Stage 13: Burns closes in
Richard Burns has cut Marcus Gronholm's lead to 16s as he continues to charge back into contention in Portugal
The Subaru driver had an enormous lead by the mid-point of leg one, only to lose 1m20s with power steering problems.
He has now set the pace on the first two stages of the second leg and is closing rapidly on Gronholm, who had an advantage of nearly 30s at the start of the day.
The rest of the frontrunners are holding station, with Carlos Sainz running a steady third ahead of Harri Rovanpera and Petter Solberg.
Francois Delecour moved ahead of Didier Auriol on the Arganil stage to take sixth place after the SEAT driver lost a lot of time with a puncture.
Auriol's problems mean that he is now also under threat from Kenneth Eriksson in the new Hyundai and Toyota privateer Markko Martin.
Further back, Freddy Loix and Mitsubishi's miserable rally continued as the Belgian lost yet more time with a brake problem.
Overall positions after SS13:
1 |
Marcus Gronholm |
Peugeot 206 |
2h17m20.4s |
2 |
Richard Burns |
Subaru Impreza |
2h17m36.6s |
3 |
Carlos Sainz |
Ford Focus |
2h17m53.5s |
4 |
Harri Rovanpera |
Toyota Corolla |
2h18m17.3s |
5 |
Petter Solberg |
Ford Focus |
2h18m24.6s |
6 |
Francois Delecour |
Peugeot 206 |
2h19m02.4s |
7 |
Didier Auriol |
SEAT Cordoba |
2h19m06.2s |
8 |
Kenneth Eriksson |
Hyundai Lantra |
2h19m14.1s |
9 |
Markko Martin |
Toyota Corolla |
2h19m14.9s |
10 |
Freddy Loix |
Mitsubishi Carisma |
2h19m56.9s |
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