SS5, Alpens-Les Llosses 2: Citroen dominates

Jesus Puras now leads the rally by 7.4s over the Peugeot of Didier Auriol, with Philippe Bugalski creeping up the leader board to third after Marcus Gronholm retired with a missing rear wheel (see separate story).

Panizzi makes it two Peugeots and two Citroens mixed up in the top four, but with the current pace of the Xsaras, it appears increasingly likely that the end of day pattern may be two Citroens followed by two Peugeots.

Even at this early stage, a pecking order is developing, with the Mitsubishis as 'best of the rest' behind PSA's finest and the Fords struggling to stay on terms behind the Lancer/Carisma pairing.

Behind them, Subaru has floundered on the Spanish asphalt. Petter Solberg is out, courtesy of an SS3 contretemps with a ditch, while Markko Martin has suffered from understeer and ignition problems.

Despite changing his gearbox in the service area after SS3, Richard Burns's Catalunya Rally went from bad to worse when the Englishman's Subaru broke a rim after a brush with a bank. The subsequent loss of 50s pushed him even further out of the reckoning.

A surprise addition to the leaderboard is Salvador Canellas. The local hero is making his works-run SEAT fly in eighth overall.


Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, 13m34.0s
Jesus Puras, Citroen, 13m32.7s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, 13m38.1s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, 13m38.7s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 13m43.5s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, 13m45.2


Jesus Puras, Citroen, 53m23.4s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, +7.4s
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, +9.6s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, +13.7s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, +17.5s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, +35.9s
Colin McRae, Ford, +43.3s
Salvador Canellas, SEAT, +49.4s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +49.8s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +54.8s