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Positions: Overall Winner: Constantin Aur - Toyota Celica Turbo Second place: George Grigorescu - Renault Maxi Megane Third place: Heinz Goellner - Audi Quattro S2 Group A - winner: Constantin Aur Group N - winner: Bogdan Marisca, Mitsubishi Evo IV Group H - winner: Horatiu Savu, Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
Positions: Overall Winner: Constantin Aur - Toyota Celica Turbo Second place: Dorin Toma, Ford Escort RS Cosworth - Third place: Heinz Goellner - Audi Quattro S2 Group A - winner: Constantin Aur Group N - winner: Dan Gartofan, Subaru Impreza WRX Group H - winner: Constantin Rusu, Dacia Super Nova.
The 1998 season seems to be a successful one. At start there were a Number of new cars Audi Quattro S2 - Dodo Toma and Heinz Goellner, Ford Escort RS Cosworth - Florin Nuta, Ford Escort RS 2000 - Dan Gartofan, Dacia Nova gr.A - Bogdan Marisca, Dacia SuperNova - Constantin Puiu Rusu. The scheduled table of rallies allowed drivers to prepare their cars for the different types of road, both tarmac and gravel. 
With his
Toyota undergoing repairs in the garage, Titi Aur, the en-titre
champion started the season with big problems in finding sponsors.
Finally, he was included in the Monte Carlo Racing Team. Since the
first rally - Rallye of Brasov - his car had been showing problems of
age, but Aur won this rally due to the rain.At the Banat Rally, he won again, this time as a result of many cars crashing on the bad, sand covered, tarmac road. Titi being the gravel specialist he is. He won the next 2 rallies Cluj and Iasi. His rival, George Grigorescu, was very close - second each time. The only ERC race, The Rally of Romania, was a bad event for Titi Aur. He was forced to retire with a blown engine, the winner being the Bulgarian, Jasen Popov. In second place came George Grigorescu, the official Renault Sport Driver, in a Clio Maxi. The repair of the engine, which was done at Scuderia Grifone in Italy, cost Titi around DM 25,000 and forced him to to sell his road car, a Mercedes. The rally Dacia Pitesti was his first loss, the winner was Constatin Rusu (Dacia SuperNova) driving for Dacia Racing Team, Titi Aur came second followed by George Grigorescu in third place. In the next rally, Aur's Toyota broke it's suspension. Bad luck again. Dodo Toma (Audi Quattro S2) won with George Grigorescu second. The last rally of the year was the Harghita Rally. This was where the title was to be decided, Aur or Grigorescu?. On gravel Aur's Toyota had an advantage against Grigorescu's Maxi Clio. So, Titi Aur became the Romanian rally champion for the third time. At group N the winners were a couple on their debut Tudor Ionescu and Alexandru Bucur. Driving a superb Ford Escort RS Cosworth (prepared by Ovidiu Mazilu) they had only one retirement, from the Banat Rally. At group H (non homologated cars) the winner was Dodo Toma-Dacian Banca with an Audi Quattro S2. In the team competition, Monte Carlo Racing won against the Dacia Racing Team. Having Titi Aur and 3 Audi Quattro S2's (one of them being the car belonging to Finland's 1997 champion) was a real advantage for the team. Dacia had a lot of retirements and at group A had 2 non running Dacia Nova cars (100 HP). The surprise was the Setcar Team who came third. In the Nova Cup the winner was decided at the last moment Daniel Ungur, from the Lipoplast Racing Team won against Romulus Preda and Voicu Viorel, both from the Setcar Team. Only four cars were entered in the Ford Ka Cup, the winner being Gunther Graef, who beat Valentin Banciu. Borbely Lorincz took third place. Races Brasov Rally Winners Group A 1)Titi Aur (Toyota Celica), 2) Florin Nuta (Escort RS Cosworth), 3) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi) F2 - 1) George Grigorescu, 2) Gunther Graef (Ford Ka), 3) Bordan Marisca (Dacia Nova) Group N 1) Ovidiu Mazilu (Escort Cosworth), 2)Horatiu Ionescu-Cristea (Ford Sierra), 3) Tudor Ionescu (Escort Cosworth) Group H 1) Dodo Toma (Audi Quattro S2), 2) Gunther Graef, 3) Valentin Banciu (Ford Ka) Teams 1) Monte Carlo, 2)Setcar, 3) Samaco Racing 2) Nova Cup George Morar (Samaco), Bogdan Stanoev (Memphis), Daniel Ungur (Lipoplast) BanatRally Winners: Group A 1)Titi Aur (Toyota Celica), 2) Heinz Goellner (Audi Quattro S2), 3) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi) Group N 1) Runcan Marius (Audi Quattro S2), 2) Anton Grigore (Ford Sierra), 3) Barbu Marian(Dacia Nova) Group H 1) Dodo Toma (Audi Quattro S2), 2) Puiu Rusu (Dacia SuperNova), 3) Mihai Campeanu (Honda Civic CRX) Teams 1) Monte Carlo, 2) Dacia 3) Setcar Nova Cup 1) Stanoev, 2) Ungur, 3) Romulus Preda Ford Ka Cup 1) Mihai Leu, 2) Gunther Graef, 3) Ioan Balea Cluj Rally Winners: Group A 1)Titi Aur (Toyota Celica), 2) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi) Iasi Rally Winners: Group A 1)Titi Aur (Toyota Celica), 2) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi), 3) Dodo Toma Group N 1) Runcan