SS4, Pavliani 1: Fords bite back
Just one tenth of a second separated the two Fords of Colin McRae and Francois Delecour, but it was the Scotsman who took the honours on SS4 and now moves up to third overall in the Acropolis Rally, 14 seconds off the lead
McRae's time of 20m17.2s on the 24.45km Pavliani 1 test was good enough to leapfrog rival Richard Burns in the battle for third place after the Subaru driver only managed the seventh fastest time.
Delecour is still nearly two minutes behind the leaders, but the quick time will no doubt do his confidence a power of good after his cycling accident yesterday. Fellow Frenchman Gilles Panizzi is doing far better than the works Peugeots, posting another top three stage time on SS4 in the Grifone-run 206 WRC.
Petter Solberg again was the leading Subaru contender. He was fourth quickest, just ahead of team mate Markko Martin. Solberg's advantage over the Estonian for the lead of the rally has doubled to over five seconds.
Thomas Radstrom's Citroen rounds out the top six stage times and the Swede keeps his seventh place overall.
Behind Burns' Subaru was Carlos Sainz in the Ford Focus, followed by Freddy Loix's Mitsubishi Carisma and the second Xsara of Philippe Bugalski.
The Acropolis has claimed another car. Toshihiro Arai's Subaru Impreza retired after Junction 8 on the stage, with an engine fire. The Japanese driver had been hoping to repeat his career-best fourth place in Cyprus a fortnight ago.
The rally now heads to the second service of the day back at Parnassos before tackling the final two stages of the leg, Elatia, the longest test of the day, and the re-run through Mendenista.
For SS4 results click here.
For full live timings table click here.
For full entry list click here.
For the itinerary click here.
For SS2 results click here.
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