1997 British Rally Championship
The 1997 Mobil 1 British Rally Championship was won by Manxman Mark Higgins in the Nissan Sunny GTI ahead of fellow Manxman Martin Rowe in the Renault Megane Maxi Kit Car, Alister Mcrae in the Volkswagen Golf and Welshman Gwyndaf Evans in the Ford Escort. The manufacturers championship was won by Volkswagen ahead of Nissan and Renault.
Calendar
| Round | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vauxhall Rally of Wales | 14–15 March |
| 2–3 | Pirelli International Rally | 26–27 April |
| 4 | RSAC Scottish Rally | 28–29 June |
| 5 | Stena Line Ulster Rally | 1–2 August |
| 6 | Manx International Rally | 11–13 September |
Teams and Drivers
[edit]| Team | Manufacturer | Car | No | Driver | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Motorsport | Ford | Escort Rs2000 | 1 | Gwyndaf Evans | All |
| Ford Motorsport | Ford | Escort Rs2000 | Dandy Rukmana | ||
| Nissan Motorsports Europe | Nissan | Sunny GTI | 2 | Mark Higgins | All |
| Volkswagen Motorsport UK (SBG) | Volkswagen | Golf GTI Kit Car | 3 | Alister McRae | All |
| Volkswagen Motorsport UK (SBG) | Volkswagen | Golf GTI Kit Car | 6 | Tapio Laukkanen | All |
| Renault Dealer Rallying Association | Renault | Maxi Megane Kit Car | 8 | Martin Rowe | All |
| Renault Dealer Rallying Association | Renault | Maxi Megane Kit Car | 5 | Robbie Head | All |
| Seat Cupra Sport | SEAT | Ibiza Kit Car | 4 | Harri Rovanpera | 1-4 |
| Seat Cupra Sport | SEAT | Ibiza Kit Car | 16 | Kenny McKinstry | 5 and 6 |
| Seat Cupra Sport | SEAT | Ibiza Kit Car | 12 | Barbara Armstrong | All |
| Skoda Motorsport | Skoda | Felicia Kit Car | 7 | Stig Blomqvist | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 |
| Skoda Motorsport | Skoda | Felicia Kit Car | 29 | Jaroslav Stary | 4 |
| Pos | Driver | Rd1 | Rd2 | Rd3 | Rd4 | Rd5 | Rd6 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Higgins | 3rd | 2nd | 6th | DNF | 1st | 2nd | 122 | |
| 2 | Martin Rowe | DNF | 7th | 4th | 1st | 112 | |||
| 3 | Alister McRae | 1st | 30th | 1st | 8th | DNF | 107 | ||
| 4 | Gwyndaf Evans | 2nd | 1st | DNF | 3rd | 2nd | DNF | 105 | |
| 5 | Robbie Head | 3rd | 1st | 5th | 3rd | DNF | 99 | ||
| 6 | Tapio Laukkanen | 6th | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 91 | |||
| 7 | |||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||
| 9 | Neil Wearden | 9th | 21st | DNF | |||||
| 10 | Stig Blomqvist | DNF | 3rd | 8th | |||||
| Pos | Entrant | Rd1 | Rd2 | Rd3 | Rd4 | Rd5 | Rd6 | Pts | |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 16 | 16 | 11 | 20 | 71 | |||
| 2 | Nissan | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 31 | 69 | |
| 3 | Renault | 0 | 7 | 13 | 30 | 67 | |||
| 4 | Ford | 12 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 66 | |
| 5 | SEAT | 10 | 20 | 47 | |||||
| = | Skoda | 6 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 47 | |||
| 7 | Peugeot | 45 | |||||||
| 8 | Honda | 7 | 40 |