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RALLY
NEWS NO.9
Cardiff….Saturday..
late..in the pouring rain
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 (CARDIFF 2)
1st (3) Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru WRC) 2.51.46.0
2nd (10) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot WRC) 2.52.05.9
3rd (6) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford WRC) 2.53.05.9
4th (1) Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki (Lancer) 2.53.06.2
5th (4) Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Subaru WRC) 2.53.20.7
6th (9) Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Peugeot WRC) 2.53.33.4
7th (19) Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot WRC) 2.54.05.7
8th (21) Markko Martin/Michael Park (Corolla) 2.54.32.5
9th (7) Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (SEAT WRC) 2.55.17.7
10th (17) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilaien (SEAT WRC) 2.55.52.9
11th (15) Alister McRae/Dave Senior (Accent) 2.56.50.9
12th (8) Toni Gardemeister/Paavo Lukander (SEAT WRC) 2.57.27.5
Petter Solberg set fastest time through the Super Special at
Cardiff on Saturday evening, but that makes little difference
to the overall picture of the rally with Richard Burns now almost
20s ahead of Marcus Gronholm, Carlos Sainz a further minute in
arrears. Burns can do no more than hold on to the lead
and hope that his rival for the world championship title, Marcus
Gronholm, has some delay to finish outside the top 5. Burns
commented "Now we must maintain the pace, OK the first day
hiccup wasn't planned, but everything's good now. The Margam
stage was dreadful, a complete mud bath." Marcus
Gronholm said "We have no real problems, it was good for
me when Colin was in front, but I am not going to change my pace
now that Richard leads. We have to finish". Carlos
Sainz in 3rd place reports no real problems. Tommi Makinen has
been trying very hard and made a few small mistakes, but is still
very determined for a good result and will certainly battle with
Sainz on the last day. Juha Kankkunen has increased his
pace this afternoon when necessary, to keep Francois Delecour
at bay. Gilles Panizzi improves with every mile as he gets
more attuned to the Welsh forests. While Markko Martin hung on
grimly to his top 10 place and said "We were off the road
a couple of times and then backed off in Margam, in the deep
mud. It was not possible to enjoy this stage at all".
Didier Auriol is struggling to hold a top 10 place his Cordoba
engine now more or less off a cylinder as one of the valves is
giving trouble. Harri Rovanpera reports all well with his
SEAT. Alister McRae in 11th holed the sump earlier today,
and then on the next stage knocked the sump guard off. Toni Gardemeister
in 12th reported no main problem, "but the car goes everywhere
like a snake in Margam. In stage 12 it is like a kangaroo
over the very bad bumps!"
Other stories include: Armin Schwarz in 14th place still having
transmission troubles. Navarra retired from a top 20 position
when his oil sump was smashed. Petter Solberg at last had a clear
run this afternoon and had a 3rd and 4th fastest time in stages
12 and 13. Marcus Dodd lost time with a broken wheel, his
father retired in the gpN Subaru in stage 8 when he landed on
top of a tree stump. Toshihiro Arai stopped in stage 13,
his Subaru reportedly on fire. Both Vauxhalls went off
in the mud of Margam, Higgins for over 4 minutes, Wearden for
over 20. Greek hotelier John Papadimitriou emerged from
Margam adamant that his Subaru's differential or suspension geometry
had gone wrong, he could not keep the car on the road, John is
lying 22nd overall. Manfred Stohl is 19th and leads gpN
from Kenneth Backlund with Olli Harkki 3rd. Travaglia is 4th
in gpN, Ferreyros slipped to 5th following his puncture, Gavin
Cox is 6th. Stig Blomqvist has retired his Lancer with
broken rear suspension. Overnight class leaders of almost 90
cars still running include the little Mini of Yoshihiko Sano.
His Japanese team mate Kitani retired his Mini in SS11. More
news from service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON |
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