SS9: Rovanpera leads, Makinen charges

Peugeot driver Rovanpera moved into the lead after Sainz's Ford Focus ground to a halt on a hairpin in the Fredriksberg stage. The engine had died and took its time to fire up again. At the end of the stage Sainz had posted a time 13.8s slower than Makinen and 7.8s down on Rovanpera and slid back to fourth place overall.

Thomas Radstrom set fourth fastest time on the 34.07km stage and is just a tenth of a second behind team mate Makinen in third place overall.

Bronchitis-sufferer Didier Auriol picked up his pace again in the Peugeot to re-pass Kenneth Eriksson in the Hyundai and move up into the top six (and the points) once more, just behind Ford driver (and Peugeot reject) Francois Delecour.

Colin McRae's devastating display of speed shows no sign of weakening. The Scot was fastest for the sixth stage running, 12.9s up on the second fastest driver - fellow first day crasher Richard Burns in the Subaru. McRae has now overhauled the Toyota Corolla WRC of Janne Tuohino to move into 13th place.


Colin McRae (GB)/Nicky Grist(GB), Ford Focus RS WRC*, 19m21.7s
Richard Burns (GB)/Robert Reid(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC*, 19m34.6s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer*, 19m35.4s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, 19m37.5s
Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 19m39.4s
Markko Martin(EST)/Michael Park(GB), Subaru Impreza WRC, 19:41.2s


Harri Rovanpera (FIN)/Risto Pietilainen (FIN), Peugeot 206 WRC, 2hr08m16.0s
Tommi Makinen (FIN)/Risto Mannisenmaki(FIN), Mitsubishi Lancer*, +08.1s
Thomas Radstrom (S)/Tina Thorner (S), Mitsubishi Carisma GT, +08.2s
Carlos Sainz (E)/Luis Moya(E), Ford Focus RS WRC*, +09.5
Francois Delecour (F)/Daniel Grataloup (F), Ford Focus RS WRC, +1m01.8s
Didier Auriol(F)/Denis Giraudet(F), Peugeot 206 WRC*, +1m03.1s

*denotes nominated for manufacturers' championship points