The 1999 China Rally (officially 555 China Rally) took place from 17 September to 19 September 1999. It was the 11th of 14 races of the 316th World Rally Championship (WRC).
Overview The 1999 China Rally was the 3rd edition of the rally, the surface was gravel, the road section distance was 1,037.66 km and the total distance was 1,357.24 km. There were 71 entries, 67 starters and 25 finishers, which was 37.3% of the starters.
The rally is the only WRC Rally to be held in China, with the other China Rallies held in other years being APRC events. Ford’s Colin McRae was the pre-tournament favourite to win the rally, having won the first two events in 1997 and 1998.
The winner was Didier Auriol on the 19th win and 47th podium, driving a Toyota Corolla WRC. He and his French crew were dominant in the third and final leg, and set fastest times in five of the six stages, claiming the win with almost a minute gap over Subaru's Richard Burns. The third position was also claimed by a Toyota team, consisting of Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya.
In the final day of the rally, the Hyundai World Rally Team marked their most achievements of the rally, scoring its third one/two victory of the year in the FIA 2-litre World Cup for Manufacturers. Then, it marked the first time the team has scored a top ten overall position and finally Hyundai won the 2-litre manufacturers class of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the drivers' championship. There were 22 stages, with the shortest being 7.00 km (SS4 Tou Dao Xue 1), the longest being 33.07 km (SS6 Zhung Hu Gou Men 2), slowest being 63.21 km/h (SS4 Tou Dao Xue 1) and the fastest being 124.13 km/h (SS13 Si Dao Dian 2). There were 26 penalties in total.
Background Itinerary All dates and times are CST (UTC+8) and the total distance was 385.12km. Date Time No. Stage name Distance Leg 1 — 150.52 km (39%) 17 September 8:19 SS1 Qi Dao He 1 9.03 km 8:44 SS2 Zhung Hu Gou Men 1 (cancelled) 33.07 km 10:42 SS3 Da Xi Shan 1 26.16 km 11:31 SS4 Tou Dao Xue 1 7.0 km 12:44 SS5 Qi Dao He 2 9.03 km 13:09 SS6 Zhung Hu Gou Men 2 (cancelled) 33.07 km 15:07 SS7 Da Xi Shan 2 26.16 km 15:56 SS8 Tou Dao Xue 2 7.0 km Leg 2 — 148.14 km (38%) 18 September 8:48 SS9 Si Dao Dian 1 15.94 km 9:13 SS10 Di Shui Hu 1 12.47 km 11:29 SS11 Dao De Gou 1 19.78 km 12:05 SS12 Hei Niu Shan 1 25.88 km 13:45 SS13 Si Dao Dian 2 15.94 km 14:10 SS14 Di Shui Hu 2 12.47 km 16:26 SS15 Dao De Gou 2 19.78 km 17:02 SS16 Hei Nui Shan 2 25.88 km Leg 3 — 86.46 km (22%) 19 September 9:00 SS17 Cha Dao Kou 1 7.41 km 9:51 SS18 Bei Gou 1 19.15 km 10:19 SS19 Wu Ying Zi 1 16.67 km 12:16 SS20 Cha Dao Kou 2 7.41 km 13:07 SS21 Bei Gou 2 19.15 km 13:35 SS22 Wu Ying Zi 2 16.67 km Source:
