SS16, Coll de Bracons 2: Auriol on top

Erstwhile leader Philippe Bugalski, his Citroen now recovered from its clutch problems after repairs in service, almost matched Auriol's time, while Gilles Panizzi was third fastest to make a Peugeot one-two at the end of the day the most likely result.

The increasingly confident Freddy Loix consolidated his claim to fifth place with fourth fastest time over the stage, quicker again than his Mitsubishi team mate Tommi Makinen, whose third place overall looks assured.

Richard Burns nibbled away at the advantage of the Fords of Francois Delecour and Carlos Sainz in front of him, but he needs to take a big bite out of their advantage over the final two stages if he is to move any further up the order.


Didier Auriol, Peugeot, 12m56.1s
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, 12m56.8s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, 12m59.5s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, 13m00.5s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 13m01.7s
Richard Burns, Subaru, 13m04.2s


Didier Auriol, Peugeot, 3hr15m53.4s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, +33.3s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, +1m03.5s
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, +1m40.7s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, + 2m14.3s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +2m25.3s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +2m39.6s
Richard Burns, Subaru, +2m45.4s
Simon Jean-Joseph, Peugeot, +4m20.8s
Bruno Thiry, Skoda, +5m29.1s