Conditions lead to casualties in China
It was not only Colin McRae and Thomas Radstrom who suffered on the First Leg of the 555 China Rally today. Other WRC contenders ran into problems too
After torrential rain the previous day, organisers were forced to cancel the ceremonial start and scrap two of the rally's longest stages today. However, the remaining stages were still dangerous as the casualties showed.
The Ford pair crashed out on Stage One, but were soon followed by Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix, who crashed out Stage Seven, and SEAT's Piero Liattie who suffered engine failure on the final stage of the day.
Tommi Makinen was the early leader of the event, but he lost time on Stage Five when he clipped a tree and damaged a rear door panel. He incurred an additional 10-second penalty as mechanics made repairs
Didier Auriol has to ease off on the final stage after hitting a pothole, but he can still continue. It will be interesting to see how many are left at the end of this inaugural Chinese event.
Share Or Save This Story
How Hamilton's BTCC fairytale stole the Snetterton show
When Haas will decide on its F1 2027 driver line-up
Gucci becomes title partner of Alpine F1 team for 2027
Top 10 F1 drivers of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments