Sainz in trouble but gets back on track
Carlos Sainz's prospects of scoring points in Australia took a dramatic turn for the worse on SS6, Flynns Short, when the Spaniard hit a post with the rear end of his Ford Foucs, breaking the driveshaft
Sainz did make it to the end of the 19.98km stage, although he lost over 1m30s to the leaders in the process. However on the road section back to service, his Focus caught fire and and the Spaniard had to limp back to service with a police escort.
The M-Sport Ford mechanics set to work on the damaged car and quickly managed to fix the rear suspension and drive shaft, but it wasn't quick enough and Sainz netted a time 1m30s penalty for leaving service late.
However, the double world champion was back up to speed on the following stage (SS7) just 0.4s shy of the fastest time behind Didier Auriol.
The cliche fiery Frenchman has been directed at Francois Delecour in the past but that turned out to be fact on the SS6. His Focus also caught fire after completing Flynns Short. Delecour did make it to service however, where his Ford mechanics were waiting to extinguish the flames.
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