1999 Rally China

1999 China Rally 555 China Rally 1999
Host country	China
Rally base	Huairou
Dates run	September 17 1999 – September 19 1999
Length	385.72 km (239.68 miles)
Stage surface	Gravel
Statistics
Crews	67 at start, 25 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Auriol Didier Giraudet Denis Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Corolla WRC

The 1999 China Rally (officially 555 China Rally) took place from 17 September to 19 September 1999.^[1] It was the 11th of 14 races of the 316th World Rally Championship (WRC).^[2]

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

The winner was Didier Auriol on the 19th win and 47th podium, driving a Toyota Corolla WRC.^[2] He and his French crew were dominamt 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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[4] 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).^[2] There were 26 penalties in total.^[6]

All dates and times are CST (UTC+8) and the total distance was 385.12km.

Number	Driver	Co-driver
1	Mäkinen Tommi	Mannisenmäki Risto
2	Loix Freddy	Smeets Sven
3	Sainz Carlos	Moya Luis
4	Auriol Didier	Giraudet Denis
5	Burns Richard	Reid Robert
6	Kankkunen Juha	Repo Juha
7	McRae Colin	Grist Nicky
8	Rådström Thomas	Gallagher Fred
9	Rovanperä Harri	Pietiläinen Risto
10	Liatti Piero	Cassina Carlo
11	Isik Volkan	Bodur Erkan
12	Bakhashab Abdullah	Park Michael
13	Puras Jesús	Martí Marc
14	-	-
15	Trelles Gustavo	Christie Martin
16	Al-Wahaibi Hamed	Sircombe Tony
17	Kataoka Yoshihiro	Hayashi Satoshi
18	Kamada Takuma	Oh Allen
19	Guest Michael	Green David
20	-	-
21	Arai Toshihiro	Freeman Roger
22	Taguchi Katsuhiko	Teoh Ron
23	Konishi Shigeyuki	Macneall Glenn
24	Eriksson Kenneth	Parmander Staffan
25	Tajima Nobuhiro	Sukosi Visut
26	McRae Alister	Senior David
27	Ferreyros Ramón	Saenz Gonzalo
28	Mazlan Saladin	Singh Jagdev
29	Kahlfuss Michael	Bauer Ronald
30	Nutahara Fumio	Odagiri Noriyuki
31	Lu Ning Jun	Ding Jian Ping
32	Chan Chi Wah	Tang Po Lin
33	Wong Johnny (Yau Kwan)	Lou Paulo
34	Font Ferran	Sureda Joan
35	Sing Fui On	Lau Shui Sang
36	Ko Tim Tak	Lee Man Ho
37	Chan Yu Ping	Siu Yim Fai
38	Tsang Kwok Choi	Lau Kan
39	Chan Kam Cheong	Leung Wai Ping
40	Anzawa Takeshi	Chuk Kowk Wai
41	Huang Qingguo	Zhang Wenmin
42	Yao Jindong	Fan Lei
43	-	-
44	Lu Chengyi	Lai Huan-shan
45	Zhou Yong	Xu Xin
46	Kao Ching Lwan	Chen Chien-O
47	Feng Chun	Lu Hui
48	Ren Zhiguo	Li Jia
49	Bates Rick	Brittan Jenny
50	Wen Fan	Zhong Guan
51	Higgins David	Patterson Chris
52	Wang Rui	He Qianjin
53	Jin Xin	Tan Xiaoqiang
54	Hu Xian	Li Xiaojing
55	-	-
56	Yan Zhongmin	Xie Cheng
57	Hamréus Tommy	Wallin Andreas
58	Xue Lei	Niu Yefang
59	Xing Ming	Xing Liang
60	Cai Ming	Zhu Chenguang
61	Shaw Sabrina	Xu Shouli
62	Tang Guangren	Wang Li
63	Zeng Tao	Zhuang Jia
64	Lin Jiang	Mei Jiangbang
65	Wu Zhuang	Zhang Jian
66	Wang Dapeng	Chen Yongqun
67	Bai Jian	Fu Hailun
68	Zhang Hongjiang	Sun Hui
69	Yang Hong	Zheng Rong
70	Kwok Ngal Cho	Tse Ying Wai
71	Lin Jiaxue	Liu Shuanquan
Source:[8]