Entry list Number Driver Co-driver 1 Mäkinen Tommi Mannisenmäki Risto 2 Loix Freddy Smeets Sven 3 Sainz Carlos Moya Luis 4 Auriol Didier Giraudet Denis 5 Burns Richard Reid Robert 6 Kankkunen Juha Repo Juha 7 McRae Colin Grist Nicky 8 Rådström Thomas Gallagher Fred 9 Rovanperä Harri Pietiläinen Risto 10 Liatti Piero Cassina Carlo 11 Isik Volkan Bodur Erkan 12 Bakhashab Abdullah Park Michael 13 Puras Jesús Martí Marc 14 - 15 Trelles Gustavo Christie Martin 16 Al-Wahaibi Hamed Sircombe Tony 17 Kataoka Yoshihiro Hayashi Satoshi 18 Kamada Takuma Oh Allen 19 Guest Michael Green David 20 - - 21 Arai Toshihiro Freeman Roger 22 Taguchi Katsuhiko Teoh Ron 23 Konishi Shigeyuki Macneall Glenn 24 Eriksson Kenneth Parmander Staffan 25 Tajima Nobuhiro Sukosi Visut 26 McRae Alister Senior David 27 Ferreyros Ramón Saenz Gonzalo 28 Mazlan Saladin Singh Jagdev 29 Kahlfuss Michael Bauer Ronald 30 Nutahara Fumio Odagiri Noriyuki 31 Lu Ning Jun Ding Jian Ping 32 Chan Chi Wah Tang Po Lin 33 Wong Johnny (Yau Kwan) Lou Paulo 34 Font Ferran Sureda Joan 35 Sing Fui On Lau Shui Sang 36 Ko Tim Tak Lee Man Ho 37 Chan Yu Ping Siu Yim Fai 38 Tsang Kwok Choi Lau Kan 39 Chan Kam Cheong Leung Wai Ping 40 Anzawa Takeshi Chuk Kowk Wai 41 Huang Qingguo Zhang Wenmin 42 Yao Jindong Fan Lei 43 - - 44 Lu Chengyi Lai Huan-shan 45 Zhou Yong Xu Xin 46 Kao Ching Lwan Chen Chien-O 47 Feng Chun Lu Hui 48 Ren Zhiguo Li Jia 49 Bates Rick Brittan Jenny 50 Wen Fan Zhong Guan 51 Higgins David Patterson Chris 52 Wang Rui He Qianjin 53 Jin Xin Tan Xiaoqiang 54 Hu Xian Li Xiaojing 55 - - 56 Yan Zhongmin Xie Cheng 57 Hamréus Tommy Wallin Andreas 58 Xue Lei Niu Yefang 59 Xing Ming Xing Liang 60 Cai Ming Zhu Chenguang 61 Shaw Sabrina Xu Shouli 62 Tang Guangren Wang Li 63 Zeng Tao Zhuang Jia 64 Lin Jiang Mei Jiangbang 65 Wu Zhuang Zhang Jian 66 Wang Dapeng Chen Yongqun 67 Bai Jian Fu Hailun 68 Zhang Hongjiang Sun Hui 69 Yang Hong Zheng Rong 70 Kwok Ngal Cho Tse Ying Wai 71 Lin Jiaxue Liu Shuanquan Source:
Results Final Results Position Number Driver Co-driver Car 1 4 Didier Auriol Denis Giraudet Toyota Corolla WRC 2 5 Richard Burns Robert Reid Subaru Impreza WRC 99 3 3 Carlos Sainz Sr. Luis Moya Toyota Corolla WRC 4 6 Juha Kankkunen Juha Repo Subaru Impreza WRC 99 5 9 Harri Rovanperä Risto Pietiläinen SEAT WRC 6 11 Volkan Isik Erkan Bodur Toyota Corolla WRC 7 21 Toshihiro Arai Roger Freeman Subaru Impreza WRX 8 15 Gustavo Trelles Martin Christie Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V 9 22 Katsuhiko Taguchi Ron Teoh Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 10 26 Alister McRae David Senior Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2 11 24 Kenneth Eriksson Steffan Parmander Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2 12 19 Michael Guest David Green Subaru Impreza WRX 13 32 Chi Wah Chan Po Lin Tang Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V 14 28 Mazlan Saladin Jagdev Singh Proton Wira 4WD 15 29 Alister McRae David Senior Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2 16 33 Johnny Wong Paulo Lou Subaru Impreza WRX 17 42 Jindong Yao Lei Fan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III 18 41 Qingguo Huang Wenmin Zhang Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III 19 50 Fan Wen Guan Zhong Peugeot 106 Rallye 20 37 Yu Ping Chan Yim Fai Siu Subaru Impreza 555 21 58 Lei Xue Yefang Niu Peugeot 106 Rallye 22 56 Zhongmin Yan Cheng Xie Peugeot 106 Rallye 23 66 Dapeng Wang Yongqun Chen Peugeot 106 Rallye 24 62 Guangren Tang Li Wang Peugeot 106 Rallye 25 61 Sabrina Shaw Shouli Xu Peugeot 106 Rallye Source:
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