Rally of Portugal: Latest news
In a frantic start to today's 'real' action in Portugal, Richard Burns has powered his way to the head of the field and leads Colin McRae by a whisker over 20 seconds after six stages
McRae has been hampered by a troublesome power steering system on the Ford Focus but, even with it rectified, he seems unable to make significant inroads into Burns' flying start with the new Subaru Impreza WRC2000.
So far today McRae has been fastest on two stages with Burns winning three and, if the pattern continues, Burns will add the seventh stage to his tally.
Subaru is, however, down to one car as Juha Kankkunen crashed out of the event earlier today.
The stages in the Fafe region were graded after the recce and so the surface was much sandier than expected.
While series leader Tommi Makinen floundered in conditions that now resembled the Dakar, Kankkunen misjudged the amount of 'sweeping' that the cars ahead of him had managed and went off heavily, damaging the radiator too badly to continue.
Alister McRae has been the event's other main casualty, his Hyundai Accent WRC sidelined with transmission failure on SS4.
At the moment it's too close to call but Burns does seem to have a slight edge over the opposition as the cars tackle the day's opening trio of stages for the second time.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Espargaro considering Aprilia test rider role, but MotoGP future still open
What Shanghai's sprint race and qualifying tell us about the 2024 F1 Chinese GP
F1 teams to discuss change to jump start regulations
Verstappen: "Happier with pole than sprint race win" at F1 Chinese GP
How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya
How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore
How Lappi survived Swedish snow carnage to snap his lengthy WRC drought
The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier
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