RALLY NEWS NO.12               Felindre - Sunday  1.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 16 MARGAM 1
1st (11) Petter Solberg/Philip Mills (Subaru) 3.14.30.3
2nd (6) Markko Martin/Michael Park (Ford) 3.14.51.6
3rd (4) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford) 3.15.49.9
4th (10) Tommi Makinen/Kaj Lindstrom (Subaru) 3.17.02.3
5th (5) Colin McRae/Derek Ringer (Ford) 3.17.20.3
6th (24) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Ford) 3.19.02.7
7th (18) Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets (Accent) 3.19.19.3
8th (19) Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Accent) 3.19.35.2
9th (3) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (Peugeot) 3.19.36.4
10th (15) Toni Gardemeister/Paavo Lukanoer (Octavia) 3.20.17.8
11th (23) Gines Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot) 3.22.16.5
12th (29) Manfred Stohl/Ilka Petrasko (Ford) 3.23.01.5
13th (14) Kenneth Eriksson/Tina Thorner (Octavia) 3.24.16.2
14th (26) Armin Kremer/Dieter Schneppenheim (Ford) 3.28.31.9
15th (16) Roman Kresta/Jan Tomanek (Octavia) 3.30.08.4

Just 21s separate the leading 2 cars driven by Petter Solberg and Markko Martin going into the final stage of this Network Q Rally GB.  Martin was 8s faster than Solberg through stage 15 but on the first run through Margam Solberg turned the tide and pulled 8s back from Martin to make it one of the tightest finishes to the rally for years.

To recap on our last RallyNews - Richard Burns slid his Peugeot off the road, the following drivers reported only being able to see the roof of the car. Sebastian Loeb in the Citroen also stopped. Harri Rovanpera struggled to get his Peugeot through the stage, more hydraulic problems causing the car to behave like a 2 wheel drive machine.  Harri commented "It is almost impossible."  Hopefully the engineers can get the trouble fixed for the final stage.  Markko Martin's co driver Michael Park commented "We pushed hard but it wasn't enough, we saw the split times, knew how it was going, but couldn't do much about it before the end of the stage. We had the right Pirellis for the job but we didn't make full use of them. It was a lesson learned".  Markko himself said "I was too safe this morning, then made big push, but disappointed in the last stage. For sure it would be nice to win, but he deserves to win as well". 

Petter Solberg's co driver Phil Mills said "It has been the best battle of the championship with Markko, but there is still many miles to go. We had some small problem with the rear damper in Rheola, but it wasn't so obvious in the high speeds of Margam. It wasn't so much, the car was dipping slightly more than normal".  Carlos Sainz, now up into 3rd, and with a good gap to Makinen behind, said he would take it easy through the final stage. Tommi Makinen's Subaru was sporting a smashed side window and damaged body work, evidence of crashing into the straw bales at the end of Margam. Colin McRae said about his Margam time "Felt reasonable, not brilliant".  With that a piper escorted him into the control….
Mark Higgins, after great stage times through 15 and 16, said "It was good, we've been playing around with the suspension and differential settings. We have now moved back to yesterday's and we are well on the pace, faster than Colin through 15. I have a little concern, the engine was not running smoothly on the road section to here" Early times show McShea into 2nd in the Junior WRC behind Sola. Oscar Svedlund still leads gpN from James Thompson. Jeremy Easson 3rd. More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON