SS18, Bannister West: Charging Burns
Richard Burns made his intentions clear on the first stage of the final Leg of Rally Australia by setting the fastest time ahead of overall leader Marcus Gronholm - but it was nowhere near enough as he was a mere 0.4s faster than the Finn
Gronholm's overnight lead over Burns in second place was 34.3s and the Subaru ace's small winning margin on the Bannister West section made little inroads into his Peugeot rival's buffer of more than half a minute.
With the event leaders taking the top two slots, Gronholm's team mate Harri Rovanpera finished third fastest on the 34.57km test only 2.2s behind Burns' benchmark time.
Colin McRae, who managed to hold onto fifth place overall on Saturday despite running second on the road, set the fourth fastest time on SS18 just ahead of the man he shares the championship lead with, Tommi Makinen in fifth.
Didier Auriol made it three Peugeots in the top six by setting the sixth quickest time ahead of Burns' Subaru team mate Petter Solberg in seventh. Carlos Sainz, Alister McRae and Gilles Panizzi rounded out the top 10.
The drivers now head to the first service of the day at Sotico before tackling the Bannister North stage.
For full times from SS18, click here.
For full rally live timings, click here.
For rally itinerary, click here.
For full entry list, click here.
Share Or Save This Story
Martin carrying new injury into MotoGP's Italian GP weekend
Why McLaren will try rejected front wing again in Monaco
Ben Sulayem proposes removal of FIA presidential term limits
The key talking points ahead of WRC Rally Japan
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