SS7, Pratdip 1: Puras puts the hammer down

Local hero Puras more than doubled his overall advantage over Bugalski at a stroke, as the field struggled in their wake. Brit Richard Burns led the resistance, putting a troubled leg one behind him to set third fastest time, 12.3s behind Puras. That puts the Subaru star up to 11th overall from his 15th place overnight.

Peugeot drivers Didier Auriol and Gilles Panizzi were fourth and fifth fastest, but they were 14.5s and 19.5s behind Puras respectively - huge margins in Catalunya terms, both losing more time to their PSA rivals in one stage than they did in the whole of leg one.

Carlos Sainz put one over on team mate Francois Delecour in their in-house battle at Ford, going 4.3s quicker over the stage and nipping ahead of the Frenchman in the overall standings.

Skoda number one Armin Schwarz is reported to be out of the rally, having stopped in the stage with steering problems.

Alister McRae is also in toruble, having lost turbo boost 15km into the 31.57km stage. The Scot did make it to the end of the section, but he still has SS8, the 14.43km Escaladei 1 stage, to negotiate before service.


Jesus Puras, Citroen, 19m12.0s
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, 19m21.3s
Richard Burns, Subaru, 19m24.3s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, 19m26.5s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, 19m31.5s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, 19m38.3s



Jesus Puras, Citroen, 1h21m.56.9s
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen, +18.0s
Didier Auriol, Peugeot, +25.7s
Gilles Panizzi, Peugeot, +38.0s
Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi, +50.4s
Freddy Loix, Mitsubishi, +1m20.4s
Salvador Canellas, Seat, +1m38.2s
Carlos Sainz, Ford, +1m39.2s
Francois Delecour, Ford, +1m39.9s
Markko Martin, Subaru, +1m50.6s