Makinen: “That was more than maximum attack...”

"The last stage was more than maximum attack," said Makinen. "I cut so many corners! But it's an incredible feeling to win my 100th rally, and in this way too."

The flying Finn took his 22nd WRC victory in a century of starts at the top level and is now just one win away from the record held jointly by Juha Kankkunen and the man he pipped into second in Portugal, Carlos Sainz.

Sainz had overhauled long-time leader Makinen on the penultimate stage and went into the final 11.15km Ponte de Lima Sul test just 0.3s ahead. But Makinen threw caution to the wind and blitzed the stage a full 8.9s quicker than Sainz to win the rally by just 8.6s.

Mitsubishi ace Makinen had gone into the third and final leg with a 13s lead over Sainz's charging Ford. But when the day's first stage was cancelled on safety grounds, leaving just two competitive sections, Makinen was left to sweat.

"I was a bit disappointed that the first stage was cancelled," he said. "That one and the third stage were the two I thought would suit us. The middle one had lots of long hairpins which don't suit our car. I'd also chosen too open a tyre, so that was going against me too."

Sainz took the lead on the day's first stage, but conceded that it was a high-risk strategy.

"I took many big risks in those two stages," he said. "In the first one it worked, but in the second it was very muddy and rutted near the start. I went off a little bit and later I had to slow a little because of the big stones thrown up by Tommi cutting.

"Of course I very much wanted to win, but it was the hardest rally I've seen in my whole career, so it was good to at least get some points."

The Rally of Portugal was dominated by the conditions: thick mud and fog made stages treacherous and caused the cancellation of several on safety grounds. Drivers have criticised the organisers for insisting on running many stages for a second time, with some suggesting that the event should have been abandoned.

Makinen jumps to the head of the drivers' championship standings after his second win in the three events run so far. The Finn, who won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, could have had an even bigger points cushion, but crashed out of the final stage on last month's Swedish Rally while holding second overall.


Tommi Makinen (FIN), 20 points
Carlos Sainz (E), 16
Harri Rovanpera (FIN), 10
Francois Delecour (F), 8
Thomas Radstrom (S), 6
Toni Gardemeister (FIN) 5
Richard Burns (GB), 3

N.B. Colin McRae (GB) has yet to score

For full drivers' and manufacturers' standings, (Click Here).