RALLY NEWS NO.4                     Felindre/Service/Friday 2.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 RESOLVEN 1
1st (7) Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) 1.12.38.3
2nd (18) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Xsara WRC) 1.12.46.1
3rd (8) Tommi Makinen/Kaj Lindstrom (Subaru) 1.13.58.5
4th (17) Colin McRae/Derek Ringer (Xsara WRC) 1.14.19.5
5th (21) Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (206 WRC) 1.14.56.5
6th (3) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (206 WRC) 1.14.56.7
7th (5) Francois Duval/Stephane Prevot (Focus WRC) 1.15.37.5
8th (22) Roman Kresta/Jan Tomanek (206 WRC) 1.15.56.3
9th (2) Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets (206 WRC) 1.16.31.8
10th (34) Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor (206 WRC) 1.16.40.2

Second by second Petter Solberg is edging away from Sebastien Loeb in the battle for supremacy on this Wales Rally GB.  3.1 seconds may not sound a lot in 43 kilometres but at this level it all matters.  Solberg climbed out of his Subaru here at Pelindre service and said "It is very difficult in places, changing surfaces, I think it is better to be first on the road than second."  When asked did he make the correct choice of Pirelli tyre, Petter was a bit reticent, and with a half joke said "It is not easy, you can always get it wrong".      Sebastien Loeb reported no major problems. Third placed Tommi Makinen felt that his car was maybe a little soft at the back but that it could have been down to the big accumulation of mud in stage 5, otherwise all OK. 

Colin McRae in 4th place reported another brake problem, which he is hoping the engineers can fix at service.  When asked would he have a real go for the rest of the rally Colin said "Well, we've been told to think of the Manufacturers title, it could be a long two days, it already feels like two". 

Other stories from the leading drivers include - Harri Rovanpera's 206 incurring 2 front punctures on that stage 5, the mousse did its job in keeping the tyres inflated, but Harri said "There is a vibration, in the fast parts of the stage the car is lazy in the front".  He went on to say that the suspension adjustments that the team had made earlier were working very well.  Duval reported a small problems with the centre differential, nothing too serious and very pleased to be lying well up and getting experience of the stages. 

Didier Auriol was also having centre diffferential problems, in his case a bit more serious, the Frenchman saying "I don't know what it is, sometimes it understeer like hell, sometimes oversteer, maybe it is electronique.  I have lost a lot of confidence, but strangely half way through that last stage it was a bit better, before impossible".  Gardemeister's Fabia has lost the whole front bumper and apron, apparently it got knocked off in a major pot hole and flew over the roof. Gardemeister has over 2 minutes road penalties following repairs earlier at service. Tobias Johansson has a small fire at the back of his Corolla WRC on the first of the proper forest stages this morning, a bit of damage but lost little time, that happened after the exhaust got damaged. Tobias reported a spin in stage 5 but is still lying a very creditable 16th overall.  Alistair Ginley is up to 18th. Laukkanen is hanging on in 19th despite his transmission troubles. Julian Reynolds is 20th.  Daniel Carlsson is 21st in his Suzuki and is just over 3s ahead of Kris Meeke's Opel in the race for best Junior WRC.  Baldacci is 23rd and 3rd Junior.

In Group N Gavin Cox is leading in his Lancer from Belgian driver Peter Bijvelds, with Geoff Jones up into 3rd following his earlier gearbox troubles in his Impreza.  Kuchar did lead but has slipped to 4th.

News of a further retirement is that young Leon Pesticcio has put his Fiat Punto off the road in stage 3. Guy Wilks is now listed as a retirement with mechanical trouble in stage 5.  Barry Clark's Puma has also stopped.  Jimmy McRae is lying 27th overall in the Subaru and reports no problems, Eamonn Boland 33rd. Gwyndaf Evans continues to lead his class in the gpN MG.

More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON