SS13, Coll de Bracons 1: Panizzi perks up

Panizzi's top time in his Peugeot 306 was 4.4s better than that of second fastest man and rally leader Philippe Bugalski (Citroen), while Makinen (Mitsubishi) could only manage fifth fastest time. The gap between Panizzi in third overall and Makinen in fourth has now stretched from a tempting 12.4s overnight to a more challenging 20.9s for the Finn.

Third fastest this time was Makinen's Mitsubishi team mate, Freddy Loix, while Richard Burns did his quest to move into the points no harm at all with fourth fastest. Francois Delecour in sixth place is now just 20.9s ahead of Subaru's English star. Delecour has again swapped places with his Ford team mate Carlos Sainz, who slips back to seventh after dropping 2.3s to his French colleague in the stage.

Hyundai's Alister McRae moved up a place to 11th after his team mate Piero Liatti suffered brake problems on the day's opening test. Liatti has now pulled out of the event, as the Italian was unwilling to contemplate the next two stages before service with impaired retardation.

Overall second place man Didier Auriol (Peugeot) was only seventh fastest and his slim chance of overhauling Bugalski is now even slimmer.


Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, 12m51.3s
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, 12m55.7s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, 12m58.0s
Richard Burns, Subaru, 12m59.7s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 12m59.8s
Francois Delecour, Ford, 13m00.8s


Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, 2hr37m38.0s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, +33.8s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, +1m06.0s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, +1m26.9s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, +2m28.6s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +2m29.0s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +2m30.9s
Richard Burns, Subaru, +2m49.8s
Simon Jean-Joseph, Peugeot, +4m04.1s
Bruno Thiry, Skoda, +4m57.8s