Rally Catalunya 2000
LEG TWO
The conditions were dry on Saturday and this meant that the performance of the Subarus' Pirelli tires was questionnable. On the first stage of the day, the 45 kilometre Gratallops (SS7), Richard Burns was 18 seconds slower than Colin McRae, who moved into the lead by 10 secs. This wasn't because of tires, though, as Burns reportedly had some gearbox problems. The Peugeots of Delecour and Panizzi were also up to speed and pulled a gap on Marcus Gronholm who didn't know the twists and turns of the demanding stage so well.
Burns' gears were sorted out at the service and on SS8 he stroke back, shrinking McRae's lead to only 3.3 secs. Tommi Makinen won the stage and closed in on Sainz a bit. The Peugeots were slightly out of pace and had their own competition almost a minute behind the leaders.
The Gratallops stage was driven again as stage 9. McRae was slighly faster than Burns, the gap was now 7.5 secs. Sainz and Makinen were also faster than the Subaru driver so the fight on the top was as tight as ever. Delecour lost 30 seconds on the stage with a gearbox problem and dropped behind Panizzi and Gronholm. Behind them, Freddy Loix and Didier Auriol had passed Schwartz and Martin into positions 7 and 8. Juha Kankkunen, already very far from the leaders, had an off, but went on, 12 minutes behind McRae.
Sainz was fastest on stage 10, he was only 13.8 secs behind leader McRae. Burns was now 6.7 secs behind. On the final stage of the day (SS11) Sainz won again and Burns was again slightly faster than the leader, so top three drivers start the final leg in a thrilling setting. McRae is still in the lead, with Burns 4.3 secs behind and Sainz further five seconds away. Makinen had braking problems on the final stage and was now 35 secs off the pace.
Panizzi steered away from his team-mates by more than half a minute. Gronholm managed to keep Delecour behind as the Frenchman had minor problems. Toni Gardemeister retired from 13th place on SS11. Martin and Schwartz were fighting for the 10th place, their time difference was only 0.5 secs.
Situation after stage 11 of 15:
1. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford - 2.57.17,5
2. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +4,3
3. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +9,3
4. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +35,4
5. Gilles Panizzi (FRA) Peugeot +54,4
6. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot +1.30,1
7. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +1.32,2
8. Freddy Loix (BEL) Mitsubishi +3.17,2
9. Didier Auriol (FRA) Seat +3.34,7
10. Markko Märtin (EST) Toyota +3.56,0
11. Armin Schwarz (GER) Skoda +3.56,5
12. Andrea Navarra (ITA) Toyota +4.09,9
