UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 - BRECHFA

1st (1) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainen (Peugeot)1.03.19.2

2nd (5) Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru) 1.03.56.6

3rd (2) Didier Auriol.Denis Giraudet (Peugeot)1.04.03.4

4th (16) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (Peugeot)1.04.15.5

5th (3) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford) 1.04.54.4

6th (10) Alister McRae/Dave Senior (Accent) 1.05.27.8

7th (11) Armin Schwarz/Manfred Hiemer (Octavia) 1.06.04.3

8th (17) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Ford) 1.06.11.6

9th (9) Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Parmander (Accent)1.06.21.0

10th (8) Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets (Lancer) 1.06.32.0

Neil Wearden in 11th place after SS7: Bruno Thiry 12th: Toshihiro Arai 13th: Gregoire De Mevius 14th: Henning Solberg 15th: Gwyndaf Evans was 17th after stage 6, but is now running way back the field, after his delay, still awaiting his time.

Fastest SS7 Brechfa - Gronholm 17.23.0: Burns 17.23.9: Sainz 17.25.3: Rovanpera 17.31.0: Auriol 17.41.8: Loix 18.01.5: A McRae 18.18.2: Schwarz 18.26.1:

As can be seen above, quite a difference in the times for Brechfa. The drivers described the conditions as "horrendous". It was dark, foggy, muddy, slippy - not nice, but in a way more typical of the Rally GB conditions that we have known over the years. Richard Burns was just .9 of a second slower than Gronholm, with Auriol 18s back. This allowed the Subaru driver to move into 2nd place, even though Richard is adamant that he is nowhere near flat out in his Pirelli shod Impreza. Auriol of course is not renouned for liking these sort of conditions, but really his performance so far has been more than professional. Schwarz is trying new PIAA silicon wipers, a most important asset in these conditions.

Looking back to the end of stage 6 - Ramon Ferreyros moved into the lead of gpN by just over a seconds from Backlund, with David Higgins a further 11s back. Higgins flattened his Subaru's exhaust near the start of that Halfway stage, and he reckons is cost him many seconds because of lack of power. 4th in group N was Stig Blomqvist and then Alistair Ginley in 5th. Alistair slowed in stage 6 thinking his Lancer had a broken driveshaft, but it turned out to be OK. Gavin Cox was 6th in that showroom category, Gavin still struggling with his Evo 7 active centre diff not being so active, contemplating putting a pump in the boot. Natalie Barrett had been lying just outside the top 6 in gpN but she has dropped a lot of time in Halfway, reportedly with punctures.

In the Super 1600 battle Loeb in the Saxo led from Dallavilla with Niall McShea in 3rd place, but 50s back from the Super 1600 leader. Niall felt that his Saxo suspension was too hard for the conditions, and he was losing out on traction.

Snippets from stage 6 include...Graham Middleton leading cl.7 in his Hyundai. Paul Griffiths leading cl.5 in his Micra. Simon Thomas leading cl.3 in the Peugeot, that was despite the sub frame coming loose earlier on, and a broken left rear damper in stage 6. More later..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON