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RALLY NEWS NO.2
Builth Wells..Friday 10.55
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 (RHONDDA)
1st (5) Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Ford WRC) 29.29.4
2nd (10) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot WRC) 29.31.6
3rd (6) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford WRC) 29.45.1
4th (19) Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot WRC) 29.49.2
5th (7) Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (SEAT WRC) 29.51.3
6th (21) Markko Martin/Michael Park (Corolla) 29.52.9
7th (1) Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki (Lancer) 29.55.8
8th (18) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (Ford WRC) 30.05.3
9th (4) Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Subaru WRC) 30.09.9
10th (17) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilaien (SEAT WRC) 30.11.0
Richard Burns is back in 12th place after the 4th stage, just
57s behind leader McRae. As Richard's Subaru "crabbed"
to a halt here at service in control, the winner of the rally
for the last 2 years commented.."Its do-able!"…Richard
was referring to his chances of a hat trick, saying that the
first time he won it was by several minutes, and there is still
a long way to go this time. He went on to say "We
made a mistake when trying to go very fast, turned in too early,
clipped the rear of the car. My first reaction was disappointment,
for me and the fans. Its fantastic to get here to service,
so relieved". Richard then talked of roadside repairs,
strapping up suspension struts with the spare wheel belt.
Rally leader Colin McRae made little comment, except to report
that the stages were slippy, not so bad on line, and that the
next batch of stages would be even more slippy. Gronholm
and Sainz reported no problems. Fourth placed Panizzi said
"The grip changes in corners and everywhere, it is like
Monte Carlo!" Interestingly, Panizzi is not using
the same active differentials as his Peugeot team mate Gronholm.
Auriol reported no major problems with his SEAT. His team
mate Harri Rovanpera was not so happy.."We try hard but
times not so good, some small problems including puncture".
Solberg led the rally after stage 2 but reported a spin in stage
3 where he got stuck in a ditch. Toni Gardemeister asked
the SEAT mechanics to look under his bonnet, and reported "Some
times noise like du-du-du-du !"
Just outside the top 10, Gardemeister is 11th, Burns 12th, Delecour
13th, Alister McRae 14th and struggling with his Accent anti
lag system not working properly. Alister screwed up the throttle
stop to try to compensate, but then the accelerator was sticking
open on corners. At least he is going better than his team
mate Kenneth Eriksson, whose engine has ceased. Kenneth
tried everything, and more, to get the car out of stage 4, but
to no avail. Stephen Finlay is in 15th, Gwyndaf Evans 16th,
and saying he is just not getting into the swing of things.
A spin in stage 4 did not help the Welshman's cause, nor did
clipping some logs. Armin Schwarz is 17th, his Skoda seemingly
on 3 wheel drive, Armin saying "I drive just fast enough
to keep it on the road, very difficult". Henning Sol
berg is 18th in his Corolla, Petter Solberg is back in 30th having
led the rally. His co driver Phil Mills told us that they
spun into a ditch and the car beached losing many seconds - that
was in stage 3. Luis Climent is 19th and Navarra is 20th.
Manfred Stohl continues to lead GpN, he is 25th, Trelles is 2nd
in GpN, Backlund 3rd, Ferreyros 4th, Olli Harkki 5th and New
Zealander Reece Jones, going well and 6th in GpN. Roger
Clark Award winner, Niall McShea is 34th in the Saxo and leading
his class. Mark Higgins leads F2 in his Astra from Neil
Wearden. Mark is a very creditable 23rd and highest placed 2
wheel drive car. More news later..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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