Cyprus Rally 2000
The Cyprus Rally was added to the WRC calendar to replace the troubled China Rally. Roads in this former round of the European Championship resemble those of Acropolis Rally although they are more twisty and slower. Hard, hot and dusty conditions were expected, and that's what the competitors got at least on the first leg of the event.
The Fords of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae dominated the early stages of the rally along with the Subaru of Richard Burns. Sainz took the lead on stage one and kept it all through the first day. McRae and Burns fought over the second place on the morning stages. They were followed by Peugeot's Francois Delecour. Championship leader Marcus Gronholm started cautiously, but gradually closed on his team-mate Delecour and passed him on SS 5.
Gronholm's luck ran out on SS 6 as he retired with an electrical failure. He wasn't the only one with problems, though. Both Skodas ran off the road and retired. They were joined by Didier Auriol with a blown tyre in his Seat. Freddy Loix, who in one point was ahead of his team-mate Tommi Makinen, rolled and lost a lot of time. Makinen suffered from transmission problems.
The only one who didn't seem to have no problems at all was Carlos Sainz who won seven of the day's nine stages. On the final stages of the day Sainz extended his lead to more than a minute. Burns seemed to slow down after Gronholm's retirement to preserve the car and let Francois Delecour, who was going well all through the day, take the second position on the final stage of the leg. Colin McRae, who had braking problems on a couple of stages, was fourth.
Subaru driver next year Markko Martin put on another great performance with his Toyota by finishing the day in 5th place, although 3 minutes behind the leader. Tommi Makinen was 6th after his problems.
Situation after stage 9 of 23:
1. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford - 2.09.01,1
2. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +1.20,2
3. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +1.23,5
4. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +1.42,3
5. Markko Märtin (EST) Toyota +3.05,4
6. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Seat +4.23,5
7. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +4.24,6
