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

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

References