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Makinen won but hero of the rally was Colin McRae. Even if his problems were of his own making, Colin's performance was brilliant. All started on leg two as Tommi and Colin battled for the lead. Latter was some twenty seconds ahead and had been faster than Tommi all morning but was taking risks to do so.
On SS15 he hit rock twice. First impact was only a scare but second one bent right rear wheel badly, causing Colin to lose the lead. Situation seemed desperate and when Subaru management saw the damage they thought that rally was over. Colin refused to give up and together with codriver Nicky Grist, he straightened the bent suspension on roadside, using big rocks as their only tools.
If that feat was not enough, the Subaru pair reached the start of the next stage only seconds before they would have been excluded for having been over the maximum lateness. That incurred two and half minutes in time penalties but as if to prove that emergency repairs were successful, Colin was fastest on that stage. Stuff of the legends.
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Rally Argentina 1998 counts for:
1998 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers/Co-drivers
1998 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
1998 FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup for Manufacturers
1998 FIA Cup for Drivers of Production Cars
1998 FIA Teams' Cup
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| 299th WRC rally |
| Round of season: | 7 of 14 |
| Official name: | Rally Argentina |
| Edition: | 18th |
| Date: | from Tuesday 19-May-1998 to Saturday 23-May-1998 |
| Surface: | Gravel |
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| Entries: | 75 | |
| Starters: | 61 | |
| Finishers: | 30 | (49.2% of starters) |
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| Stages: | 23 | |
| Shortest: | 3.40 | km | (SS9 Colonia Caroya SSS) |
| Longest: | 28.93 | km | (SS3 Ascochinga - La Cumbre) |
| Slowest: | 68.80 | km/h | (SS8 La Cumbre - Agua de Oro) |
| Fastest: | 118.14 | km/h | (SS12 Tala Canada - Taninga) |
| Planned stage distance: | 400.62 | km | (27.6% of total distance) |
| Actual stage distance: | 400.62 | km | (27.6% of total distance) |
| Road section distance: | 1,051.10 | km |
| Total distance: | 1,451.72 | km |
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| DRIVERS - PODIUM FINISHERS |
| | Win was 12th win and 20th podium for Tommi Makinen. |
| Second place was 55th podium for Carlos Sainz. |
| Third place was 64th podium for Juha Kankkunen. |
| MAKES - PODIUM FINISHERS |
| | Win was 22nd win and 51st podium for Mitsubishi. |
| | Second place was 122nd podium for Toyota. |
| | Third place was 123rd podium for Ford. |
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