SS4: Radstrom stays top – but only just!

The Spaniard was second quickest through the high-speed 49.36km Granberget test, bettered only by Ford team mate Colin McRae who was a staggering 19.4s faster as he bids to recover the time he lost when stuck on a snowbank on the previous stage. McRae is still five minutes off the lead.

Sainz set his time despite hitting trouble, however: "For the first half of the stage I had a vibration at the front. It must've been broken [puncture-protection] mousse. Considering our position on the road, it was a good time. I consider Tommi [Makinen], Thomas and Harri [Rovanpera] as my biggest opponents."

Radstrom, on his debut outing for the works Mitsubishi team, set a solid third quickest time on SS4, which didn't benefit his higher start number as much as previous tests as it was much more icy. Harri Rovanpera was fourth quickest in his brake-troubled Peugeot 306, but lost second position to Sainz by just 0.2secs.

Tommi Makinen lost almost 30secs to his leading team mate, and stated: "There was a bit of loose snow, but it wasn't as bad as stages one and three." The third Ralliart Mitsubishi of Freddy Loix suffered its second time-consuming spin of the day, and he lost another three minutes to add to the 30s of road penalty he got for changing a turbo in service: "I got on the throttle too early and landed in the snowbank."

The big loser on SS4 was Subaru's Markko Martin, who suffered a right-rear puncture with 25kms remaining. He tried to drive to the end, but only succeeded in damaging the bodywork and the brakes before stopping to change the wheel. He then had to complete the stage with no rear brakes and dropped out of the top ten.

Francois Delecour's Ford benefited by moving into the top ten, as a result, but he rued his tyre choice: "I went for a snow tyre, which was fine under braking but had no lateral grip."

Richard Burns, who is now treating the event like a test session for Subaru, was just 09.9s off the fastest time despite slowing right down in the stage on a number of occasions to change his pacenotes for next year's event: "Considering I did that, it wasn't a bad time at all."

Hyundai's Alister McRae, meanwhile, dropped 2m01.7s from his illustrious brother's mark and is suffering from a broken wastegate pipe, which is sapping his Accent's power.


Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 24m55.6s
Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 25:05.5
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 25m15.0s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, 25m19.0s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 25m20.0s
Kenneth Eriksson (S)/Staffan Parmander (S), Hyundai Accent WRC*, 25m21.2s



Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, 54m54.7s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, +0m03.5s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, +0m03.7s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution*, +0m18.5s
Kenneth Eriksson (S)/Staffan Parmander (S), Hyundai Accent WRC*, +0m18.8s
Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, +0m30.2s

*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points