1997 World Rally Championship

1997 World Rally Championship

World Drivers' Champion:
Tommi Mäkinen
World Manufacturers' Champion:
Subaru

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1996

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1998

The 1997 World Rally Championship was the 25th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season saw many changes in the championship. Most notably, Group A was partially replaced by the World Rally Car with manufacturers given the option which regulations to construct to. One inherent benefit to manufacturers by adopting WRC regulations was removing the need to mass-produce road-going versions of the cars that they competed with, under the previous rules for homologation. This meant that vehicles such as the Escort RS Cosworth and Subaru Impreza Turbo no longer had to be mass-produced for general sale in order to compete at World Championship level, and thus acting as a means of attracting increased competition and involvement by manufacturers. In the few years that follow, the Championship saw the added presence of WRC cars from companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Seat, Citroën, and Peugeot, who would all compete under WRC regulations without having to manufacture equivalent specialised road cars for public sale. Both Ford and Subaru switched to WRC in 1997, except Mitsubishi who stayed with Group A to maintain the links to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road cars. Subaru's transition was much more gradual for similar reasons with the early Subaru Impreza WRCs still largely Group A in nature.

Events also became shorter and more compact, event rotation system used in previous three seasons was dropped and registered manufacturers were required to contest the expanded 14 event calendar for the first time. In due course the World Rally Car rules would bring new manufactures into the sport, but at the start of 1997 it was still Subaru versus Mitsubishi versus Ford as before, although, by mid season Toyota Team Europe were back with a Corolla World Rally Car. The Drivers' championship was very tightly contested and in the end Tommi Mäkinen won his second drivers' world championship in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV by a single point ahead of Subaru Impreza WRC driver Colin McRae after the final round in Great Britain. Carlos Sainz was third in the leading Ford Escort WRC. The Manufacturers' title was won by Subaru with Ford second and Mitsubishi third.

One major flaw in the new class system was exposed by the increasing speed of the naturally aspirated front-wheel-drive FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup cars. The tarmac specification cars built by Peugeot and Renault that competed in the all-tarmac French and Spanish championships became major threats on WRC tarmac events Rallye Catalunya and the Tour de Corse with Gilles Panizzi defeating all but two of the WRC four-wheel-drive turbos in his Peugeot 306 Maxi, taking third place in both events.

Calendar

The 1997 championship was contested over fourteen rounds in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania.

Round	Dates	Race
1	19–22 January	Monte Carlo Rally
2	7–10 February	Swedish Rally
3	1–3 March	Safari Rally
4	23–26 March	Rally Portugal
5	14–16 April	Rally Catalunya
6	5–7 May	Tour de Corse
7	22–24 May	Rally Argentina
8	8–10 June	Acropolis Rally
9	2–5 August	Rally New Zealand
10	29–31 August	Rally Finland
11	19–21 September	Rally Indonesia
12	12–15 October	Rally Sanremo
13	30 October-2 November	Rally Australia
14	23–25 November	RAC Rally
Sources:

Teams and drivers

Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Rounds
Mitsubishi Ralliart	Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo IV	M	1	Tommi Mäkinen	Seppo Harjanne	All
		Lancer Evo III		2	Uwe Nittel	Christina Thörner	1–2, 5–6, 10, 12
		Carisma GT Evo IV			Richard Burns	Robert Reid	3–4, 7–9, 11, 13–14
		Lancer Evo III	Y	11	Ed Ordynski	Mark Stacey	13
				13	Kenjiro Shinozuka	Fred Gocentas	13
555 Subaru WRT	Subaru	Impreza S5 WRC '97	P	3	Colin McRae	Nicky Grist	All
				4	Piero Liatti	Fabrizia Pons	1, 5–6, 12
					Kenneth Eriksson	Staffan Parmander	2–4, 7–11, 13–14
				8	Piero Liatti	Fabrizia Pons	14
		Impreza 555		10	Peter 'Possum' Bourne	Craig Vincent	9
Ford Motor Co. Ltd.	Ford	Ford Escort WRC	M	5	Carlos Sainz	Luis Moya	All
				6	Armin Schwarz	Denis Giraudet	1–5
						Phil Mills	6
					Juha Kankkunen	Juha Repo	7–14
				16	Angelo Medeghini	Barbara Medeghini	14
Toyota Castrol Team	Toyota	Corolla WRC	M	7	Didier Auriol	Denis Giraudet	10–14
				8	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	10
				9			14
				9	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	11
				8			13
				9	Freddy Loix	Sven Smeets	12

