Stage seven: McRae takes lead
Colin McRae has snatched the lead of the Rally Catalunya after Richard Burns lost 18.7s on the opening stage of leg two with a gearbox problem
The Subaru team may have to change the gearbox on Burns' car after a hydraulic problem resulted in difficulty with gearshifts on the Gratallops-Escaladei stage.
Burns is still second, but McRae, who has not won a WRC event for over a year now, has an 11s lead.
Carlos Sainz was also quick on the stage, pulling away from fourth-placed Tommi Makinen.
Meanwhile, Marcus Gronholm dropped behind his Peugeot team mates Francois Delecour and Gilles Panizzi, blaming a lack of stage knowledge for his slow time.
Both Hyundai's lost more time by being given penalties for leaving service late. Alister McRae also struggled with a brake problem.
Also in trouble on the stage were SEAT's Toni Gardemeister and Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix, hampered by a puncture and a jammed throttle respectively.
Overall positions after stage seven:
|
1 |
Colin McRae |
Ford Focus |
1h31m56.3s |
|
2 |
Richard Burns |
Subaru Impreza |
1h32m07.0s |
|
3 |
Carlos Sainz |
Ford Focus |
1h32m17.2s |
|
4 |
Tommi Makinen |
Mitsubishi Lancer |
1h32m28.6s |
|
5 |
Francois Delecour |
Peugeot 206 |
1h32m43.2s |
|
6 |
Gilles Panizzi |
Peugeot 206 |
1h32m50.5s |
|
7 |
Marcus Gronholm |
Peugeot 206 |
1h33m07.8s |
|
8 |
Markko Martin |
Toyota Corolla |
1h33m58.0s |
|
9 |
Freddy Loix |
Mitsubishi Carisma |
1h34m00.5s |
|
10 |
Andrea Navarra |
Toyota Corolla |
1h34m01.7s |
|
11 |
Armin Schwarz |
Skoda Octavia |
1h34m04.4s |
|
12 |
Didier Auriol |
SEAT Cordoba |
1h34m24.0s |
|
13 |
Henrik Lundgaard |
Toyota Corolla |
1h34m43.3s |
|
14 |
Toni Gardemeister |
SEAT Cordoba |
1h34m47.7s |
|
15 |
Andrea Dallavilla |
Subaru Impreza |
1h35m05.6s |
|
16 |
Luis Climent |
Skoda Octavia |
1h35m41.5s |
|
17 |
Jesus Puras |
Citroen Xsara |
1h36m23.7s |
|
18 |
Fabrice Morel |
Peugeot 206 |
1h36m56.6s |
|
19 |
Kenneth Eriksson |
Hyundai Accent |
1h37m21.8s |
|
20 |
Juha Kankkunen |
Subaru Impreza |
1h37m41.0s |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Red Bull in no rush to finalise 2025 F1 line-up
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
WEC Imola: Ye fastest to lead Ferrari 1-2 in practice
How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya
How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore
How Lappi survived Swedish snow carnage to snap his lengthy WRC drought
The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments