SS6: Overnight lead for king Carlos

Ford's Spanish ace holds a 13.2 second lead over Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera at the front, after setting the third quickest time on SS6 behind flying British duo Colin McRae and Richard Burns.

McRae was fastest once again, pipping Burns by 2.4secs over the 26.48km Sagfallet test. The Scot is still outside the top ten, however, 4m37.8s behind his team-mate after his earlier delay in a snowbank, but Colin has set his sights on regaining a points position by the end of play on Sunday. Burns, like McRae, had to be dug out of the snow this morning and is 6m 11.9s adrift of the leading pace at the end of the day.

Fourth quickest on SS6 was Didier Auriol, who seems to be getting used to driving with a nasty case of bronchitis in his Peugeot 206 WRC. He was only 13.3secs off McRae's leading time and the Frenchman lies fourth overall, 13secs behind the fading Thomas Radstrom (Mitsubishi), who dropped behind Rovanpera on the final test of the day.

Tommi Makinen is fifth overall for Mitsubishi, but expect him to charge tomorrow as he won't be acting as the rest of the rally's snowplough by running first on the road. He is 35.6secs behind Sainz, which could be enough to overhaul the Spaniard over the next two days, and Carlos will have Tommi's problem tomorrow (Saturday).

Kenneth Eriksson is sixth in his Hyundai, 8.3secs ahead of Ford's Francois Delecour.


Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 13m22.3s
Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 13m24.7s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 13m30.8s
Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, 13m35.6s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 13m39.1s
Markko Martin(EST)/Michael Park(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 13m40.0s



Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 1m19m08.7s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, +0m13.2s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, +0m19.3s
Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, +0m32.3s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer*, +0m35.6s
Kenneth Eriksson (S)/Staffan Parmander (S), Hyundai Accent WRC*, 0m41.6s

*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points