UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 BRECHFA

(There are no times for stage 12 which has been cancelled. See below)

1st (1) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautainen (Peugeot) 2.19.21.4

2nd (5) Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru) 2.20.46.5

3rd (16) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (Peugeot)2.21.04.4

4th (10) Alister McRae/Dave Senior (Accent) 2.23.37.6

5th (17) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Ford) 2.24.57.9

6th (11) Armin Schwarz/Manfred Hiemer (Octavia) 2.25.18.9

7th (9) Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Parmander (Accent)2.25.31.7

8th (2) Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (Peugeot) 2.26.19.3

Ford Motor Company has withdrawn Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya from the event following an unfortunate incident in stage 11 in which spectators were injured. Stage 12 was subsequently cancelled. The competitors were re-grouped at St Felindre service before the Cardiff Super Special. (See RallyNews No.9 for official statement).

Marcus Gronholm has been the man on form today, setting relaxed looking fastest times. Richard Burns is concentrating more on finishing therally in the top 4 to capture the World title from the Peugeot driver. Apart from a slight hiccup this morning when Richard's Subaru would not fire up at parc ferme, his Impreza WRC has run impeccably. It's fingers and toes crossed now for the Englishman that he stays on course for the title. If the situation does not change drastically, Peugeot are in line for the Manufacturer's World title.

Harri Rovanpera in 3rd place has reported no major problems today. Alister McRae in 4th had front differential problems with his Hyundai this morning, Alister saying "The car was fine in the fast stuff, but in the tighter corners was a real handful, the front differential helps to keep the car steady under braking". Alister's struggle was aptly demonstrated when he had to hurl the car through the hairpin at the end of Resolven, got very sideways, and demolished some of the timing mechanism. Mark Higgins has put up a tremendous show in his Ford Focus. Mark has shrugged off a damaged gearbox and has been unrelenting in his chase after the leaders. Even a puncture 2kms from the end of an earlier stage failed to slow him. Armin Schwarz in the Skoda is in relaxed form today after having his Octavia's transmission changed. He observed "The car feels very good now, very balanced, I'm back in the game and I quite like the long stages".

The latest major retirement has been Freddy Loix whose Mitsubishi suffered gearbox trouble on stage 9. The engineers rebuilt one box and fitted it to the Lancer for stage 10, then on the road section after service the box broke again and Freddy decided to call it a day.

Didier Auriol had been up as high as 2nd in the rally at one point, when lying 4th this morning he went off the road for several minutes, and dropped to the back of the leaderboard. He then had a lucky escape in stage 11 when he had a 6th gear spin. The car ended up parked against a small tree, the engine stalled. This cost over a minute. In Group N Ferreyros still leads from Backlund with Higgins 3rd, closing in and looking for every stage mile he can get! Super 1600-Loeb still leads from McShea. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON