# 1999 Rally China

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 (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 on the 19th win and 47th podium, driving a Toyota Corolla WRC. 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.
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) and the total distance was 385.12km.
| Date | Time | No. | Stage name | Distance |
| Leg 1 — 150.52 km (39%) |||||
| 17 September | 8:19 | SS1 | Qi Dao He 1 | 9.03 km |
| 17 September | 8:44 | SS2 | Zhung Hu Gou Men 1 (cancelled) | 33.07 km |
| 17 September | 10:42 | SS3 | Da Xi Shan 1 | 26.16 km |
| 17 September | 11:31 | SS4 | Tou Dao Xue 1 | 7.0 km |
| 17 September | 12:44 | SS5 | Qi Dao He 2 | 9.03 km |
| 17 September | 13:09 | SS6 | Zhung Hu Gou Men 2 (cancelled) | 33.07 km |
| 17 September | 15:07 | SS7 | Da Xi Shan 2 | 26.16 km |
| 17 September | 15:56 | SS8 | Tou Dao Xue 2 | 7.0 km |
| Leg 2 — 148.14 km (38%) |||||
| 18 September | 8:48 | SS9 | Si Dao Dian 1 | 15.94 km |
| 18 September | 9:13 | SS10 | Di Shui Hu 1 | 12.47 km |
| 18 September | 11:29 | SS11 | Dao De Gou 1 | 19.78 km |
| 18 September | 12:05 | SS12 | Hei Niu Shan 1 | 25.88 km |
| 18 September | 13:45 | SS13 | Si Dao Dian 2 | 15.94 km |
| 18 September | 14:10 | SS14 | Di Shui Hu 2 | 12.47 km |
| 18 September | 16:26 | SS15 | Dao De Gou 2 | 19.78 km |
| 18 September | 17:02 | SS16 | Hei Nui Shan 2 | 25.88 km |
| Leg 3 — 86.46 km (22%) |||||
| 19 September | 9:00 | SS17 | Cha Dao Kou 1 | 7.41 km |
| 19 September | 9:51 | SS18 | Bei Gou 1 | 19.15 km |
| 19 September | 10:19 | SS19 | Wu Ying Zi 1 | 16.67 km |
| 19 September | 12:16 | SS20 | Cha Dao Kou 2 | 7.41 km |
| 19 September | 13:07 | SS21 | Bei Gou 2 | 19.15 km |
| 19 September | 13:35 | SS22 | Wu Ying Zi 2 | 16.67 km |
| Source: |||||

### Entry list

| 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: |||

## Results
### Final Results

| Position | Number | Driver | Co-driver | Car |
| 1 | 4 | Didier Auriol | Denis Giraudet | Toyota Corolla WRC |
| 2 | 5 | Richard Burns | Robert Reid | Subaru Impreza WRC 99 |
| 3 | 3 | Carlos Sainz Sr. | Luis Moya | Toyota Corolla WRC |
| 4 | 6 | Juha Kankkunen | Juha Repo | Subaru Impreza WRC 99 |
| 5 | 9 | Harri Rovanperä | Risto Pietiläinen | SEAT WRC |
| 6 | 11 | Volkan Isik | Erkan Bodur | Toyota Corolla WRC |
| 7 | 21 | Toshihiro Arai | Roger Freeman | Subaru Impreza WRX |
| 8 | 15 | Gustavo Trelles | Martin Christie | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V |
| 9 | 22 | Katsuhiko Taguchi | Ron Teoh | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI |
| 10 | 26 | Alister McRae | David Senior | Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2 |
| 11 | 24 | Kenneth Eriksson | Steffan Parmander | Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2 |
| 12 | 19 | Michael Guest | David Green | Subaru Impreza WRX |
| 13 | 32 | Chi Wah Chan | Po Lin Tang | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V |
| 14 | 28 | Mazlan Saladin | Jagdev Singh | Proton Wira 4WD |
| 15 | 29 | Alister McRae | David Senior | Hyundai Coupé Kit Car Evo2 |
| 16 | 33 | Johnny Wong | Paulo Lou | Subaru Impreza WRX |
| 17 | 42 | Jindong Yao | Lei Fan | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III |
| 18 | 41 | Qingguo Huang | Wenmin Zhang | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III |
| 19 | 50 | Fan Wen | Guan Zhong | Peugeot 106 Rallye |
| 20 | 37 | Yu Ping Chan | Yim Fai Siu | Subaru Impreza 555 |
| 21 | 58 | Lei Xue | Yefang Niu | Peugeot 106 Rallye |
| 22 | 56 | Zhongmin Yan | Cheng Xie | Peugeot 106 Rallye |
| 23 | 66 | Dapeng Wang | Yongqun Chen | Peugeot 106 Rallye |
| 24 | 62 | Guangren Tang | Li Wang | Peugeot 106 Rallye |
| 25 | 61 | Sabrina Shaw | Shouli Xu | Peugeot 106 Rallye |
| Source: |||||