RALLY NEWS NO.9                     Felindre-Service-Saturday 3.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 13  Margam Pk 1
1st (7) Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) 2.24.29.0
2nd (18) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Xsara WRC) 2.25.00.3
3rd (8) Tommi Makinen/Kaj Lindstrom (Subaru) 2.26.32.9
4th (17) Colin McRae/Derek Ringer (Xsara WRC) 2.26.43.1
5th (3) Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (206 WRC)  2.28.28.4
6th (5) Francois Duval/Stephane Prevot (Focus WRC) 2.29.26.4
7th (2) Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets (206 WRC) 2.30.19.6
8th (34) Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor (206 WRC) 2.30.53.4
9th (22) Roman Kresta/Jan Tomanek (206 WRC) 2.31.13.0
10th (24) Juuso Pykalisto/Risto Mannisenmaki (206 WRC) 2.31.32.1

The leaderboard of this Wales Rally GB may have become a little settled over the last few stages but there is no lack of commitment from the lead drivers, and through the Margam stages, numbers 12 and 13, the spectators were treated to a feast of all-sideways dramatic rally action. Petter Solberg was fastest through stage 12, by just a fraction, 0.1 of a second, from Sebastien Loeb. In stage 13 the second Margam stage, Solberg was fastest again, this time it was Makinen who was 2nd quickest, 5.8s down, then it was Colin McRae 0.3 behind Makinen's Subaru and Loeb was 0.4 of a second down on Colin.

Sebastien Loeb commented here at service in control "I'm trying as hard as I can but Petter is getting away".  Petter Solberg observed "It is going well, there are some loose rocks and it is difficult at high speed, normally I change a lot on the car during the rally. This time I keep it very much the same. I am trying very hard for the Drivers Championship".  Colin McRae was busy chatting to his brother Alister and to Stephen Finlay, both of whom had just landed their helicopters, so we talked to co driver Derek Ringer who told us "Everything is fine, the car is good, better than yesterday, but we're not making much impression on Tommi". 

Interestingly, 5th placed Rovanpera is starting to feel that with a one and a half minute buffer in front and behind it is now difficult to attack, not worth taking big risks.  Duval in 6th place is much happier with his car than at the start of the rally. He picked a softer tyre for those 2 stages and is in top form now.  Freddy Loix in 7th place has been working all through the rally at settling into the Richard Burns' Peugeot, the engineers have been gradually adjusting different aspects of the car to get it to the Belgian drivers liking.  This time they hardened up the suspension, but it was the first change that he didn't really like, and it brought no improvement.  Roman Kresta in his Peugeot continues to hold 9th place and he reports no problems, except for one junction in stage 13 he made a small mistake. 

Toni Gardemeister says he is "very frustrated, before we have no hydraulic pressure in the transmission, now we have five times too much, don't know at all where the car goes next".  Juuso Pykalisto, as the rally progresses he is feeling much more comfortable with the car. It is 3 months since his last WRC event and he has had no testing. Latvala reports clipping some logs at a muddy junction, he thought there would be damage but the car was OK.  Latvala is now 12th overall. Pykalisto 11th. Warmbold 13th. Daniel Sola in 10th had 2 spins in stage 13 and stalled the engine, lost little time. Tobias Johansson in the Corolla is now 15th and laughed when he told us "At a hairpin in Margam I saw the helicopter overhead, looked at it for just a second and suddenly I was spinning backwards into the trees. But I lose little time". 

In the Junior WRC Kris Meeke is driving his Corsa on the door handles now, perhaps over-driving, in stage 12 he dropped 2s to Daniel Carlsson. In stage 13 he pulled 2 back, the gap now 6 seconds. Young Kris told us "Flat out, we were slightly off the road 3 times in stage 12, it is so bumpy and some of the corners were a bit off camber. I'm telling co driver Chris as we go through the stage to put in some pluses and some minuses for the next time."  Kris went on to say "The next stage is the big one".  Daniel Carlsson, the JWRC leader, said "I'm pushing as hard as I dare. The engineers changed the rear beam at last service, I was getting some oversteer, trying now to get more grip on the rear". 

In Group N Geoff Jones continues to lead, now pulling out a bit of time on Gavin Cox who is 2nd, Nik Elsmore 3rd. Jones admitted to picking too soft a tyre compound but didn't lose too much time. Gavin Cox, whose Lancer runs on Proflex suspension, clipped a gatepost in Margam Park, lucky to lose very little time.  Eamonn Boland is in 28th place, no big problems, but water came spouting through the floor of his Subaru at the Margam water splash.  Jimmy McRae is now 22nd overall and reporting no problems.

More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON