SS9: Makinen snatches lead from McRae
Tommi Makinen has snatched the lead of the Monte Carlo Rally from Colin McRae on the third of today's (Saturday's) five special stages
Makinen's Mitsubishi was beaten into second place on the Clumanc-Lambruisse stage by Francois Delecour's Ford Focus, but he still out-paced McRae's Ford by 7.5s over the 14.75kms of mostly dry tarmac.
Makinen overturned McRae's 30-second overnight lead by taking fastest time in both of this morning's snowy and icy opening stages, but overhauled him to take a five-second lead on Clumanc when the emphasis switched from studs to racing slicks.
Delecour's opening stages were hampered by niggling problems and punctures, but the short blast between Clumanc and Lambruisse finally showed the former Peugeot man's potential in his new Ford works drive.
Armin Schwarz continued to put in some competitive performances, posting third fastest in the Skoda, with Toni Gardemeister's Grifone-run Peugeot 206 banging in the fourth best time after problems on the morning's stages caused by a lack of an ice-note crew.
Adding unwanted spice to the proceedings, certain sections of the massive crowds thronging the Alpine stages have resorted to their traditional activity of throwing ice and snow onto the racing line of key corners. Schwarz, in particular, was close to a major off.
Mitsubishi number two Freddy Loix has taken sixth overall from Alister McRae, feeling more confident on the drier tarmac.
Colin McRae and team mate Carlos Sainz were fifth and sixth fastest, with McRae needing to get his rally back on track with just six more special stages to run before tomorrow's Monte Carlo finish.
1 Francois Delecour (Ford), 10m25.1s
2 Tommi Makinen (Mitsubishi), 10m25.2s
3 Armin Schwarz (Skoda), 10m27.8s
4 Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot), 10m31.4s
5 Colin McRae (Ford), 10m32.7s
6 Carlos Sainz (Ford), 10m33.7s
1 Tommi Makinen (Mitsubishi), 2h47m15.3s
2 Colin McRae (Ford), 2h47m20.3s
3 Carlos Sainz (Ford), 2h48m09.4s
4 Francois Delecour (Ford), 2h49m07.2s
5 Armin Schwarz (Skoda), 2h49m13.7s
6 Freddy Loix (Mitsubishi), 2h50m43.4s
7 Alister McRae (Hyundai), 2h50m45.7s
8 Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot), 2h51m22.0s
9 Olivier Burri (Toyota), 2h52m49.8s
10 Olivier Gillet (Mitsubishi - GpN), 2h56m57.9s
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