SS12: McRae stays in command
Despite spectators prematurely halting proceedings, Colin McRae managed to take his eighth stage win of the Rally Argentina as the crews tackled the Santa Rosa de Calamuchita stage for the second time. Marcus Gronholm continued his good Leg Two progress with second fastest time in the Peugeot 206, by the smallest possible margin. Richard Burns was only third, and again dropped all the time he had made up on the previous stage
All the frontrunners down to seventh-placed Francois Delecour managed to get through the 26.1km stage before the organisers stepped in for the safety of the Argentinian spectators.
McRae's time of 15m10.4s was just a tenth of a second better than Gronholm's, but 3.8s faster than Burns could manage in the Subaru. Carlos Sainz was 6.8s slower than Ford team mate McRae, but still fourth fastest.
The Spaniard's third place is in no immediate danger from fourth-placed Gronholm, but the reigning World Champion is now just 41.2s behind and currently edging closer.
Didier Auriol's Peugeot is now back in fighting trim after a disastrous time on the two previous stages when a turbo wastegate problem cost him over four minutes in total. Auriol was fifth fastest, 7.4s off McRae's pace.
Petter Solberg's steady run in the second Subaru continues to keep him solidly in the points. The Norwegian was sixth fastest on the stage and is fifth in the overall standings.
The start of SS13 is expected to be delayed by 25 minutes due to the escalation of spectator, fire and accident problems during the afternoon.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Auction raises more than €50K for Craig Breen Foundation
Power “didn't have any defence” against Dixon with tyre strategy at Long Beach
Ferrari announces HP as new F1 team title sponsor
Raul Fernandez set to get 2024 Aprilia MotoGP bike at Jerez
The eight minutes of madness that saw Ogier strike in Croatia
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
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