In any case, we were also going to enjoy a spectacular season. One which started with Carlos Sainz�s and Luis Moya�s victory in the Montecarlo Rally. �A calculated victory that was planned from the first sections, in which the errors of the other drivers were obvious, until they reached the top step of the podium on their arrival through the finishing gate at Montecarlo.� Drivers like McRae, Auriol, etc., ended up out of the race, while others for example Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Makinen or Bruno Thiry rolled in with mechanical failures or errors in the choice of tyres.

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Only Carlos Sainz and Fran�ois Delecour seemed to be called to the attractive yet sometimes fatal, Turini night.� One night and one stretch, which was once more witness to the 63rd Montecarlo Rally.� There, despite a �black cat�, Sainz and Luis Moya were again invincible, relegating Fran�ois Delecour to second place.

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For Sainz and Subaru, the second leading Japanese car manufacturer showed off its mechanics in the famous Monaco race, the season could not have started better.

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Such a magnificent start was going to be interrupted by the Prodrive team�s �catastrophe� in Sweden.� A rally in which Sainz and Luis Moya were taking part for the first time, on a complicated or at least different terrain, with snow and ice. This was not going to unsettle them, and from the very first section their times were much better than could have been expected, so much so that their classification half-way through the race surprised both them and others.

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Unfortunately, however, the mechanics �froze� (for wont of a better word) and low temperatures caused the engines, not only Sainz�s but those of the three Subarus (McRae and Jonsson), to fail.

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The Portugal Rally signified Carlos Sainz�s return to the foreground.� He put more and more pressure on the Finn until he made a mistake, losing the rally.� For Carlos Sainz it was his second victory of the season, with great prospects for securing the title.

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Prospects that were going to change as from the Tour de Corse, where the Subaru Impreza engines did not measure up to the occasion.� The result was the cession of the first three positions to Didier Auriol, winner of the rally, followed by Bruno Thiry and Andrea Aghini, with Carlos Sainz as the best classified, but no higher than fourth position.

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What happened in Corsica would be a separate chapter in Carlos Sainz�s sporting career, a bicycle fall left him with a serious shoulder injury and temporarily kept him out of the championship.

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A championship into which Colin McRae, after his victory in New Zealand and subsequent second place in the Australia Rally, began to� put considerable effort, especially after Sainz had abandoned the race due to a broken radiator in his Impreza.

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The end of the season promised to be epic, with the first event taking place in Catalu�a where McRae�s rebellious nature would play a leading role in the final decisions of the rally, although victory was finally given to Sainz. This was followed by the exclusion of Toyota, due to turbo manipulation, and cancellation of all the points obtained by the drivers and manufacturer, meaning that the two-sided World Championship would be contended at the RAC in England between Carlos Sainz and the Scot Colin McRae.

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