SS18, Mortagua: Sainz attacks

The Spaniard took his Ford Focus through the 21.38km stage in 15m30.1s, fractions faster than Marcus Gronholm in the Peugeot, but a full 16.8s better than Makinen could manage.

But Makinen's lack of pace was down to the driver rather than any mechanical glitch.

"I could have done it more quickly," said the Finn. "I just lifted off too much."

Ford's Francois Delecour nursed his ailing Ford Focus to the stage finish, but his on-going gearbox problems - he is missing second, fifth and sixth - meant he dropped a full 1m23.5s. He still held onto fifth place overall, but Alister McRae in the Hyundai is now just 1m46s behind after setting an excellent fourth fastest stage time 15m54.7s

Richard Burns was another to set a poor stage time, 35.5s down on the flying Sainz.

During the stage, Burns was preparing for a flat right corner, but in a moment of distraction he actually started to turn left. The Englishman didn't have time to correct his mistake and went straight ahead losing about 20 seconds in the process.

Privateer Daniel Carlsson was seen parked in the stage after a particularly rough section. It seems the Swede's rally may well be over after a couple of good stage times today.


Carlos Sainz, Ford, 15m30.1s
Marcus Gronholm, Peugeot, 15m31.6s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 15m46.9s
Alister McRae, Hyundai, 15m54.47s
Richard Burns, Subaru, 16m05.6s
Kenneth Eriksson, Hyundai, 16m22.9s



Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 3h19m17.3s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +13.0s
Marcus Gronholm, Peugeot, +2m12.1s
Richard Burns, Subaru, +3m06.7s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +8m52.9s
Alister McRae, Hyundai, +10m38.9s
Kenneth Eriksson, Hyundai, +11m52.2s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, +14m41.5s
Tapio Laukkanen, Toyota, +15m04.7s
Pasi Hagstrom, Toyota, +17m21.1s