Marius (Audi Quattro S2), 2) Anton Grigore (Ford Sierra), 3) Tudor Ionescu Group H 1) Dodo Toma (Audi Quattro S2), 2) Puiu Rusu (Dacia SuperNova), 3) Mihai Campeanu (Honda Civic CRX) Nova Cup 1) Stanoev, 2) Ungur, 3) Romulus Preda Ford Ka Cup 1) Valentin Banciu 2) Gunther Graef, 3) Lorincz Borbely Rallye of Romania Winners Group A 1) Jasen Popov (Ford Escort WRC), 2) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi), 3) Heinz Goellner) Nova Cup 1) Daniel Ungur (Lipoplast Racing Team) Ford Ka Cup 1) Gunther Graef, 2) Lorincz Borbely, 3) Ioan Balea Dacia Pitesti Rally Winners 1) Puiu Rusu, 2) Titi Aur, 3) George Grigorescu Group A 1)Titi Aur (Toyota Celica), 2) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi), 3) Florin Nuta (Escort Cosworth) Group N 1) Tudor Ionescu, 2) Runcan Marius (Audi Quattro S2), 3) Alexandru Borlovan (Peugeot 205 GTI) Group H 1) Puiu Rusu (Dacia SuperNova), 2) Stefan Vasile (Dacia SuperNova), 3) Dodo Toma Teams 1) Dacia Racing Team, 2) Monte Carlo Racing Team, 3) Setcar Avram Iancu - Cluj Rally Winners 1) Dodo Toma, 2) George Grigorescu, 3) Puiu Rusu Group A 1) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi), 2) Bogdan Marisca (Dacia Nova), 3) Mihai Leu (Dacia Nova) Group N 1) Tudor Ionescu, 2) Horatiu Savu (Escort Cosworth), Runcan Marius Group H 1) Dodo Toma (Audi Quattro S2), 2) Puiu Rusu (Dacia SuperNova), 3) Stefan Vasile Nova Cup 1) Voicu Viorel, 2) Stanoev, 3) Romulus Preda Ford Ka Cup 1) Valentin Banciu 2) Gunther Graef, 3) Lorincz Borbely. Is the last rally, champion is Gunther Graef Harghita Rally Winners 1)Titi Aur (Toyota Celica), 2) Dodo Toma, 3) George Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi). Champion is Titi Aur Teams 1) Monte Carlo Racing Team, 2) Dacia Racing Team, 3) Setcar Nova Cup 1) Stanoev, 2) Ungur, 3) Romulus Preda. Champion is Daniel Ungur
Keeping with tradition, the Brasov Rallye has opened again the motorsport season in Romania. World's best cars as Toyota Celica, Subaru Impreza, 
Ford Escort Cosworth, Audi Quattro and Renault Clio Maxi, but also Dacia came forward at the start line. Dacia Nova Cup was created
this year, in which drivers drive technically identical cars. The rallye was dominated by Aur's Toyota Celica, who won the race, followed by George Grigorescu,
who drove a Renault Clio Maxi, a car he still has to accomodate oneself to. The third was Brasov originated Dodo Toma, with his Ford Escort Cosworth.
The second stage of the National Rallye Championship took place in Harghita county. As he did in the first stage, Aur asserted oneself and took
his revenge with Grigorescu (Renault Clio Maxi), who won the Harghita Rallye last year. Dorin Toma from Monte Carlo Racing Team and Florin Nuta from Autotehnica Bastos Team
fought for the third place and the latter won it. The third stage played an important role in the Championship, as it has been quoted with the maximum
value (coefficient) in the National Championship and with coefficient 5 in the European Rallye Championship. Driving carefully, Aur imposed himself for the
first time in Rallye of Romania and the fate of champion title has been almost decided. George Grigorescu was following him closely. The fight for the third
place was fought again between Dodo Toma, Florin Nuta (Audi S2 Quattro) and Ovidiu Mazilu (Ford Escort Cosworth) and Dodo won again.The fourth stage of National Championship, The Cluj Rallye, taking place between august 1st and 3rd, was the best race in recent years. Aur started with some problems and it seemed he was going to loss, the first of that season. But Titi Aur did the opposite and won that stage too, followed by Grigorescu. The third place went to Dodo Toma, who took advantage of Nuta's crush, and of gearbox failure in Mazilu's car. The fifth stage, Dacia Rallye, was won by Aur, followed by Dodo Toma and the surprise of the rally, Bogdan Marisca, driving a Dacia Liberta (gr.A car, 2wd). George Grigorescu had to abandon because of a planet gear and a 13 minutes penalty. The last but one stage was Banat Rallye that gave Titi Aur, for the second time, the title of national champion. The second came Dodo Toma and Nuta, the third, but again the planet gear troubles Grigorescu, the only contester who could face Aur. Iasi Rallye, the last stage, ended a troubled championship. The champion already settled in the last race will come forward in this race, too, so that the battle was between Grigorescu (Renault Maxi Clio) and Toma (Ford Escort Cosworth). They were both fighting for the second place in the FIA classification. Grigorescu defeated Toma, who got a fourth place, behind Nuta. In Dacia Nova Cup the battle lasted up to the final stage, that was wan by D. Morar, followed by V. Voicu and G. Graef.
�Valentin Bradateanu
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V
ery impressive was the large number of Ford Escorts.
The entire
championship was dominated by the Autotehnica Team, who won all the
titles
Final classification
