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 The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

(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 Didier Auriol (born 18 August 1958) is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first drive ...

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 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. It is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a possible candidate for ASEAN Common Time, mainly due to China's large population, with an estimated population ...

) and the total distance was 385.12km.

Entry list

Results

Final Results

References

{{reflist World Rally Championship rallies September 1999 sports events in Asia September 1999 in China Rally competitions in China 1999 World Rally Championship season 1999 in Chinese motorsport