FIA RALLY: 56th Network Q Rally of Great Britain, End of Leg 1
25 November 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
After last night's superspecial the real rally action got underway in freezing conditions in the South Wales forests. While FIA World Championship leader Marcus Gronholm as enjoyed a trouble-free day, his arch-rival Richard Burns hit trouble straight away but has been charging back up the leaderboard ever since. The first few cars started Hafren Sweet Lamb in dusk but soon it turned to darkness and that has affected the times of later cars. The party atmosphere was in full swing, however and when the fans' hero Colin McRae set fastest time the sky was lit up with a spectacular firework display!
Peugeot
FIA World Championship leader Marcus Gronholm said this morning," I've not got a feeling for these stages yet. They're very slippery but I'm getting more used to it. I'm trying to drive at the same speed all the time. I'm certainly not planning to push any harder." As the day progressed, and other drivers spun in the slippery conditions, Gronholm moved into the rally lead. By contrast team mate Gilles Panizzi, not a driver expected to set the pace on slippery gravel, posted some sensational times this morning."I made a good tyre choice and my times are much better," he enthused."I was not fast in Australia but I didn't know that event. I've been here before and so it is easier. Also it is important that I prove to people that I can drive quickly on gravel," he admitted.
Ford
Colin McRae explained the road conditions this morning."The roads have got a hard base underneath but on top it's very wet and muddy. If you stay on the right line there's plenty of grip but if you slide off the line it's very slippery indeed." The Scot would love to win his home event but he's not pushing flat out."Winning would be nice but there's no point in taking risks with no World Championship to worry about. I'm thinking more about next season," he added. A misheard pace note cost Carlos Sainz some time after he slid off on SS4 but apart from a cracked windscreen the Ford Focus was undamaged. Co-driver Luis Moya warned, however, that today's first four stages were nothing compared to the final two."Sweet Lamb and Myherin will be much slippier and being run at night will make them really hard. There's a lot worse to come on this event." Tapio Laukkanen slipped down the order after suffering problems with first and second gear, resolved with a gearbox change at first service while Stephen Finlay hit a tree and careered into a ravine on SS6.
Subaru
Richard Burns' FIA World Championship aspirations hit trouble immediately this morning when he hit a pile of logs and damaged the rear suspension on the Subaru. Burns was able to make a temporary repair at the roadside after the stage that enabled him to complete SS3 and SS4 but the British driver nearly a minute to his title rival before the first service park at Builth Wells."I made a mistake when I was trying to drive quickly," he said."I didn't think anything of it at first but on the next straight it was clear we had a big problem. My first thought was how disappointed everyone was going to be and I couldn't imagine how sick I was going to feel if we didn't get the car through the three stages to service. It was a huge relief to reach Builth Wells. Anything can happen on this event, as I've discovered, but we've still got two and a half days to get the time back and I'm not going to try and do it on the next stage. Tomorrow is a big day." Juha Kankkunen's shared overnight lead disappeared during the morning as he was one of several drivers who reported brushes with logs among the slippery stages.. Francois Delecour and Carlos Sainz each reported near misses at the same spot. Petter Solberg took a brief lead of the event after setting fastest time on SS2 but lost it when he spun on the next stage and spent nearly four minutes regaining the road.
Hyundai
Kenneth Eriksson retired from the rally on today's third stage after an engine problem. A new engine was fitted to the car after it suffered head gasket failure during the shakedown but just after the start of SS4 the new unit lost its fluids. With the help of spectators Eriksson topped up the engine and was able to get most of the way through the stage before the problem reappeared and he was forced to retire. Team mate Alister McRae lost the anti-lag system to his engine early today and also reported a potential gearbox problem after the Accent started jumping out of gear.
