SS3, Fafe 1: Makinen fights back

It's still too early to pick out a real trend, but just as on SS2, Makinen, Rovanpera and Ford's Carlos Sainz were the top three. Makinen's Mitsubishi edged Rovanpera's Peugeot by just 1.9s to be just 1.9s off the lead, with Sainz a further 7.4s behind on the stage and 7.9s behind Rovanpera on the leaderboard.

Richard Burns continued his steady climb up the leaderboard, finishing fourth fatsest on the stage and consolidating fifth on the leaderboard behind world champion Marcus Gronholm.

Colin McRae is sixth overall, but his co-driver Nicky Grist, who has already asked that the rally organisers make changes to some of the muddier special stages, has complained of spectator problems at the section of the 15.16km stage where the surface makes the transition to full gravel.


Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 10m51.8s
Harri Rovanpera, Peugeot, 10m53.7s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, 10m59.2s
Richard Burns, Subaru, 11m01.5s
Francois Delecour, Ford, 11m12.4s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, 11m12.5s


Harri Rovanpera, Peugeot, 22m42.3s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, +1.9s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +7.9s
Marcus Gronholm, Peugeot, +26.6s
Richard Burns, Subaru, +29.9s
Colin McRae, Ford, +51.8s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, +52.1s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +53.7s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, +1m08.2s
Markko Martin, Subaru, +1m17.0s