The 1999 Safari Rally was a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

event for

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sports ...

that was held over four days between 25 and 28 February 1999. It marked the 47th running of the

Safari Rally The Safari Rally is an automobile rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is h ...

, and was the third round of the

1999 World Rally Championship season The 1999 World Rally Championship was the 27th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. Tommi Mäkinen won his fourth drivers' world championship driving for Mitsubishi, ahead of Richard Burns and Didier ...

. The 1999 event was based in the city of

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and was contested over thirteen special stages, covering a total competitive distance of 1,009.91km (627.53 miles).

Tommi Makinen Tommi is a masculine Finnish given name. Traditional Finnish diminutive of “Thomas”. Thomas comes from the Aramaic name Thoma, meaning ‘twin’. Used as a formal given name since 20th century, reinforced by the English Tommy. Notable people ...

was the defending rally winner, as was

Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Ralliart is the high-performance division of Mitsubishi Motors. It was responsible for development and preparation of the company's rally development of high-performance models and parts available to the public. Ralliart scaled down its business ...

. Having won both rallies of the season so far, Makinen lead the championship with twenty points; thirteen more than closest rival

Juha Kankkunen Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which we ...

Colin McRae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007), was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title. At 27, ...

, along with co-driver

Nicky Grist Nicholas Mark Grist (born 1 November 1961) is a British former rally co-driver from Wales, born in Ebbw Vale. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1993 to 2002. He won 21 rallies with more than one driver. Grist' ...

won the rally, their first win of the season, and first win since the 1998 Acropolis Rally, giving them their first points of the season.

Background

Entry List

The following crews were set to enter the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, as well as

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

entries that were not registered to score points in the manufacturer's championship. Ten were entered under

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

regulations to compete in the World Rally Championship's Manufacturers' Championship.
''eWRC Safari Rally Entry List'' Retrieved 14 Oct 2024

Itinerary

All dates and times are East Africa Time, EAT (

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a UTC offset, time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, ...

Report

Overall

Classification

Special Stages

All dates and times are East Africa Time, EAT (

Championship Standings

References

External links

Results
a
eWRC.com

a
Jonkka's World Rally Archive
{{1999 World Rally Championship season 1999 in Kenyan sport 1999 World Rally Championship season Safari Rally