SS10, Lousada: Makinen leaves it to others to try...
The final stage of leg one was never going to win the Rally of Portugal for anyone, but it could always lose it for someone. Rally-leader Tommi Makinen's Mitsubishi tip-toed to seventh fastest overall on the 3.8km rallycross circuit at Lousada, leaving Carlos Sainz to edge the seemingly healthy Peugeot of Harri Rovanpera into second
Ford pilot Sainz had already inherited second from Rovanpera after the Finn was late out of service and gained 10s of road penalties, following radiator troubles. But a stop by the side of the road for Rovanpera on route to Lousada proved to be a false alarm and he appeared fighting fit for the 82km drive to the overnight parc ferme.
Markko Martin was third for Subaru, ahead of Francois Delecour's Ford and a dispirited Richard Burns in another Subaru.
Tomorrow's (Saturday's) second leg consists of another nine special stages, starting with Oliveira do Hospital at 08:55 GMT, and promises yet more mud. The forecast is for showers and the rally will doubtless have a few more surprises up its sodden sleeve before Sunday afternoon's podium.
Carlos Sainz, Ford, 3m19.5s
Harri Rovanpera, Peugeot, 3m20.8s
Markko Martin, Subaru, 3m21.1s
Francois Delecour, Ford, 3m21.3s
Richard Burns, Subaru, 3m23.1s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, 3m25.0s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 1h27m34.8s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +17.4s
Harri Rovanpera, Peugeot, +26.3s
Marcus Gronholm, Peugeot, +1m18.8s
Richard Burns, Subaru, +2m12.5s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, +3m06.4s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +3m29.9s
Markko Martin, Subaru, +4m40.9s
Kenneth Eriksson, Hyundai, +5m14.1s
Alister McRae, Hyundai, +5m53.0s
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