SS15: Subaru pair charge in vain

As the cars returned to the first stage of the day, Rovanpera finished behind Makinen on a much-cleared Sagen section. The leading Finn has beaten Makinen on today's first two stages where he ran first on fresh snow, but the Peugeot driver surprisingly fell back on the last stage which had already been cleared.

Rovanpera's lead stands at 15.1s and at the service before SS15, Makinen admitted he was surprised at the speed of his fellow countryman: "If Harri is going to set those times then it's going to be impossible [to win]. He's driving incredibly well."

Thomas Radstrom, who was drafted in for this event for his local knowledge, has outpaced Mitsubishi regular Freddy Loix throughout the weekend, but the Belgian fought back on the last stage and set exactly the same time as his team mate to take equal sixth position.

Radstrom remains third overall, but former leader of the event, Carlos Sainz is closing fast and is only two seconds behind after overcoming the engine glitches which plagued the Spaniard's Focus WRC yesterday. Sainz's team mate Francois Delecour is fifth, but is now being chased by a different Peugeot as Toni Gardemeister has moved up to sixth as a result of Didier Auriol's retirement with transmission trouble.

Burns has won all three stages so far this morning, but his efforts are likely to be all be in vain as the Englishman currently lies 19th overall and almost ten minutes behind a points scoring position. The Subaru number one's team mate, Petter Solberg finished fifth on SS15 and which moves him up to seventh and in line for three manufactrurers' points for the Japanese marque.

Colin McRae is also flying and set the third fastest time on the 14.76 km Sagen 2 stage. The Scotsman has moved back inside the top ten for the first time since the third stage on Friday morning, having shifted to a manual gear change after experiencing problems with the electronic shift on SS14.


Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 7m54.6s
Markko Martin (EST)/Michael Park (GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 7m58.7s
Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 7m59.8s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 8m03.8s
Petter Solberg (NOR)/Philip Mills(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 8m04.2s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution*, 8m07.5s


Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 3h01m36.9s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution*, +0:15.1s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, +0:24.5s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, +0:26.6s
Francois Delecour (F)/Daniel Grataloup (F), Ford Focus RS WRC, +1m50.9s
Toni Gardemeister (FIN)/ Paavo Lukander (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, +2m11.4s

*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points