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Final day of San Remo rally has Loeb cementing lead
San Remo, Oct 05: Sebastien Loeb consolidates lead into into the final day of the San Remo rally in Italy.
San Remo, Oct 05: Sebastien Loeb consolidates lead into into the final day of the San Remo rally in Italy.
Ford's Markko Martin won all four stages on the second leg of the San Remo rally on Saturday (October 4), but was still left with plenty to do to close the gap on leader Sebastien Loeb of Citroen. Frenchman Loeb will take a 43.2-second lead into Sunday's third and final leg of the 11th rally of the world championship calendar having completed the first two in three hours, seven minutes 0.7 seconds. Estonian Martin's day got off to a bad start when electrical problems on his Ford delayed his departure and he was handed a 30-second punishment. But he fought back to win the first stage before keeping on top throughout the day. Had he avoided the penalty, he would now have a real chance of snatching the lead from Loeb, who finished second in both the afternoon legs. Finn Marcus Gronholm in a Peugeot consolidated his third place and looked set for a podium finish. Spaniard Carlos Sainz will close the gap if he can keep hold of his fourth place position, while Subaru's Solberg was forced to retire on Friday when he ran out of fuel.
Frenchman Gilles Pannizi moved to fifth place, leaving Belgium's Francois Duval behind. Briton Colin McRae was seventh while another Frenchman, Phillipe Bugalski, was holding to eighth.
Britain's Richard Burns, who went into the race with a seven point lead over Norwegian Petter Solberg and Spaniard Carlos Sainz in this year's championship race, remained trapped in ninth place ahead of France's Cedric.
Former champion Tommi Makinen of Finland dropped from eight to 11th place.
Leading times in the Sanremo rally after Saturday's second leg (four stages): 1. Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen three hours seven minutes 0.7 seconds 2. Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 43.2 seconds behind 3. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 1:10.5 4. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Citroen 1:42.3 5. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 1:59.1 6. Francois Duval (Belgium) Ford 2:23.8 7. Colin McRae (Britain) Citroen 3:07.3 8. Philippe Bugalski (France) Citroen 4:06.6 9. Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 5:12.1 10. Cedric Robert (France) Peugeot 5:16.5 11. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 8.11.8 12. Didier Auriol (France) Skoda 9.16.3
Bureau Report
Ford's Markko Martin won all four stages on the second leg of the San Remo rally on Saturday (October 4), but was still left with plenty to do to close the gap on leader Sebastien Loeb of Citroen. Frenchman Loeb will take a 43.2-second lead into Sunday's third and final leg of the 11th rally of the world championship calendar having completed the first two in three hours, seven minutes 0.7 seconds. Estonian Martin's day got off to a bad start when electrical problems on his Ford delayed his departure and he was handed a 30-second punishment. But he fought back to win the first stage before keeping on top throughout the day. Had he avoided the penalty, he would now have a real chance of snatching the lead from Loeb, who finished second in both the afternoon legs. Finn Marcus Gronholm in a Peugeot consolidated his third place and looked set for a podium finish. Spaniard Carlos Sainz will close the gap if he can keep hold of his fourth place position, while Subaru's Solberg was forced to retire on Friday when he ran out of fuel.
Frenchman Gilles Pannizi moved to fifth place, leaving Belgium's Francois Duval behind. Briton Colin McRae was seventh while another Frenchman, Phillipe Bugalski, was holding to eighth.
Britain's Richard Burns, who went into the race with a seven point lead over Norwegian Petter Solberg and Spaniard Carlos Sainz in this year's championship race, remained trapped in ninth place ahead of France's Cedric.
Former champion Tommi Makinen of Finland dropped from eight to 11th place.
Leading times in the Sanremo rally after Saturday's second leg (four stages): 1. Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen three hours seven minutes 0.7 seconds 2. Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 43.2 seconds behind 3. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 1:10.5 4. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Citroen 1:42.3 5. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 1:59.1 6. Francois Duval (Belgium) Ford 2:23.8 7. Colin McRae (Britain) Citroen 3:07.3 8. Philippe Bugalski (France) Citroen 4:06.6 9. Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 5:12.1 10. Cedric Robert (France) Peugeot 5:16.5 11. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 8.11.8 12. Didier Auriol (France) Skoda 9.16.3
Bureau Report