1999 Tour De Corse - Rallye De France

10 May 1999

The Citroens continue to dominate the Tour De Corse. Bugalski and Puras are 1st and 2nd and certainly hope to keep it that way. Although at times on the limit, Bugalski has been able to back off slightly as he built a healthy lead over the WRC cars.

The greatest drama today was the rain. The day started with sunny clear skies but midway through SS11, the heavens opened. Many drivers had the wrong tyres (slicks with dry suspension setup) and encountered very slippery conditions and most drivers had a few moments! The cars running at the very top of the field had a great advanatge as they could drive on more of the stage before the rain came - the further down the field, the more wet road they had to drive on.

Both Peugeots had mechanical problems today - Gilles Panizzi retired with engine management problems on the day's final stage (he was in 5th outright) and Francois Delecour slipped from 2nd place down to 7th after front differential failure and steering rack problems.

Toyota was helped greatly by the demise of the Peugeots and Sainz moved up into 3rd and is the first of the World Championship contenders. "Everything has been fine today and the Corolla has run perfectly," commented Carlos. "It has been a tough day though and we have had to go flat out everywhere in an attempt to try and catch the Citroens."

McRae also benefitted from Delebours problems and moved into 4th: "Weve enjoyed another good day," said McRae. "We managed to slash Carlos advantage by almost 10 seconds and if I hadnt spun on the last stage, I think we would have moved ahead of him. We had some really big moments on that last stage in the rain. Any car on slick tyres and a dry set-up in those conditions is going to be really unpredictable and we had a couple of big sideways incidents. It was more like driving on gravel than asphalt," he added.

Richard Burns has happy with his performance: "Considering conditions havent been ideal for us or our tyres, weve done well, and picked up a couple of places in the process""Tomorrow, we will go like hell, whatever the weather". He finished in 6th and Thiry in 9th.

Mitsubishi drivers Makinen and Loix are suffering from a lack of stage knowledge and hope to do better tomorrow with repeat stages. Their aim is now for Makinen to score Manufacturers Championship points.

Seat are still on a big learning curve and are concentrating on improving the general set-up of the car. Liatti did impress on the final stage with 4th fastest - he lies 11th outright at the end of the day and Rovanpera is in 16th.

Tomorrow sees four stages which were run on the first Leg and also the final stage which is to be televised live by satellite around the world. Championship points will be allocated to the top 3 drivers and team tactics are expected to be paramount.

Unofficial results at the end of Leg 2:

1 Bugalski Citroen Xsara 2:35:07,0
2 Puras Citroen Xsara 2:35:13,3
3 Sainz Toyota Corolla 2:35:34,8
4 McRae Ford Focus 2:35:44,3
5 Auriol Toyota Corolla 2:36:28,3
6 Burns Subaru Impreza 2:37:17,9
7 Delecour Peugeot 206 WRC 2:37:23,6
8 Makinen Mit Lancer Evo VI 2:37:24,8
9 Thiry Subaru Impreza 2:38:20,2
10 Loix Mit Carisma GT 2:39:08,6


Group N:

1 Stohl Mit Carisma GT 2:48:54,8
1 Trellles Mit Lancer Evo V 2:49:08,8
2 Al Wahaibi Mit Lancer 2:49:44,1



Formula 2:

1 Bugalski Citroen Xsara 2:35:07,0
2 Puras Citroen Xsara 2:35:13,3
3 Rousselot    Renault Megane 2:42:05,3

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Stage Winners:

SS7 - Delecour, SS8 - Bugalski, SS9 - Puras, 
SS10 - Bugalski, SS11 - Bugalski, SS12 - Puras

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