Rally stars prepare for action

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 19

Rally stars prepare for action

by

JOHN FRIDD

A deadly serious battle between four Finns and an Englishman will rage in the dead of night in New

Zealand next week. It won’t be an undercover operation — most New Zealanders will be well aware of their fight.

For the five men are the principals of the 1979 Motogard International Rally, which will start in Auckland at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

About 2160 gruelling kilometres, including 800 km of high-speed special stages, will have to be covered before the weary survivors arrive back at Auckland on Wednesday.

The English Ford works team is keen to extend its lead in the world manufacturers’ championship by sweeping the New Zealand rally with its two Finnish drivers, the immensely experienced Hannu Mikkola and the talented young lion, Ari Vatanen.

But the potent Ford Escorts are likely to be dogged all the way by a car that is relatively new on the world rally scene, the Vauxhall Chevette of another Finn, Pentti Airikkala.

And pressing them all will be the less powerful but more reliable Datsun 16OJs of the newly formed Datsun Team drivers, Timo Salonen (Finland) and Andy Dawson (Eng-

land). Datsun is only 11 points behind Ford after five of the 12 world-cham-pionship rounds and the Japanese team is keen to show the Europeans that horsepower is not all-im-portant. Mikkola, deservedly, is top seed for the New Zealand rally. At 36 he is probably the world’s best rally driver, although some say that his Ford team-mate, Bjorn Waldegaard, deserves this distinction. Waldegaard currently leads the world championship, but if Mikkola wins here, with his Swedish codriver, Arne Hertz, he will vault himself back into first equal place with the Swede in the world drivers’ championship, Mikkola has already won once this season he led home Waldegaard in a Ford sweep of the Portugal rally. He has had his share of "bad luck this year — he was leading the Monte Carlo Rally before losing five minutes with a questionable speeding penalty (he eventually finished fifth) and also finished fifth in the Swedish Rally after crashing while leading. For the Safari Rally in Kenya Mikkola forsook his Escort for a strong Mercedes 450 SLC and he came home second behind the flying Datsun 160 J of Shehka Mehta. Mikkola has already won in New Zealand — he cleaned up the 1973 Heatway Rally in his Wool-

mark Escort. He has also won the London-to-Mexico World Cup Rally (1970), is a five-times winner of the Scandinavian 1000 Lakes Rally and was the first European to win the tough Safari Rally, among numerous rally successes.

If anyone can press Mikkola on straight driving merit in this year’s Motogard it is Airikkala. The 34-year-old Finn first

rallied a Vauxhall in 1974 but switched to Ford in J 976 after finding success elusive. He won the British Snowman Rally in a Ford and led the RAC for four days before retiring.

In 1977 Airikkala was lured back to Vauxhall by the promise of the new DTV Chevette and in May that year he took it to its first win, in Wales. He also won the Manx and Castrol rallies. ,

Last year the Finn won four rallies and finished third in the 1000 Lakes Rally, giving the Chevette its first world-champion-ship points.

Airikkala will have a New Zealand co-driver, the top motor-cycle racer, Rodger Freeth. Mikkola’s Ford teammate, Ari Vatanen, is well rememberd in New Zealand as the man almost overcame the might of the Fiat team in the 1977 Radio New Zealand Rally. Despite several crashes the fiery young Finn hounded the three Fiat drivers and by the end had almost caught the eventual winner, Fulvio Baccelli (Italy).

Vatanen can thank Mikkola for his entry into world-championships rallying. They come from the same Finnish village of Tuupovarra and when the teenage Vatanen beat Mikkola in an ancient Opel on a couple of Finnish rallies in 1974 he recommended the youngster to a sponsor. Vatanen took the British scene by storm in 1976, winning five rallies to take the championship. The following year was busy but not so successful for him, apart from his brilliant drive in the New. Zealand rally, and last year he took things easier, with most of his competitive driving being done in Finland. However, he still found time to win the Madeira, Mantta and Donegal rallies. This year started well for Vatanen, with a fine tenth in the Monte Carlo in a standard Ford Fiesta, but he was put out of the Swedish rally with a blown head gasket in his Escort RSIBOO. In practice for the same event he badly hurt his back while rescuing Mikkola after a crash and this injury recurred during the next world-championship round, the Portugal Rally. He had to retire from that rally and has not driven since on doctor’s orders, having spent 19 days flat on his back at home in Finland.

However, the 26-year-oid Vatanen is now fully fit and looking forward to his first rally since March. Maybe a more mature, thoughtful Vatanen will be seen, and he should press Mikkola and Airikkala hard in the Motogard. Vatanen’s co-driver will be Rothmans of England’s motorsport promotions consultant, David Richards Timo Salonen, the Datsun driver who has been seeded fourth behind Vatanen for the Motogard Rally, is not well known in international rally circles, but he comes to New Zealand with a fine second place in the last world-championship event, the Greek Acropolis Rally, under his belt.

The 27-year-old Finn’s first rally experience was gained in a Datsun in 1970 but his first works drive was for Fiat in 1977,

when he finished second in the 1000 Lakes Rally and won the Canadian Quebec Rally.

This season Salonen has been lured into the newly formed Datsun Europe team by the team’s manager, Andy Dawson (Eng-

land) and this led to his fine showing in the Acropolis event. His co-driver in the Motogard will be fellow Finn, Seppo Harjanne.

Dawson is the second Datsun works driver competing in the Motogard. His first showing was in 1972, when he finished second behind Roger Clark in the Manx Rally in a Cian Crusader. After numerous placings and class wins in Escorts and Datsun Violets from 1973 to 1976 he switched to a powerful Lancia Stratos in 1977 and won the Mintex Rally. Ford snapped him up for the rest of the season and he finished third in the British championship and won the Castrol Tour of South Africa.

The 32-year-old Dawson’s 1978 high point was winning the Texaco rallysprint against four other top rally drivers and five Formula One grand prix drivers. His Motogard codriver will be fellow Briton, Kevin Gormley.

Both Salonen and Dawson have the ability to win the Motogard if bad weather strikes, negating the superior power of the Escorts and Airikkala’s Chevette.