Rally Britain 2000
Leg Three
The final leg of Rally Britain consisted of three fairly long stages. On SS 15 Richard Burns was fastest, extending his lead to 36.8 secs. Marcus Gronholm took it really carefully now. Carlos Sainz and Tommi Makinen were some 50 secs behind the second placed Finn. Makinen was quickest on stage 16, once again passing Sainz. Burns was second fastest on the stage and started the final stage in a lead of 43 seconds.
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| World rally champions 2000: Marcus Gronholm / Timo Rautiainen (Photo by Peugeot Sport) |
On the final stage final stage of the rally the top 20 crews were run in reverse order. For the Peugeot team and Marcus Gronholm's supporters it was a gruesome wait, until the Finnish farmer finished the stage as the 19th car and took his first World Rally Championship title. Gronholm posted 6th fastest time on SS 17 and finished the rally in second position behind Richard Burns, who did everything he could to win the title. Even that wasn't enough, though. Gronholm won his title by five points, a great achievement by the driver who initially wasn't even supposed to drive a full program this year. Peugeot also showed exceptional reliability and command of tactics during its first full season with the 206 WRC.
Tommi Makinen was again fastest on the final stage and took the third position in front of Carlos Sainz. Juha Kankkunen finished his probably last rally as a full-time WRC driver respectably in 5th place. He was followed by Peugeot's Francois Delecour and Markko Martin who again posted a good result. Asphalt specialist Gilles Panizzi finished 8th in the difficult conditions, while 9th and 10th positions went to the Seats of Didier Auriol and Harri Rovanpera. This was Seat's final outing as an official works team in the WRC for now.
Results after stage 17 of 17:
1. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru
2. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot +1.05,6
3. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +1.15,0
4. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +1.33,5
5. Juha Kankkunen (FIN) Subaru +1.46,9
6. Francois Delecour (FRA) +1.48,5
7. Markko Märtin (EST) Toyota
8. Gilles Panizzi (FRA) Peugeot
9. Didier Auriol (FRA) Seat
10. Harri Rovanperä (FIN) Seat
11. Alister McRae (SCO) Hyundai
12. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Seat
