|
|
|
|
|
|
RALLY
NEWS NO.10
Pembrey..Sunday 10 am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 16 (TRAWSCOED)
1st (3) Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru WRC) 3.25.44.7
2nd (10) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot WRC) 3.26.27.7
3rd (1) Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki (Lancer) 3.27.19.2
4th (6) Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford WRC) 3.27.20.4
5th (9) Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Peugeot WRC) 3.27.35.2
6th (4) Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Subaru WRC) 3.27.37.6
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 15 (BRECHFA)
1st Burns 3.09.18.7: 2nd Gronholm 3.09.55.5: 3rd Sainz 3.10.46.3:
4th Makinen 3.11.01.4: 5th Kankkunen 3.11.02.2: 6th Delecour
3.11.06.9: 7th Panizzi 3.12.03.2: 8th Martin 3.12.24.5: 9th Auriol
3.13.18.0: 10th Rovanpera 3.13.56.7: 11th A McRae 3.14.48.7:
12th P Solberg 3.15.19.0:
On the first of today's stages, Brechfa, Richard Burns was fastest,
Francois Delecour just 1s slower and Petter Solberg 3rd fastest.
In stage 16 Burns was again fast but Makinen was faster - it
would appear that Richard is driving quickly but with comfort,
doing more than enough to maintain his lead. Gronholm is thinking
more about the world rally championship title, and with 1 stage
to go, the Finn can afford to ease back ever so slightly.
Although there is a huge battle going on for 3rd place between
Makinen and Sainz, Gronholm would not appear to be under pressure,
either for 2nd place or for enough points for the title.
Tommi Makinen had an average enough time through stage 15, but
really flew through stage 16. Further back, Mark Higgins
hit problems again this morning when his Astra reportedly went
on to its roof, over 5 minutes being lost. Higgins was
23rd overnight and leading Formula 2. His team mate Neil
Wearden was way back in 46th after his accident. In the
Amateur category of the rally Marcus Dodd was leading overnight
in 18th place from Ollie Harkki who was 21st. Gavin Cox
was 3rd Amateur in 26th place. Jeremy Easson 4th, New Zealand
Reece Jones 5th. Irish driver Eamonn Boland was 6th Amateur
and 29th in the overall classification, his NVD backed Subaru
WRC delayed yesterday when a brake pipe got torn off. Penny
Mallory leads the Ladies from Natalie Barrett, Natalie 40th overall
and showing 1m50s road penalties.
Last night's huge storm hit the Super Special hard and unfortunately
one of the tents blew down and several people were slightly injured.
The later cars all received a "scratch" time.
Various class leaders overnight included: Sebastian Lobe with
his Saxo in class 6 leading from Olivier Marty from Mike Faulkner
both in Peugeot 106s. Paul Griffiths led cl.5 from Colin
Bound with Roger Van Iersel 3rd in his Micra. Manfred Stohl led
gpN from Kenneth Backlund. Andreas Mansfeld was 1st in cl.3 in
his Honda Integra from Dimitri Bruhello in a SEAT Ibiza. Charlie
Exton was still running, 5th in that class, despite a fairly
dramatic accident earlier in the day. Tim Mason led cl.2 from
Patrick Mott, Civic and Satria respectively.
Latest news from Brechfa - Tapio Laukkanen has put his Focus
off the road near the start of the stage and is almost certainly
out of the rally. Latest news from Trawscoed - P Solberg stopped,
flat battery 300 metres from end of stage following a big struggle
with gearbox.. quite a shame after setting 3rd fastest time through
stage 15. More news to follow….BRIAN AND
LIZ PATTERSON |
|
|
|
|
