SS6: Sainz on top; McRae further ahead

Despite suffering from a slipping clutch, the Scot was able to increase his lead when Tommi Makinen was unable to get the slicks he's chosen for the final two stages to work properly. McRae was fourth fastest on SS6, with Makinen sixth, behind Armin Schwarz's Skoda.

"I made a mistake in my tyre choice," said the four-time world champion. "I tried slicks and they felt fine, but the others are much, much quicker on them."

McRae, who is believed to have run intermediates on the final two stages, felt his clutch slip prior to the start of stage six.

"Just before the start of stage six, we went to warm up the tyres," said co-driver Nicky Grist. "We feltthe clutch slip a little bit, so we just looked after it on that final stage. It was a tricky stage anyway."

Freddy Loix dropped to seventh overall after differential troubles, but Schwarz's Skoda has taken a stealth approach to fifth, despite being hampered in the drier conditions.

"If you look at the times," explained the German, " when the roads are drier and cleaner we start to struggle. We need snow to keep our position."

Alister McRae is eighth overall in the remaining Hyundai, but had a spin in SS% and has a differential imbalance, saying that the back end has a tendency to step out under part throttle.

Leg 2 begins with the Turriers stage at 09:53 local time (08:53 GMT) tomorrow (Saturday), with four more before the cars return to parc ferme in Monte Carlo.



1 Carlos Sainz (Ford), 10m32.5s
2 Francois Delecour (Ford), 10m35.2s
3 Richard Burns (Subaru), 10m37.9s
4 Colin McRae (Ford), 10m40.0s
5 Armin Schwarz (Skoda), 10m45.4s
6= Tommi Makinen (Mitsubishi), 10m45.4s
6= Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot), 10m57.1s


1 Colin McRae (Ford), 1h52m46.1s
2 Tommi Makinen (Mitsubishi), 1h53m16.7s
3 Carlos Sainz (Ford), 1h53m20.0s
4 Richard Burns (Subaru), 1h54m15.7s
5 Armin Schwarz (Skoda), 1h54m35.4s
6 Francois Delecour (Ford), 1h54m35.6s
7 Freddy Loix (Mitsubishi), 1h55m14.8s
8 Alister McRae (Hyundai), 1h55m26.1s
9 Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot), 1h55m52.5s
10 Manfred Stohl (Mitsubishi - Gp N), 1h58m12.0s