SS14: Burns and McRae - If only...
Richard Burns now has three stage wins of the 2001 Swedish International Rally under his belt - and Colin McRae has an incredible seven - but the British duo must be ruing the driver errors they made early on Friday morning as the rally heads into its closing stages
Burns drove his Subaru Impreza into a snow bank on SS2, then McRae did the same to his Ford Focus on the very next stage, and since then the pair have been playing catch-up. They would surely have been leading the event had it not been for these mistakes, but now it looks as though, despite a clutch of stages wins, they will be leaving Sweden with no points for themselves nor their teams.
Burns, taking his second stage victory on the trot, flew around the 23.41km Rammen 1 section, finishing a clear seven seconds ahead of McRae. Subaru's Markko Martin was third quickest as the teams now head to service at Hagfors.
Conventional rallying wisdom states that after a fall of snow, the first car out on will set a slower time than the chasing pack because it acts as a kind of snow plough, clearing the road for the rest to follow.
But try telling that to Finland's Harri Rovanpera. Despite heading out on to the stages first, the Peugeot driver has finished ahead of his closest rivals on both of this morning's stages, and now has 17-second lead over fellow Finn Tommi Makinen in the Mitsubishi.
Ford's Carlos Sainz was fifth fastest on SS14 and now the Spaniard has halved the deficit between himself and Thomas Radstrom in the battle for third overall. There is now just has six seconds between himself and the Swede.
Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 12m11.8s
Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 12m19.7s
Markko Martin (EST)/Michael Park (GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 12m20.4s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 12m20.s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 12m21.4s
Toni Gardemeister (FIN)/ Paavo Lukander (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 12m27.6
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 2h53m27.3s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution*, +0:17.2s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, +0:26.6s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, +0:32.4s
Francois Delecour (F)/Daniel Grataloup (F), Ford Focus RS WRC, +1m48.8s
Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, +2m11.2s
*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points
Share Or Save This Story
History repeats as 70th anniversary of Mallory Park is celebrated
How Sutton's BTCC steamroller overcame Snetterton challenges
Rossi faces key decision: Who will replace di Giannantonio at VR46?
Red Bull reacts to Verstappen’s criticism – why ‘I told you’ moments are needed
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