxhallAstra Kit Car Jarmo Kytölehto Arto Kapanen 10, 12, 14 Neil Wearden Trevor Agnew 10, 12, 14 Proton MotorsportProtonSatria Kit Car William Hayes Stefan Cecconi13 Mathew Knox Karl Francis 13 Mats Andersson Claire Mole 14 Tony Jardine Kevin Piper 14
Group N Cup major entries