SS2: Burns and Gronholm hit the skids

Rally leader Marcus Gronholm lost time when his Peugeot 206 WRC's engine began to overheat 11km into the 18.82km stage. With steam billowing from underneath the bonnet, the Finn nursed the car the remaining 7.8kms, losing over 20 seconds and dropping to eighth.

All of Peugeot's cars carry bottles of coolant as a precaution for overheating problems, and Gronholm was able to fill the radiator after the stage was complete, but the damage may have already been done...

Burns, meanwhile, is effectively out of contention for victory. The Subaru star plunged off the stage into a snowbank, on which the Impreza became stranded. After realising he was grounded, Burns and co-driver Robert Reid were forced to dig out the car, losing 13 minutes in the process. He is continuing but has little chance of scoring points unless there is a massive rate of attrition among the frontrunners.

All that drama meant Peugeot's third string driver Rovanpera was the surprise leader, 1.9secs ahead of Ford's Colin McRae, after he was 3.2secs quicker than the Focus on SS2. Thomas Radstrom is third for Mitsubishi after he was fifth fastest on the second stage, while Markko Martin was only tenth quickest but holds on to fourth.

First on the road Tommi Makinen matched McRae's time on SS2 after a disastrous opening stage. He is now seventh, 16.7secs behind the leader. Carlos Sainz (Ford) is fifth, but lost over 13s to the leader on the test.


Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 10m41.5s
Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 10m44.7s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution*, 10m44.7s
Daniel Carlsson (S)/Benny Melander (S), Toyota Corolla WRC, 10m47.3s
Kenneth Eriksson (S)/Staffan Parmander (S), Hyundai Accent WRC*, 10m47.4s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, 10m47.6s



Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 21m52.7s
Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, +0m01.9s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, +0m05.8s
Markko Martin(EST)/Michael Park(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 0m13.7s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, +0m15.3s
Daniel Carlsson (S)/Benny Melander (S), Toyota Corolla WRC, +0m16.0s

*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points