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RALLY
NEWS NO.9
Sunday….very early!
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER
STAGE 13 (Cardiff S.Special)
1st (6) Markko Martin/Michael
Park (Ford) 2.13.29.9
2nd (11) Petter Solberg/Philip
Mills (Subaru) 2.13.31.5
3rd (4) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya
(Ford) 2.13.58.0
4th (1) Richard Burns/Robert
Reid (Peugeot) 2.14.27.6
5th (10) Tommi Makinen/Kaj
Lindstrom (Subaru) 2.15.10.4
6th (21) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel
Elena (Xsara) 2.15.33.0
7th (5) Colin McRae/Derek
Ringer (Ford) 2.15.33.4
8th (24) Mark Higgins/Bryan
Thomas (Ford) 2.16.30.7
9th (18) Freddy Loix/Sven
Smeets (Accent) 2.16.42.6
10th (19) Juha Kankkunen/Juha
Repo (Accent) 2.16.59.9
11th Rovanpera 12th
Gardemeister 13th Panizzi 14th
Stohl
The duel for the lead looks as
if it will go right down to the
wire, as even on last night's
Cardiff Super Special Markko
Martin and Petter Solberg were
separated by just a hair's
breadth. Carlos Sainz was 3rd
fastest while Colin McRae
blotted his copy book somewhat
with a time consuming spin,
allowing Sebastian Loeb into
the top 6 with his Citroen. It
is still on the cards that
Carlos Sainz in his Focus or
Richard Burns in the Peugeot
could make a charge for the
front, particularly on the
first of the Sunday stages,
Resolven. At the minute
however the story is all about
Markko Martin and Petter
Solberg at the front. Something
we forgot from earlier was that
Juha Kankkunen received a 35s
allowance on his SS8 time for
stopping to help Armin Schwarz
when his car went on fire.
In the Junior WRC category,
Daniel Sola in the Saxo is
starting to pull out a slender
lead over Basso in the Fiat,
while Baldicci survived a small
gearbox problem in the Halfway
stage to retain 3rd place. If
Sola holds his position he
should clinch the Junior World
title, his main rival
Dallavilla is 8th in the
category. Tuohino is 4th,
Niall McShea 5th. Ulsterman
McShea's Corsa had a new
windscreen fitted at the
regroup in Sennybridge. Niall
went much better over the
following stages. Gwyndaf
Evans is in 6th with his MG ZR.
The Welshman, having lost 2
minutes changing a punctured
tyre in Resolven was more than
pleased with the performance of
the MG through the Saturday
stages, setting 1 fastest and 2
second fastest times in the
Junior category.
In Group N Oscar Svedlund
continues to lead, the Swedish
gpN Champion just under a
minute ahead of British Touring
Car Champion James Thompson
with Nik Elsmore now into 3rd
in the category. Gavin Cox is
4th in his Lancer. Stig
Blomqvist has managed to keep
his Lancer going despite
suspected head gasket troubles
and is 5th. Jeremy Easson 6th.
Formula 1 commentator Tony
Jardine is still going in his
gpN MG ZR and is the only
survivor in his class, and
Graham Middleton in his Hyundai
is the only one left in Class
7. Austin MacHale is now 19th
despite losing time through
stages 11 and 12 when his
Corolla WRC exhaust was
damaged, and the Dubliner had
to switch off the anti lag
system. Alistair Ginley is
20th, Greek driver Ioannis
Papadimitriou is 18th in his
Ford Focus. Natalie
Barratt is the sole surviving
lady driver and is in 29th
place in her Hyundai.
More news after stage 14
Resolven: BRIAN & LIZ
PATTERSON
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