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RALLY
NEWS NO.8
Swansea…Saturday
3.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 13 (MARGAM)
1st (3) Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru WRC) 2.49.23.4
2nd (10) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot WRC) 2.49.34.2
3rd (6) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford WRC) 2.50.40.6
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 (RHEOLA 2)
1st (10) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot WRC) 2.32.10.4
2nd (3) Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru WRC) 2.32.13.4
3rd (1) Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki (Lancer) 2.33.11.7
4th (6) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford WRC) 2.33.23.2
5th (4) Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Subaru WRC) 2.33.40.0
6th (9) Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Peugeot WRC) 2.33.40.8
7th (19) Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot WRC) 2.34.14.2
8th (7) Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (SEAT WRC) 2.34.24.4
9th (21) Markko Martin/Michael Park (Corolla) 2.34.25.4
10th (17) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilaien (SEAT WRC) 2.35.28.5
Alister McRae 11th: Gardemeister 12th: P Solberg 13th: Schwarz
14th:
There was a collective sigh of despair in the Ford camp when
the news came through that Colin McRae had crashed his Focus
out of the lead on stage 12, Rheola. Not just out of lead,
but out of the rally. The most important thing is that
Colin and co-driver Nicky Grist are OK. In fact, it wasn't
such a big accident. Apparently 1.5 miles into the stage the
car bounced out of some bad ruts on a right hand bend and went
into the undergrowth on its roof. The car came back on
to its wheels eventually, and Colin carried on up the stage,
but the oil and water temperature went through the roof, evidence
that branches had damaged the radiator and oil cooler.
Colin parked the car off the track at junction 5. When
Jimmy McRae heard the news he commented "we'll just write
this year off and start again".
McRae's drama changes the face of the rally of course.
Richard Burns was fastest through that stage 12, 8s up on Gronholm,
and the lead of the rally in his sights. The world championship
is still in the balance, Gronholm reporting no problems with
his car and still has to finish inside the top 5 to take the
title, otherwise it goes to Burns. There is a terrific
battle going on for 5th place. Delecour got ahead of Kankkunen,
Kankkunen responded in stage 12 and Panizzi also is setting some
very quick times. Didier Auriol is slipping back slightly,
his engine misfiring on to 3 cylinders in stage 11, while in
stage 12 the time was not fantastic, the engine was smoking a
little and Didier has also requested better dampers.
In Group N there was been a major change because Trelles has
had 2 punctures in the long Resolven stage, group N cars are
not allowed ATS or an extra spare wheel, so Trelles had to finish
the stage and drive to service on 3 inflated tyres and 1 puncture.
He even switched a good wheel from the back to the front but
lost a mountain of time, and could well have handed the gpN WRC
title to Manfred Stohl. Austrian Manfred commented "Yes,
we are in a good way for the championship but it is still a long
way to go". Ramon Ferreyros also had 2 punctures in
Resolven while Stuart Egglestone retired.
Other stories from that stage included…Freddy Dor struggling
through with his Subaru's gear change mechanism broken off. Eamonn
Boland's similar WRC Subaru suffered a broken brake pipe.
Ollie Harkki spun in that stage but with little damage.
Greek driver John Papadimitriou said "I was a little bit
too much on the safe side": John was 27th overall after
Resolven. GpN leader Stohl was 21st: Mark Higgins 22nd:
Neil Wearden 23rd: Marcus Dodd 24th: Backlund 25th and 2nd in
gpN. Olli Harkki was 3rd in gpN and 26th overall: Travaglia was
28th and 4th in gpN, Jeremy Easson 29th and 5th GpN. Gavin Cox
6th in gpN and 30th overall. More news to follow..BRIAN
& LIZ PATTERSON |
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