Corsica, Oct 20: World champion Marcus Gronholm of Finland was fourth. Twice world champion Sainz, in a Citroen, now leads the title standings by three points from Richard Burns of Britain, who finished eighth in Corsica, and Solberg who have 58 points. There are two rallies left, in Spain and Britain.
Favourite Sebastien Loeb spun on the eighth stage, ruining his chances of victory, but Solberg's Pirelli tyres enabled him to win the 10th, 11th and 12th stages. Sainz, who gambled on slick tyres on Sunday, closed to within 0.1 seconds of the Ford of Duval, at 22 the championship's youngest driver, midway through the final day and took over second spot on the final stage. Loeb won the first three stages on Sunday and, but for his spin which cost him 10 minutes, he would have challenged for his second consecutive win after Sanremo. He is far from out of the world title race, however, having 55 points. Leading finishing times after the final day of the Rally of Corsica on Sunday: 1. Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru four hours 20 minutes and 15.3 seconds 2. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Citroen 36.6 seconds behind 3. Francois Duval (Belgium) Ford 41.7 4. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 1:09.2 5. Colin McRae (Britain) Citroen 1:26.0 6. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 1:58.7 7. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 2:25.8 8. Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 2:36.7 9. Philippe Bugalski (France) Citroen 2:46.8 10. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford 3:55.4



World championship standings: 1. Sainz 61 points 2= Burns 58 2= Solberg 58 4. Loeb 55 5= Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 43 5= Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 43 7. MacRae 40


Bureau Report