Non Manufacturer Entries

Major entries not registered as manufacturers
Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	Drivers	Co-drivers	Rounds
R.A.S. Sport	Ford	Ford Escort RS Cosworth	M	Didier Auriol	Jean-Marc Andrié	1
				Jean-Pierre Richelmi	Thierry Barjou	4, 8
Dieter Depping			M	Dieter Depping	Dieter Hawranke	1
Bo-Be Plastindustri AB			P	Mats Jonsson	Johnny Johansson	2
Mobil Ford Motorsport			M	Stig Blomqvist	Benny Melander	2
Blue Rose Team			M	Jarmo Kytölehto	Arto Kapanen	2
		Escort WRC				10
Totta Peres Competição			M	Fernando Peres	Ricardo Caldeira	4
Belgacom Turbo Team			M	Grégoire de Mevius	Jean-Marc Fortin	4, 8, 12, 14
Leonídas Kirkos			M	Leonídas Kirkos	Nikos Panou	8
Ford Team Finland			M	Sebastian Lindholm	Timo Hantunen	10
Jolly Club			P	Gianfranco Cunico	Pierangelo Scalvini	12
Motorsport Consultancy			P	Ari Vatanen	Roger Freeman	14
Gazprom Rally Team			M	Bruno Thiry	Stéphane Prévot	14
		Ford Escort RS Cosworth	M	Alexander Zheludov	Viktor Timkovskiy	14
Marlboro Toyota Castrol Belgium	Toyota	Celica GT-Four (ST205)	M	Freddy Loix	Sven Smeets	1, 4, 8, 10, 13
Toyota Castrol Deutschland			P	Isolde Holderied	Catherine François	1
Toyota Denmark Rally Team			M	Henrik Lundgaard	Freddy Pedersen	1
Toyota Castrol Team Sweden			M	Thomas Rådström	Lars Bäckman	2
					Denis Giraudet	8
				'Gullabo'	Pecka Svensson	2
				Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	2
Toyota Kenya			M	Ian Duncan	David Williamson	3
Toyota Castrol Finland			M	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	4
H.F. Grifone SRL				Raúl Sufan	Martin Christie	4–5, 7–13
				Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	7
				Didier Auriol	Denis Giraudet	7
				Andrea Aghini	Loris Roggia	12
				Pier Lorenzo Zanchi	Dario D'Esposito	12
Toyota Team Australia			D	Neal Bates	Coral Taylor	9
Shell Helix Motor Oils			M	Pasi Hagström	Tero Gardemeister	10
Tein Sport			M	Yoshio Fujimoto	Arne Hertz	11, 13
Jonathan Toroitich		Celica Turbo 4WD (ST185)	F	Jonathan Toroitich	Ibrahim Choge	3
Olivier Burri	Subaru	Impreza 555	P	Olivier Burri	Christophe Hofmann	1
F.Dor Rally Team			P	Frédéric Dor	Kevin Gormley	3, 9
					Didier Breton	4, 8, 10
		Impreza S5 WRC '97				12
Subaru Allstars		Impreza 555	P	Rui Madeira	Nuno Rodrigues da Silva	4–5
				Yukihiko Sakurai	Ronan Morgan	4, 8, 14
Impreza Recaro Fujitsubo			D	Masao Kamioka	Kevin Gormley	4, 8, 14
A.R.T Engineering			P	Angelo Medeghini	Barbara Medeghini	5, 10
				Andrea Navarra	Renzo Casazza	8
					Alessandro Alessandrini	12, 14
				Massimo Ercolani	Antonio Borri	12
Armodios Vovos			P	Armodios Vovos	Ioánnis Alvanos	8
Joe McAndrew			P	Joe McAndrew	Bob Haldane	9
Procar Rally Team			P	Andrea Dallavilla	Danilo Fappani	12
				Diego Oldrati	Paolo Lizzi	12
Renato Travaglia			?	Renato Travaglia	Flavio Zanella	12
Mobil 1 Stomil Olsztyn			M	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	Maciej Wisławski	14
Subaru Rally Team Australia		Impreza WRX STi RA	P	Greg Graham	Glenn Macneall	9
		Impreza 555	P	Peter 'Possum' Bourne	Craig Vincent	13
Mitsubishi Ralliart Germany	Mitsubishi	Lancer Evo III	P	Uwe Nittel	Christina Thörner	8
Ralliart New Zealand		Lancer Evo IV	F	Geoff Argyle	Raymond Bennett	9

FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup Major Entries

Team	Manufacturer	Car	Tyre	Drivers	Co-drivers	Rounds
Škoda Motorsport	Škoda	Felicia Kit Car	M	Emil Triner	Julius Gál	1
					Karel Jirátko	2, 4–5, 7–8
					Miloš Hůlka	10
		Octavia Kit Car				12–13
		Felicia Kit Car		Pavel Sibera	Petr Gross	1–2, 4–5, 7–8, 13
		Octavia Kit Car				10, 12
		Felicia Kit Car		Jindřich Štolfa	Miroslav Fanta	10, 12
				Fabio Danti	Marcello Olivari	12
East Belgian Racing Team				Bernard Munster	Jean-François Elst	14
SEAT Sport	SEAT	Ibiza Kit Car	M	Harri Rovanperä	Voitto Silander	1, 4–5, 7
		Ibiza Kit Car Evo2				9–14
		Ibiza Kit Car		Oriol Gómez	Marc Martí	1, 5, 7, 14
		Ibiza Kit Car Evo2				8–13
		Ibiza Kit Car		Erwin Weber	Manfred Hiemer	4
		Ibiza Kit Car Evo2				8, 11
		Ibiza Kit Car		Bruno Thiry	Stéphane Prévot	5
				Renaud Verreydt	Dominique Dricot	12
		Ibiza Kit Car Evo2		Gwyndaf Evans	Howard Davies	14
David Higgins		Ibiza Kit Car		David Higgins	Rory Kennedy	14
Technocar		Ibiza GTi 16V	?	"Stratissino"	Giorgos Petropoulos	8
Andorra Auto Club			M	Ferran Font	Eduard Andueza	4, 8
					Joan Sureda	11
Vítor Pascoal		Ibiza GTi 16V	?	Vítor Pascoal	Duarte Costa	4
Volkswagen Motorsport Sweden	Volkswagen	Golf III GTi 16V	?	Jörgen Jonasson	Nicklas Jonasson	2
				Harry Joki	Ingemar Karlsson	2
Blue Rose Team		Golf III Kit Car	?	Tapio Laukkanen	Risto Mannisenmäki	2, 10
S.B.G. Sport			P	Alister McRae	David Senior	2, 4, 13–14
Opel Team Sweden	Opel	Astra GSi 16V	M	Per Svan	Johan Olsson	2, 10, 14
Hawk Racing Club Srl			?	Sandro Sottile	Piero Barbieri	12
Scuderia Dei Fiori		Corsa B GSi	?	Andrea Maselli	Nicola Arena	12
Renault Team Sweden	Renault	Mégane Maxi	P	Jonas Kruse	Anders Olsson	2
					Håkan Ekholm	10
Renault Gest Galp			M	José Carlos Macedo	Miguel Borges	4
				Pedro Azeredo	Fernando Prata	4
Remus Racing			P	Raphael Sperrer	Per Carlsson	4–5, 10, 12
Renault Sport España			M	Miguel Martínez-Conde	Felipe Alonso Fernández	5
Société Diac			M	Philippe Bugalski	Jean-Paul Chiaroni	6
				Serge Jordan	Jack Boyère	6
"Leonidas"			M	"Leonidas"	Maria Pavli-Korre	8
Italian Promotor Sport			M	Corrado Fontana	Daniele Pelliccioni	12
				Paolo Andreucci	Simona Fedeli	12
Renault Dealer Rallying UK			M	Robbie Head	Bryan Thomas	14
				Martin Rowe	Nicky Beech	14
Mikael Bonnevier		Clio Williams	?	Mikael Bonnevier	Peter Johansson	2
"Dim"			?	"Dim"	Konstantinos Stefanis	8
Oscar Chiaramello		18 GTX	?	Oscar Chiaramello	Fernando Chiaramello	7
Ricardo Costanzo				Ricardo Costanzo	Jose Claudio Ocampo	7
Promoracing Finland	Nissan	Sunny GTi	?	Toni Gardemeister	Paavo Lukander	2, 10
Nissan Motorsports Europe		Micra Kit Car	Y	Mark Higgins	Phil Mills	10
				Masahiro Takasaki	Hiroaki Hamada	9–13
				Geoff Jones	Rhydian Welson	5–6
		Almera Kit Car		Mark Higgins	Phil Mills	14
Silverstone Rally Tyre Team	Proton	Satria Kit Car	S	Russell Palmer	Brian Harwood	3
Azar Anwar	Daewoo	Cielo	?	Azar Anwar	Arshad Khan	3
Rory Green	Hyundai	Elantra	?	Rory Green	Orson Taylor	3
Jimmy Wahome			?	Jimmy Wahome	Tom Muriuki	3
Hyundai Rally Sport		Coupé	?	Robert Nicoli	Jim Carlton	9, 13
				Wayne Bell	Iain Stewart	9, 11, 13
Dean Herridge			M	Dean Herridge	Lyndall Drake	13
Jimmy McRae		Accent X3	M	Jimmy McRae	Rob Arthur	14
Peugeot Esso Competição	Peugeot	306 Maxi	M	Adruzilo Lopes	Luís Lisboa	4
Peugeot Sport			M	Gilles Panizzi	Herve Panizzi	5–6
				François Delecour	Daniel Grataloup	5–6
Peugeot Sport España			M	Jaime Azcona	Julius Billmaier	5
"Fabrou"		106 XSi	?	"Fabrou"	Marc Boyer	4
Ford España	Ford	Escort Maxi Kit Car	M	Daniel Alonso Villarón	Salvador Belzunces	5
Citroën Hispania	Citroën	ZX Kit Car	M	Jesús Puras	Marc Martí	5
Citroën Sport		Saxo Kit Car		Patrick Magaud	Michel Périn	6
Kostas Argiriou	Toyota	Starlet EP91	?	Kostas Argiriou	Tzannis Vlahos	8
Silverstone Suzuki Sport	Suzuki	Baleno Wagon Kit Car	S	Nobuhiro Tajima	Ross Runnalls	9
					Glenn Macneall	11
					Claire Parker	13
Timor Motorsport	Timor	S 515i	?	Andy Yachmoon	Ichwan Habib Nasution	11
				Faried Thalib	Bambang Gunawan	11
Honda UK Rally Team	Honda	Civic	D	Neil Wearden	Trevor Agnew	12, 14
Daihatsu Australia	Daihatsu	Charade GTi	?	Ross Mackenzie	Tony Brandon	13
				Rick Bates	Jenny Brittan	13
Kia Motorsport Korea	Kia	Sephia	?	Park Jeong-Ryong	Damien Long	13

