RALLY NEWS NO.4      Hexham..service..Sat. 3.15

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 CHIRDONHEAD
1st (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2)47.19.2
2nd (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall Astra)47.32.8
3rd (11) Marko Ipatti/Kari Kajula (Lancer N) 47.38.0
4th (15) Mike Brown/Aled Davies (Lancer N) 47.44.8
5th (26) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Subaru N) 48.08.1
6th (8) Mats Andersson/Claire Mole (Satria) 48.09.2
7th (22) Nik Elsmore/Jayson Brown (Lancer N)48.42.8
8th (5) Justin Dale/Andrew Bargery (Peugeot)48.45.7
9th (30) Guy Anderson/Dave Taylor (Lancer N)48.58.5
10th (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf)49.13.6

Mark Higgins was leading the Mobil 1 British Championship starting this Pirelli Rally, but his Vauxhall Astra has been forced into retirement in stage 6, Chirdonhead.  Unconfirmed reports are that the Astra was stopped in the stage for a long time and then drove out slowly with the hazard lights going, and the engine sounding not so good. It is possible that the earlier off road excursion in Kershope damaged the radiator, but this is pure speculation. Also out is Jani Pirttinen in the Volkswagen. His Golf went into a Chirdonhead ditch. 

Jarmo Kytolehto at the front of the rally, told us here at service "going quite well, we have some problems with dust inside the car, but the car is driving well, not top power, but good handling".  Neil Wearden felt his tyres go off slightly in stage 6, he eased back for a while and then the tyres seemed to come on again.  Andrew Pinker lost his brakes at the airport but basically just can't get going today, and is holding up Laukkanen very severely in the dusty stages.  Tapio reckons that he caught the Hyundai after 6 miles and could not get past. Tapio also feels that his suspension needs a slight tweak.

Marko Ipatti had fastest time overall in stage 6 despite a small spin.  Jonny Milner was less than 7s behind the Finnish driver to record 2nd fastest, although Jonny was hampered by a lack of brakes towards the end. David Higgins is having a torrid time in the Peugeot, the car is still getting a lot of dust inside and David is finding the handling not to his liking. His Peugeot team mate Justin Dale is going well, although he picked a soft option tyre for Chirdonhead, and they went off slightly towards the end. Mats Andersson in the Proton is having a good run although his co driver Claire Mole is complaining because the wiper is creeping up the screen in front of her and she can't see where she is going.

Neil Simpson lost time when he stopped at Pirttinen's accident. Pykalisto in the Puma is running late because of gearbox troubles. Keith Robantan stopped to change a punctured wheel, there was no wheel brace, drove to the next junction, borrowed a 21mm socket to get the wheel changed, lost a load of time. Niall McShea's head gasket blew. In the National part of the rally - Stephen Finlay led Robert Woodside with Lyall 3rd, Bell 4th, Morgan 5th, Petch 6th (after the first 2 airport stages). Martin Sansom led the Peugeots. More news later.BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON