SS7: Makinen serves notice of intent
Tommi Makinen began his Swedish Rally charge on the first stage of leg two. Mitsubishi's flying Finn, relieved of the problems of running number one on the road in fresh snow, is already cutting into the lead established by Ford's Carlos Sainz yesterday.
Sainz nevertheless eased out an increased overall lead over Harri Rovanpera through the 26.81km Kullen stage, and must be mightily relieved that there was no overnight snow and so no need to act as snowplough-in-chief to the field. Makinen, who spent leg one running first on the road and cleaning the stages for the field after overnight snow on Thursday, will not be so pleased that conditions today appear to be kinder to Sainz.
Ford's Spanish star was just 2.8s slower than Makinen and well-placed to defend his overnight lead. Nevertheless, Makinen is just 32.8s behind and on a real charge. The four-times World Champion has already sneaked past bronchitis-hit Didier Auriol in the Peugeot, who was 20 seconds off the pace through Kullen.
Harri Rovanpera was again right up there in his first event for Peugeot, third quickest on the stage and just 14.8s behind Sainz overall. Auriol must also watch out for Francois Delecour in the third Ford Focus. Delecour is now just 1.9s behind his fellow Frenchman overall.
It's been mixed fortunes for the Brits. Colin McRae and Richard Burns were again the class of the field, substantially quicker than anyone else, but Alister McRae appears to be out. The younger McRae's Hyundai Accent is reported parked up in the stage after emitting smoke. Wastegate and exhaust manifold problems had hampered McRae yesterday and the engine problems now appear terminal.
Big brother Colin's pace is such that he looks likely to achieve his aim of a place in the top 10 later today. He took a full 45 seconds out of 12th-placed Skoda man Bruno Thiry's advantage on Kullen alone and is currently on the fringes of the top 15, 4m23.2s down on Sainz. Burns, however, is still way down the order.
1 Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 14m08.9s
2 Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 14m16.2s
3 Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer*, 14m20.7s
4 Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 14m23.5s
5 Francois Delecour (F)/Daniel Grataloup (F), Ford Focus RS WRC, 14m25.0s
6 Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 14m25.1s
1 Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 1hr33m32.2s
2 Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, +14.8s
3 Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, +25.2s
4 Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer*, +32.8s
5 Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, +49.5s
6 Francois Delecour (F)/Daniel Grataloup (F), Ford Focus RS WRC, +51.4s
*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points
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