Results and standings

Drivers' championship

Pos. Driver MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR  Pts  1 Tommi Mäkinen 3 3 Ret 1 1 Ret 1 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 6 63 2 Colin McRae Ret 4 1 Ret 4 1 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 1 1 62 3 Carlos Sainz 2 2 Ret Ret 10 2 Ret 1 2 Ret 1 4 Ret 3 51 4 Juha Kankkunen Ret 2 3 2 2 6 Ret 2 29 5 Kenneth Eriksson 1 Ret Ret 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 Ret Ret 28 6 Piero Liatti 1 2 5 2 7 24 7 Richard Burns 2 Ret Ret 4 4 4 4 4 21 8 Armin Schwarz 4 6 4 3 Ret 9 11 9 Freddy Loix 16 2 Ret 37 5 7 8 10 Gilles Panizzi 3 3 8 11 Didier Auriol Ret 5 8 Ret 8 3 Ret 6 12 Marcus Grönholm 8 Ret 4 Ret 5 5 13 Ian Duncan 3 4 14 Jarmo Kytölehto Ret 3 4 15 Thomas Rådström 5 5 4 16 Possum Bourne 5 5 4 17 Grégoire De Mévius 4 7 Ret Ret 3 18 François Delecour DSQ 4 3 19 Sebastian Lindholm 4 3 20 Uwe Nittel 5 Ret 8 8 6 7 Ret 3 21 Jonathan Toroitich 5 2 22 Jean-Pierre Richelmi 5 Ret 2 23 Angelo Medeghini 5 Ret 10 2 24 Tomas Jansson 7 5 2 25 Yoshio Fujimoto 5 Ret 2 26 Henrik Lundgaard 6 1 27 Frédéric Dor 6 17 11 23 29 15 1 28 Masao Kamioka 6 Ret 14 1 29 Rui Madeira 15 6 1 30 Philippe Bugalski 6 1 31 Gustavo Trelles 9 16 7 13 6 13 7 17 Ret 1 32 Neal Bates 6 Ret 8 1 33 Pasi Hagström 6 1 34 Karamjit Singh 11 6 Ret 17 1 35 Ed Ordynski 6 1 Pos. Driver MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR  Pts  Sources:

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Manufacturers' championship

Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR Points 1 555 Subaru World Rally Team 3 Ret 4 1 Ret 4 1 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 1 1 114 4 1 1 Ret Ret 2 5 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 Ret Ret 2 Ford Motor Co 5 2 2 Ret Ret 10 2 Ret 1 2 Ret 1 4 Ret 3 91 6 4 6 4 3 Ret 9 Ret 2 3 2 2 6 Ret 2 3 Team Mitsubishi Ralliart 1 3 3 Ret 1 1 Ret 1 3 Ret 1 Ret 3 2 6 86 2 5 Ret 2 Ret 8 8 Ret 4 4 7 4 Ret 4 4 Pos. Manufacturer No. MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR Points Sources:

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Group N Cup

Pos. Driver MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR  Pts  1 Gustavo Trelles 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 4 Ret 84 2 Luís Climent 3 Ret Ret 2 7 Ret 1 26 Manfred Stohl 3 6 2 5 3 6 4 26 4 Shigeyuki Konishi Ret 2 1 21 Karamjit Singh 3 1 Ret 4 21 6 Kenneth Bäcklund 1 13 Johnny Hellier 1 13 Jean-Marie Santoni 1 13 Jouko Puhakka 1 13 Mario Stagni 1 13 Reece Jones 2 Ret 3 13 12 Hideaki Miyoshi Ret 3 3 10 13 Armin Kremer 2 8 Stig-Olov Walfridsson 2 8 Sobiesław Zasada 2 8 Antonello Fidanza 2 8 Jacques Andreani 2 8 Roberto Sanchez 2 8 Olli Harkki 2 Ret 8 Luca Baldini 2 8 Yoshihiro Kataoka Ret Ret 2 8 Jeremy Easson 2 8 14 Juha Kangas 3 5 7 23 Anwar Azar 3 5 David Nafría 3 5 Achim Mörtl 3 5 Pavlos Moschoutis 3 5 Marko Ipatti 3 5 Boris Popovič 3 5 Pos. Driver MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN INA ITA AUS GBR  Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Events

1997 World Rally Championship event map

Black = Tarmac	Brown = Gravel	Blue = Ice/Snow	Red = Mixed Surface

1997 World Rally Championship schedule and results

Rally Name	Dates Run	Podium Drivers (Finishing Time)	Podium Cars
Monte Carlo Rally	19 January–22 January	Piero Liatti (4h:26m:58s) Carlos Sainz (4h:27m:53s) Tommi Mäkinen (4h:29m:29s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Swedish Rally	7 February–10 February	Kenneth Eriksson (3h:51m:49s) Carlos Sainz (3h:52m:05s) Tommi Mäkinen (3h:52m:15s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Safari Rally	1 March–3 March	Colin McRae (11h:29m:00s) Richard Burns (11h:36m:04s) Ian Duncan (11h:40m:18s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Mitsubishi Carisma GT Evolution IV Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
Rally Portugal	23 March–26 March	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:53m:01s) Freddy Loix (4h:57m:06s) Armin Schwarz (4h:59m:34s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 Ford Escort WRC
Rally Catalunya	14 April–16 April	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:08m:46s) Piero Liatti (4h:08m:53s) Gilles Panizzi (4h:11m:55s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Peugeot 306 Maxi
Tour de Corse	5 May–7 May	Colin McRae (4h:31m:08s) Carlos Sainz (4h:31m:16s) Gilles Panizzi (4h:31m:46s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Peugeot 306 Maxi
Rally Argentina	22 May–24 May	Tommi Mäkinen (4h:25m:38s) Colin McRae (4h:26m:39s) Kenneth Eriksson (4h:30m:06s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Subaru Impreza WRC 97
Acropolis Rally	8 June–10 June	Carlos Sainz (4h:56m:24s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:56m:41s) Tommi Mäkinen (5h:01m:27s)	Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Rally New Zealand	2 August–5 August	Kenneth Eriksson (4h:14m:11s) Carlos Sainz (4h:14m:24s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:14m:30s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC
Rally Finland	29 August–31 August	Tommi Mäkinen (3h:16m:18s) Juha Kankkunen (3h:16m:25s) Jarmo Kytölehto (3h:18m:18s)	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC
Rally Indonesia	19 September–21 September	Carlos Sainz (4h:37m:30s) Juha Kankkunen (4h:37m:46s) Kenneth Eriksson (4h:38m:49s)	Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC Subaru Impreza WRC 97
Rally Sanremo	13 October–15 October	Colin McRae (4h:08m:25s) Piero Liatti (4h:08m:31s) Tommi Mäkinen (4h:08m:37s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
Rally Australia	30 October–2 November	Colin McRae (4h:05m:31s) Tommi Mäkinen (4h:05m:37s) Didier Auriol (4h:05m:52s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV Toyota Corolla WRC
RAC Rally	23 November–25 November	Colin McRae (3h:54m:31s) Juha Kankkunen (3h:57m:18s) Carlos Sainz (3h:58m:24s)	Subaru Impreza WRC 97 Ford Escort WRC Ford Escort WRC
Source:

External links

• FIA World Rally Championship 1997 at ewrc-results.com