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RALLY NEWS
NO.7 Dumfries service..Saturday 5.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 - WINDY HILL
1st (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall) 1.00.05.5
2nd (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 1.01.01.8
3rd (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Vauxhall) 1.01.03.6
4th (11) Marko Ipatti/Teppo Leino (Lancer N) 1.01.11.8
5th (16) Mike Brown/Aled Davies (Lancer N) 1.01.52.0
6th (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2)1.02.12.8
7th (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf)1.02.25.8
8th (19) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 1.02.35.6
9th (20) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Impreza N) 1.02.43.5
10th (9) Jani Pirtinen/Tomi Tuominen (VW Golf)1.02.48.3
Tapio Laukkanen was fastest through stage 6, Windy Hill, with
Marko Ipatti re-exerting his group N authority 2nd fastest. The
nature of 5.69 mile stage meant that there was very little time
difference between the top drivers, just a second here and a
second there. Neil Wearden comfortably in front as the
rally heads for its overnight halt, said about that Windy Hill
test "We stayed out of trouble, there are a couple of silly
wee places that are quite tricky and I didn't want to do anything
silly. We're feeling pretty confident about tomorrow".
Mark Higgins had new brake pads and discs fitted and he was happy
enough through the stage, his Astra due an investigation into
the gearbox at the long service before the overnight halt.
Tapio Laukkanen now over 2 minutes astray of the leader following
his punctures, said tersely "There's not much you can do
on this stage". Marko Ipatti had a superb time in
the stage but the Finnish driver just isn't particularly happy
with the way he is going today. On the other hand, Neil
Simpson had a brilliant run to lie 2nd overnight. Mike
Brown in the similar Lancer was just a little disappointed not
to match Simpson, but said "The car's starting to get up
on its tiptoes at the back, to react over the bumps".
Nik Elsmore is starting to speed up, he's got settled on to the
right tyres and is a lot happier. Finnish visitor Jani
Pirtinen is going to take his Golf's differential out here at
service and see if they can fix the problem of it not limiting
the slip. It's a 30 minute job just to take it out and
put it back in and it is a 45 min. service, so they should be
OK. Jarmo Kytolehto tried different tyres that time and he seemed
happier. His team mat Andrew Pinker is still trying to recover
from the puncture time loss. Interestingly, Andrew said earlier
about a slow time on stage 4 which he just could not understand.
That has now amazingly been altered by 10 seconds retrospectively?
Dave Wood had a half spin at the hairin in that 6th stage and
was just a little too fast over the big jump at the end. Ironically,
Dave was stopped waiting to go into a control when a Passat drove
past, a couple of stones bounced up, and broke the Subaru's headlamp
and cracked the windscreen - after all it has been through today!
Steve Petch still leads the Mintex 2000 part of the rally with
a couple of stages to go. In the Ford Puma Championship, Simon
Maugher has speeded up, closed within 18s of Briant after stage
5. More news in the morning.BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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