Quote Originally Posted by AnttiK7 View Post
Kankkunen had a contract with Toyota for 1996 also, but I'm not sure about Auriol.
At least Auriol did only one-offs during 1996 and the first half of 1997. Kankkunen followed the same route before being recruited to Ford during 1997 to replace the error-prone Schwarz.

I also remember Mänttä 200-Ajo, a regular pre Rally Finland test event, from 1997, where Grönholm debuted Corolla WRC. I was spectating in the same corner with Kankkunen, who was probably a little bittersweet of seeing the result of his development work in action.