Mitsubishi
The luckless Freddy Loix became the event's first major retirement today when he crashed out of the rally near the end of the first special stage."We were on the wrong line into a fast right hand corner," he said."The car flipped and rolled twice, stopping just before we went into the trees." This is now the third time in the past four events that the Belgian has failed to complete the first 'proper' test of the event (he retired on the second forest stage in Australia). Team mate Tommi Makinen said that the stages were incredibly slippery today and admits to being lucky to reach service. We had two lucky escapes on SS4 after going wide on one corner and then overshooting a junction." Strangely, Makinen says he's missing the traditional 'Mickey Mouse' spectator stages that used to be a traditional opening day on this event." They gave us a chance to see how slippery the conditions were before we got into the forests and had to drive quickly."
SEAT
Didier Auriol may not be a fan of the Rally GB but the Frenchman set a fast pace over the early stages and lay fifth at the first visit to Builth Wells. He achieved this despite a couple of punctures on SS3 and SS4 in conditions that he described as being more slippery than he'd expected."I've been pushing very hard all season but now I think it could be because it's so slippery that it's finally working well. We're at maximum attack with maximum risk," he said as he moved into third place after SS6."The mechanics have worked very hard for me this year and so I am pushing to get a good result for them. "Toni Gardemeister suffered failure of his turbo anti-lag system and went off the road trying to compensate for the time he was losing. Welshman Gwyndaf Evans has not rallied a WRC since last year's Rally GB and admitted to feeling a bit rusty."It's quite a shock to the system after so long," he said."We spun on a right hander after a crest and lost about 15 seconds," he said. The local hero lost time in Crychan when an intercooler pipe came off and the engine lost full power but he carried on through that stage and the next before the team was able to fix it.
Skoda
A front diff oil leak cost Armin Schwarz a lot of time this morning before the team could effect its first gearbox change under pressure. In these conditions you need all the traction you can get," said Schwarz."Unfortunately we had to do two stages with only rear wheel drive and so we paid a heavy penalty for that. I'm not going to push too hard - I'll be letting the others do that - as we want to make sure we are at the finish." Another driver not pushing too hard was team mate Luis Climent who has been a model of consistency this year. Apart from a slightly sticky gearbox, the Spaniard has not stressed the car and has suffered no major problem.
Other teams
Toshihiro Arai has clinched the FIA Teams Cup for the Spike Subaru team. The Japanese driver only had to cross last night's start line to take the victory because, while he had a large enough points lead over his rivals, he still needed to start this event to comply with the regulation demanding a minimum number of event starts. Manfred Stohl has dominated the Group N contest and is currently well on course to claim this year's FIA Group N Championship. Gustavo Trelles, his only rival, has never finished this event and that may account for his slower pace today. The Vauxhall team is unchallenged in F2 with Mark Higgins leading team mate Neil Wearden. Third is held by Niall McShea who has just won the inaugural 50,000 cash prize in memory of the late Roger Clark who was the British rally fans' favourite long before the arrival of Colin McRae and Richard Burns. Clark's son, Oliver, is competing on this event. Overnight leader (shared with Juha Kankkunen) Janne Tuohino was sidelined with electrical failure after today's first stage while Markko Martin said of his first few stages,"I've been driving like I was at a rally school - braking too soon!" Mark Fisher's prize drive in a Peugeot 206WRC hit trouble with a broken front suspension bolt that left a wheel flapping for three stages this morning.
Tyre Facts
Michelin: The opening day of Rally Great Britain has seen Michelin's WRC partners use the full range of gravel patterns available for this event (Michelin Z, ZA and ZE) according to their respective choices registered with the FIA. The hard base of the majority of today's stages has been covered with a slippery top layer, with patches of deeper mud occasionally changing the amount of grip available, notably in SS7 and SS8. In the typical Rally GB conditions, Michelin drivers took 5 fastest times of today's 7 stages.
Pirelli: The Pirelli-equipped teams have relied completely on the KM pattern tyres today, usually in compound 6 but in various evolution specifications and sometimes with extra cuts. Juha Kankkunen set equal fastest time on last night's superspecial and Richard Burns joined him on SS6 once his suspension problems had been resolved.. Petter Solberg scored a scratch time on SS2. Didier Auriol set fifth fastest time on both SS3 and SS4 after successful deployment of the EMI anti-deflation system that preserves the tyres' integrity after a puncture.
Text provided by FIA
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