Philippe Bugalski has made it two wins in two rallies. The
Citroen Xsara F2 driver won the Corsican Rally, coming home
35s ahead of his team-mate, Jesus Puras.
Third place went to Carlos Sainz, after the Toyota Corolla driver set
third fastest time on the final stage of the rally. That took him
past Colin McRae; the Ford Focus driver had taken third on the
penultimate stage, but had only a 0.2s advantage going in to the
final stage; he clipped a bank and dropped 9s to Sainz.
Fastest on the final, televised stage was Didier Auriol - as a
result, the Toyota Corolla driver picks up three world championship
to go with those he gets for finishing fifth overall. Second fastest
on the final stage, and sixth overall, went to reigning champion
Tommi Makinen, in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.
Day One leader Francois Delecour, who held the lead on Leg One and who
spent much of Leg Two in second or third, retired on the final
stage, having dropped down the order with front differential,
gear selection and power steering problems.
Provisional results after 17 stages:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
1 | Philippe Bugalski | Citroen Xsara | 3h 44'35.7" |
2 | Jesus Puras | Citroen Xsara | 3h 45'10.4" |
3 | Carlos Sainz | Toyota Corolla | 3h 45'45.0" |
4 | Colin McRae | Ford Focus | 3h 45'53.8" |
5 | Didier Auriol | Toyota Corolla | 3h 46'08.3" |
6 | Tommi Makinen | Mitsubishi Lancer | 3h 47'26.1" |
7 | Richard Burns | Subaru Impreza | 3h 47'42.6" |
8 | Freddy Loix | Mitsubishi Carisma | 3h 50'27.5" |
9 | Piero Liatti | Seat Cordoba | 3h 51'41.6" |
10 | Tapio Laukkanen | Renault Maxi Megane | 3h 54'32.8" |