RALLY: 55th Network Q Rally of Great Britain, End of Leg 2
23 November 1999
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Richard Burns stormed ahead today and was in a class of his own - he won 6
of the days 8 stages and now holds a 29 second advantage over team mate
Kankkunen. Burns said: "It's been a long and demanding day, but this isn't
the worst job in the world, that's for sure!". Other drivers commented in
awe of Burn's driving today with Freddy Loix describing him as "...coming
from another planet" and Gronholm "We don't know what to do to get near
him!". Even with Kankkunen in second place, team orders won't come into
effect as Marcus Gronholm in the Peugeot is only 15 seconds behind meaning
that he'll have to 'go for it'.
Arch rival Colin McRae had a succession of small problems throughout the day and was never really any match for Burns. In an effort to make up time, McRae pushed hard in the final 2 stages which were held in the dark - but on the final stage he ran off the road, into a ditch and then colliding with a car that had crashed out at the same point during the previous run through the stage. Both crew are ok, but it ripped two wheels off the Ford Focus and they retired.
Seat are set for the best result of their season. In his last rally for Seat, Harri Rovanpera is in 4th and in his first drive of the Cordoba, local driver Gwyndaf Evans is in 5th. Evans: "These are the closest ones to my home and I know them very well". Unfortunately Toni Gardemeister retired with clutch failure.
Not a good day for Toyota. Sainz was in 4th place when he got stuck in a ditch and had to be pushed out by spectators losing several minutes and Auriol had difficulties with tyres and setup.
World Champion Tommi Makinen lost a lot of time early today after hitting a bank and damaging the rear suspension. "It was a shame we lost so much time. It has been difficult running first car today, because it has been so slippery. It doesnt matter so much now, but I still want to drive these stages flat out so we have a good chance next year", Makinen stated. Makinen is likely to finish in 6th. Team mate Loix is getting used to the stage on his first Rally GB. "I think my times are acceptable and I am enjoying these stages. The car has been very good and I feel confident we can improve tomorrow", Loix said.
After some excellent times yesterday, the two Skodas of Thiray and Schwarz suffered reliability problems today and finished SS14 in 9th and 11th respectively.
Due to extremely large numbers of spectators and traffic congestion, many cars were not able to complete Stage 13,14 & 15 and only the top 10 cars competed on SS15. This caused delays in the running of the stages and calculation of results.
Tomorrow is the final and longest leg of the rally with almost 200km of special stages and the finish is expected to be at the Cheltenham Racecourse at 7.15pm local time.
Provisional Results after Leg 1
After SS15
1 Burns Subaru Impreza 2:01:41,0
2 Kankkunen Subaru Impreza 2:02:10,0
3 Gronholm Peugeot 206 2:02:25,2
4 Rovanpera Seat Cordoba 2:04:43,8
5 Makinen Mitsu Lancer 2:05:07,7
** as a number of driver who would be in the top 10 did not run SS15, correct positions and times have been difficult to establish. Gwyndaf Evans was in 6th place on SS14 and with McRae's retirement he should now be in 5th overall.
Group N
After SS14
1 Higgins Subaru Impreza 2:04:24,9
2 Perrott Mitsu Lancer 2:05:40,8
3 Ferreyros Mitsu Lancer 2:05:54,6
2-Litre
After SS14
1 Laukkanen Renault Megane 2:01:52,5
2 Higgins VW Golf 2:02:41,0
3 Rowe Renault Megane 2:03:08,9
Teams Cup
After SS14
1 Climent Subaru Impreza 1:58:40,4
2 Holowczyc Subaru Impreza 1:59:14,5
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