Mikkola wins Peking rally

Press, 20 September 1985, Page 32

Mikkola wins Peking rally

NZPA-Reuter Peking

Hannu Mikkola of Finland, in an Audi Quattro, yesterday swept to victory and a champagne celebration in the Chinese capital at the end of the trouble-hit first Hong Kong-Peking motor rally. “It’s a fantastic feeling. I never expected to finish a rally in this kind of place,” a tired Mikkola said after crossing the line on an avenue of giant stone animals at the ancient Ming tombs just outside the city.

Mikkola and his Swedish partner, Arne Hertz, then led a victory procession of rally cars round Tiananmen square in the centre of Peking. His fellow Finn, Juha Kankunnen, who ran a close second yesterday, dropped out because his Toyota Celica turbo had engine problems, leaving Lars Erik Thorph, aged 22, of Sweden, to take second place in a works Nissan 240 RS. The German driver, Erwin Weber, was thirdplaced in an Opel Manta 400.

Sweden’s Bjorn Waldegaard, who was third, on Wednesday, was forced out by engine problems the same day. Timings for the rally were still being worked out as the winners celebrated with champagne in Peking’s main square before a smiling portrait of the late Chinese leader, Mao Tsetung. Mikkola said rallying in China was wonderful. “The roads are hilly and twisty, but with a good surface.”

The drop-out rate was low, with 26 of the 36 cars completing the 3400 km course which passed through parts of China which have been closed to foreigners for more than three decades.

But the rally was plagued by crashes.

A Japanese driver, Hiroshi Nishiyama, was badly injured when he slammed his Toyota Corolla into a sandbank on a difficult rutted corner.

“He was not wearing a safety belt. He suffered bad injuries in the head and chest,” an official said. The co-driver, Masahiro Nagayama, was unhurt.

The Scot, James Ingleby, rolled his four-wheel-drive Ford Sierra on stage 19. He struggled to the end of the stage, but was forced to retire.

Among the finishers in about twenty-second place were China’s first rally entrants, the police driving teachers, Lu Ningjun, and Zhao Yanxiang. “It’s fantastic, considering they only saw a rally car for the first time in Britain three months ago,” said the organiser’s spokesman, Andrew Marriot, who helped coach the newcomers.

The Chinese team’s only major setbacks were from pushing their Mitsubishi Lancer, faster than the set times for timing checks between stages. “We came a bit early sometimes because we didn’t know,” said Zhao, also very pleased with the experience.