Rally Finland 2000
Leg Three, Stage by Stage
SS 19
Colin McRae started the maximum attack to catch Harri Rovanpera on
the morning stages of the final day. He was fastest on stage 19, but Rovanpera
answered with a time only 0.8 secs slower. Gronholm, still in a comfortable
lead, controlled the situation and was third quickest on the stage.
SS 20
The stages on the final leg were already driven once on leg 2, so some places were quite soft and large stones had appeared from beneath the road surface. Rovanpera hit one of them on stage 20 damaging the rear suspension and lost 13 seconds to stage winner McRae. The Scot was now just 3.4 secs behind second placed Rovanpera. Sebastian Lindholm also hit a stone, which cracked the sump guard of the Peugeot. Tommi Makinen's problems continued, at the start of SS 20 his engine cut out and he lost some time. Makinen was still 4th but 30 secs behind McRae and only 12 secs in front of Lindholm.
SS 21
Rovanpera changed the damaged wheel after stage 20 and because of
that he allegedly arrived late at the time control after the stage. First
he was given a twenty second time penalty, which after some confusion
was reduced to ten seconds. This meant that Colin McRae moved into the
second position. On stage 21 Rovanpera complained that the car jumped
around like a kangaroo as the shocks were bent on the previous stage.
Still he managed to be two tenths faster than McRae. The stage was won
by Marcus Gronholm who said he had hit something and damaged the steering.
Didier Auriol had engine problems and lost nearly a minute, so Finnish
Toyota driver Pasi Hagstrom was elevated into the 7th position.
SS 22
The long and hard Ouninpohja stage was driven once more as the penultimate
stage of the rally. Harri Rovanpera stormed through the stage and posted
a time that was five seconds quicker than Gronholm's winning time from
the previous leg. Rovanpera was 9.1 seconds faster than McRae, so he was
back in second place despite the 10 second time penalty. The Toyota driver
starts the final stage 2.7 seconds in front of the Ford star. Tommi Makinen
was 2nd on SS 22 and Gronholm 3rd.
SS 23
Colin McRae charged on the final stage of the rally and beat Harri
Rovanpera by 6.1 seconds. With his great drive McRae lifted himself to
the 2nd place with a margin of 3.4 secs. Harri Rovanpera protested his
earlier penalty and said that there are no grounds for it, but he had
to settle for third position. Anyway, Rovanpera's performance was absolutely
remarkable with an outdated car.
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| The podium, from left: Colin McRae, Timo Rautianen, Marcus Gronholm, Harri Rovanpera (Photo by Peugeot Sport) |
Also remarkable was Marcus Gronholm's drive. He dominated the event making no mistakes and took the championship lead from Richard Burns. Tommi Makinen was not happy at all with his 4th place in the rally, which dropped him further from the championship battle. There was something wrong in the Mitsubishi's suspension settings all through the event, so the team has a lot to do before the next event. Sebastian Lindholm in 5th did what he was hired to do, which was to score manufacturer points. He said he enjoyed the rally and driving a full spec works Peugeot thoroughly.
Francois Delecour rolled his Peugeot on the final stage, but managed to keep Hagstrom behind by 11 secs and finish sixth. Juha Kankkunen finished 8th, disappointed by the puncture that cost him the race on leg 2. Group N was won by Jani Paasonen with Juuso Pykalisto second, both driving Mitsubishis.
Results after stage 23 of 23:
1. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot - 3.22.37,1
2. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +1.06,2
3. Harri Rovanperä (FIN) Toyota +1.09,6
4. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +1.38,7
5. Sebastian Lindholm (FIN) Peugeot +2.06,0
6. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +5.05,0
7. Pasi Hagström (FIN) Toyota +5.16,6
8. Juha Kankkunen (FIN) Subaru +5.52,9
9. Alister McRae (SCO) Hyundai +6.09,1
