Audi and Lancia works teams should dominate rally

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 17

Audi and Lancia works teams should dominate rally

By J

JOHN FRIDD

Audi came to New Zealand last year as the overwhelming favourite to win the world championship rally, but this year the German team will start on equal teams with the polished Lancia team from Italy. Lancia’s stunning one-two result in the Acropolis rally in Greece earlier this month proved that the seemingly fragile Lancia Rally can stand the strain of rocketing over hundreds of kilometres of rough, gravel roads while the strong Audi team knocked itself out with various problems. The Sanyo Rally of New Zealand, from tomorrow to Tuesday, looks set to be a battle between the top Audi driver, Hannu Mikkola (Finland), and the world champion Lancia driver, Walter Rohrl (West Germany). However, the other two Audi drivers, Stig Blomqvist (Sweden) and Michelle Mouton (France), are most accomplished and Blomqvist, in particular, could take the

lead if everything goes his way.

However, it is still uncertain whether Blomqvist will be allowed to start as his entry was received after late entries had closed. A special stewards’ meeting today will decide whether to accept the entry.

If he is permitted to start, he will be at a distinct disadvantage as he will be driving “blind” — without the use of place-notes. The second Lancia driver, Attilio Bettega, of Italy, is also a fine driver. He has come back well after a year’s lay-off resulting from a horrible accident in the Tour de Corse last year. Bettega now has steel plates inserted in his legs to hold fractures together, but his fourth place in this year’s

, Corsican event and fifth in Greece prove that he has ; not lost his nerve. Nissan is the third works team competing in the Sa- , , nyo event, which is the sixth > round of the world manu- ; facturers’ championship and i seventh round of the i drivers’ series. ■ Nissan’s conventional new . car, the 240 RS, is faster > than last year’s Silvia, but it I seems that the Japanese team has been left behind by the innovative Europeans

and will be chasing only minor pickings in New Zealand. Timo Salonen (Finland) was given little chance of winning here in 1980, but he took his relatively underpowered Datsun 160 J to a shock victory. The opposition was weaker in that event, and the Lancia and Audi teams would have to strike some wretched luck if Salonen and his partner, Shekhar Mehta (Kenya), are to prevail this year. Mikkola, aged 41, comes to New Zealand determined to wrest the lead in the world championship back

from Rohrl. The German won the Monte Carlo event at the start of the season, but Mikkola struck back to take the Swedish event in the absence of Rohrl. Mikkola made it two in a row in Portugal ahead of Mouton and Rohrl, and went further ahead in the world drivers’ championship by finishing second behind Ari Vatanen’s Opel in the tough African Safari. However, Lancia came back strongly to fill the first four places on the Tour de Corse while Audi, giving its new, lighter Quattro its first run, failed to score any points when Mikkola crashed and Mouton’s car caught fire. Mouton had a nightmare start on the next round, the Acropolis, when she rolled her Quattro on the very first stage. Mikkola looked set to increase his championship lead when he led for much of the event, but on the final night Rohrl stoked up his Lancia Rally and almost caught the German. Then Mikkola’s rally ended prematurely when his car’s oil-cooler came adrift and the car’s life-giving lubricant sprayed out the back. Rohrl cruised home to win from his team-mate, Markku Alen (Finland), and take the lead in the world championship. Blomqvist, aged 37, had to contend with a fire as well as braking and suspension problems in his Quattro but still came home third, giving a hint of his car’s pace. As the drivers prepare for the New Zealand rally the points table reads: Rohrl 67, Mikkola 65, Alen 60, Vatanen 44, Blomqvist 39, Mouton 37, Adartico Vudafieri (Italy, Lancia) 20, Bettega 15. Salonen and Mehta have had a wretched year in their Nissans. Salonen had many problems when he gave the new 240 RS its debut at Monte Carlo and then the car’s gearbox broke at Portugal. Mehta was leading the Safari when his car’s engine expired, and Salonen’s engine also failed. In Greece, the gearbox of Salonen’s car packed up while Mehta gained a few points for the team by finishing sixth. Apart from the seven Apriority works drivers, two other overseas competitors will drive in the New Zealand rally. Ron Marks, of Sydney, will give New Zealand rally fans their first look at a Renault Turbo, and Patrick Gratian (New

Caledonia) will return to New Zealand to drive a Datsun 160 J.

Even though Marks’s car is extremely potent, it is doubtful whether the Australian will match even the pace of the top New Zealanders, as he failed to impress when he drove a Lancia Stratos in the 1976 New Zealand event.

Tony Teesdale, the national champion, is the top New Zealand seed at No. 8. He will drive his United Nissan 240 RS, a replica car built in New Zealand. Teesdale was annoyed when his fellow Aucklander, Reg Cook, gained the third Nissan works drive so he will be keen to show Cook who is the faster in the rally.

The once-dominant Ford Escort RS will have its last New Zealand international rally this year in its more powerful form, and Neil Allport (Auckland) leads the Escort drivers at No. 11. Starting right behind him will be the talented Malcolm Stewart (Dannevirke) and the Mayor of Mataura, Inky Tulloch.

A former national champion, Jim Donald (Auckland), will be worth watching in Cook’s former Nissan Bluebird Turbo, and the spectacular Pukekohe driver, Peter “Possum” Bourne, will give the four-wheel-drive Subaru Leone its second world-champion-ship outing.