Stage nine: Auriol fastest
Richard Burns continues to lead the Safari Rally, but SEAT's Didier Auriol was fastest on the Orien stage by a minute
The Frenchman was able to consolidate his third position as a result, helped by the fact that nearest challenger Carlos Sainz had to struggle through the 112km stage without any power steering, losing ten minutes and dropping behind Ford junior driver Petter Solberg to fifth place.
Auriol was lucky to finish the stage intact however.
'We had problems with dust hanging in the air from Kankkunen's car,' he explained. 'We came over a crest and suddenly there was dist and we hit a rock in fifth gear and were bounced off the road, narrowly missing some trees. It was very hairy.'
Burns' lead now stands at nearly six minutes with three stages remaining.
Overall standings after Stage nine, Orien:
1 |
Richard Burns |
Subaru Impreza |
6h34m17.0s |
2 |
Juha Kankkunen |
Subaru Impreza |
6h39m55.0s |
3 |
Didier Auriol |
SEAT Cordoba |
6h48m52.0s |
4 |
Petter Solberg |
Ford Focus |
7h02m02.0s |
5 |
Carlos Sainz |
Ford Focus |
7h06m01.0s |
6 |
Toshihiro Arai |
Subaru Impreza |
7h13m31.0s |
7 |
Armin Schwarz |
Skoda Octavia |
7h21m31.0s |
8 |
Luis Climent |
Skoda Octavia |
7h42m43.0s |
9 |
Claudio Menzi |
Mitusbishi Lancer |
8h07m37.0s |
10 |
Roberto Sanchez |
Subaru Impreza |
8h18m49.0s |
Stage times:
D Auriol 47m54.0s
R Burns 48m54.0s
J Kankkunen 49m37.0s
P Solberg 51m04.0s
T Arai 52m05.0s
A Schwarz 53m53.0s
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