Toyota extend their lead
Toyota's Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol have given their team a 23 point advantage in the World Championship standings, following their respective third and fifth place finishes in the Corsican rally
Warm dry weather greeted the teams again on the final day, the conditions once again leaving the WRC cars little chance of catching the light-weight Formula 2 machines. The F2 drivers had topped the leaderboard for the previous three days.
Sainz battled hard with Ford's Colin McRae throughout the last day and by the final stage just two-tenths of a second separated the pair; the showdown for was set. The last stage was televised live for the first time in WRC history.
On the final stage, McRae spun when his gearbox stuck in neutral and the Scot's bad luck guaranteed the Spaniard his third place.
'It's been a tough fight with Colin today and we've had to attack hard the whole time,' said Sainz. 'I was determined to regain our third position in the final stage, but I thought maybe we'd lost it. Luckily for us Colin had a problem. It's an excellent result for Toyota.'
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