SS12: Sainz charges into contention

Carlos Sainz is closing in on leader Juha Kankkunen as the thrilling Rally Finland takes another twist.Sainz has been either 1st or 2nd quickest on the last three stages, enough to move him up from 8th to 2nd. Had he not incurred a jump-start penalty on the final stage of leg one, he would now be leading the rally.Marcus Gronholm and Richard Burns are now tied for 3rd, while Tommi Makinen was fastest on SS12 and is at the tail of a five-car lead group covered by just 10s.Colin McRae is struggling to hang onto the final points scoring position, under heavy pressure from Harri Rovanpera.The latter's SEAT team-mate Toni Gardemeister was 3rd fastest on SS12 and is now within sight of a top ten placing.Bad news for Peugeot however. While Gronholm's car is still running in the top three, his French team-mates Gilles Panizzi and Francois Delecour have hit trouble. The latter is losing time with differential problems while Panizzi dropped a full ten minutes when he was stranded with an electrical problem on SS11.Overall standings after SS12: