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RALLY NEWS
NO.4 Service..Saturday 1.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 - TWIGLEES
1st (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall) 32.09.6
2nd (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf) 32.23.7
3rd (11) Marko Ipatti/Teppo Leino (Lancer N) 32.33.3
4th (10) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Celica N) 32.37.3
5th (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 32.38.0
6th (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Vauxhall) 32.48.8
7th (16) Mike Brown/Aled Davies (Lancer N) 33.03.1
8th (7) Andrew Pinker/Allan Harryman (Coupe F2) 33.27.3
9th (9) Jani Pirtinen/Tomi Tuominen (VW Golf) 33.28.4
10th (19) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 33.29.0
Mark Higgins set a fastest time through stage 3 (Twiglees), with
Neil Wearden just over a second slower and then Neil Simpson
3rd fastest with Jonny Milner 4th, just ahead of Marko Ipatti.
Tapio Laukkanen had led the rally after 2 stages but his time
was 30s wide off the mark through Twiglees, the reason for his
Volkswagen being delayed not yet clear, but it has certainly
knocked Tapio back. Initial reports from stage 4, Castle O'er
are that Tapio's Golf was going well with no obvious problems.
Further news on Tapio's delay has just come from the photogenic
team manager, Steve Bagnall, some would say a walking billboard
advertisement for a pint of the black stuff. Tapio's Golf suffered
nothing more than a puncture in Twiglees. Some other unconfirmed
news from Castle O'er is that Jonny Milner's Toyota stopped,
we don't know as yet for how long. Suspected electrical problems.
In the Mintex 2000 section of the rally, Steve Petch was far
and away fastest over the first couple of stages to lead from
Anthony Eaton with Phil Walker 3rd. Steve Petch reports
no troubles and the Ae stage is now drying out a lot since the
international went through earlier.
In the VW Polo championship - Neil Buckley leads. While
in the Ford Puma Championship after 2 stages - Ben Briant still
leads from Simon Maugher with Donagh Kelly 3rd and Ian Chadwick
well back in 4th. Chadwick's Puma ripped a brake pipe on
the first stage and dropped a lot of time.
Further stories from the inernational include - Natalie Barratt
losing road time at service out control after her mechanics struggled
to repair a cracked rear beam. Per Johansson's Saab, all
the way from Sweden for the rally, was missing after the early
stages. The reason for the Egglestone's retirement was down to
transmission trouble. The crew is very disillusioned and may
not continue in the Mobil 1 British championship.
Acropolis Rally after stage 10 - Colin McRae still leads from
his Ford team mate Carlos Sainz. Richard Burns 3rd: Japanese
driver Arai 4th. Armin Schwarz 5th: Juha Kankkunen 6th. Delecour
dropped back to 7th and Middle East driver Bakashab 8th. More
news after stage 4 later..BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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