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RALLY
NEWS NO.11
Bridgend/Sunday 3pm…still
raining!
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD
AFTER STAGE 17 (MARGAM 2) - final stage
1st (3)
Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru WRC) 3.43.01.9
2nd (10) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot WRC) 3.44.07.5
3rd (1) Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki (Lancer) 3.44.16.9
4th (6) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford WRC) 3.44.35.4
5th (4) Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Subaru WRC) 3.44.48.8
6th (9) Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Peugeot WRC) 3.44.50.4
7th (21) Markko Martin/Michael Park (Corolla) 3.46.26.3
8th (19) Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot WRC) 3.46.37.5
9th (7) Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (SEAT WRC) 3.47.29.4
10th (17) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilaien (SEAT WRC) 3.48.12.0
11th (15) Alister McRae/Dave Senior (Accent) 3.49.04.7
12th (8) Toni Gardemeister/Paavo Lukander (SEAT WRC) 3.50.01.0
This is a hat trick of Rally GB wins for Subaru driver Richard
Burns, but tinged with the joy of victory is the disappointment
for Richard and co-driver Robert Reid of not winning the World
Rally Championship. That honour goes to Marcus Gronholm
who has been the sensation of world rallying this year in his
Peugeot. Richard reported at the end that he hadn't enjoyed
today, it was very difficult to drive a little slower than normal
to conserve his lead, and knowing all the time that there was
nothing more he could do than win the rally, that the title was
out of his hands. Co-driver Robert Reid remarked about
today "It was so difficult to go steady, we were braking
early and having to speed up again for some corners. The
pace notes don't work properly going slowly. The stages were
very tricky anyway, with light brown mud on the surface making
them very slippy, although the Pirelli tyres were superb".
It has been a fantastic achievement for Marcus Gronholm and his
co driver Timo Rautiainen and all the Peugeot team. Apparently
the parties planned for tonight in Cardiff and tomorrow in Finland
will beat all parties! Outgoing World Champion Tommi Makinen
was fastest through the last stage to win the big battle for
3rd place from Carlos Sainz. Tommi made a slow start to the day,
saying "Could not find the speed, not relaxed".
He made up for it in stage 2, the car falling off the road several
times on the way to fastest time.
Manfred Stohl wins Group N today and on the world championship.
Kenneth Backlund 2nd in gpN. Olli Harkki was 3rd in GpN
and also takes the top Amateur award. Swedish girl Pernilla
Walfridsson set a fastest group N time through stage 15, Pernilla
having had 2 accidents on the rally, was charging hard to make
up time on Natalie Barratt, Natalie 2nd in the Ladies category
behind Penny Mallory. Penny survived a brush with the scenery
in stage 16, her Focus front mudguard dented but she lost little
time. Incidentally, rumours circulating this morning regarding
Pernilla's engagement to Petter Solberg are unfounded. They are
"walking out" together, he just hasn't bought the ring
yet! Young Norwegian driver Martin Stenshorne set a 2nd fastest
gpN time in stage 16 - he's been running for most of the rally
with low turbo boost following his accident on Saturday. We reported
earlier that Marcus Dodd was in line for top Amateur but he put
his Subaru WRC off the road in stage 16. Mark Higgins was
lucky to reach service at Pembrey after his stage 15 accident,
his Astra's rear beam was completely broken in two, the car crabbing
madly through stage 16 and on down the road section. Gavin
Cox was fastest gpN in stage 16 and he had got ahead of Jeremy
Easson. The Colsoul brothers put their Lancer up a bank
in Margam and seemed unlikely to get going. Just outside
the top 12 - Armin Schwarz is 13th. Henning Solberg 14th, Hamed
al Wahaibi 15th. Luis Climent 16th. Manfred Stohl 17th, Kenneth
Backlund 18th, Ollie Harkki 19th & John Papadimitriou 20th.
Ferreyros 21st Cox 22nd. Our thanks to all who helped and
supported the RallyNews service. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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