Rally Finland 2000
Leg One, Stage by Stage
SS 1
The 50th Neste Rally Finland started with a short 7 kilometre Kuohu
sprint to get the drivers going. With fast sweeping gravel roads the stage
was what Rally Finland, 'the Grand Prix of gravel roads' is all about.
Fastest on the stage was Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm, with his closest championship
rival Richard Burns second, only 0.9 secs behind. Third was Harri Rovanperä
with a privately entered Toyota and fourth Sebastian Lindholm, who drives
the second works Peugeot in the event.
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| Gronholm dominated the first stages (Photo by Peugeot Sport) |
SS 2
Marcus Gronholm was again fastest on the 20 km stage 2. Burns was
second fastest with a 1.2 secs slower time and continued to chase the
leading Finn 2.1 secs behind. Rovanpera is third, followed by Didier Auriol,
Sebastian Lindholm, and Tommi Makinen with close margins. Ford's Carlos
Sainz had to stop on the stage to replace a faulty computer box and lost
more than five minutes.
SS 3
Stage three followed the same plot as the opening stages, Gronholm
was fastest and Burns close behind. Their overall difference was 3.7 secs.
Rovanpera, still third, was 9.2 secs behind the leader. Tommi Makinen
moved into the 4th spot, 16 secs behind, with Norwegian Ford driver Petter
Solberg 5th, 0.8 secs behind Makinen. The margins, as always in Finland,
were close; Juha Kankkunen, who suffered from punctures on the opening
stages, in 11th position was only 23 secs behind the leader.
SS 4
Gronholm continued his domination on stage 4 beating Burns by 3.4
secs. Francois Delecour, who is driving the third Peugeot and not competing
for manufacturer points surprised everyone by sharing the second fastest
time with Richard Burns. The leading trio seems was edging away from the
rest of the top contenders as Petter Solberg, who got past Tommi Makinen
into 4th place, was already 22 secs behind Gronholm. Stage 4, as stages
5 and 6, were new to all the drivers.
SS 5
Carlos Sainz was second fastest on stage 5, being 9 tenths slower
than stage winner Gronholm. Sainz is still far behind in the result sheets
after his problems on SS 2. Tommi Makinen was struggling with too soft
a tyre compound and lost some time and one more position to Colin McRae.
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| Stage 6 was won by Richard Burns (Photo by SWRT) |
SS 6
Stage 6 was the first stage not won by Marcus Gronholm, as Richard
Burns was fastest. McRae was second 0.3 secs behind Burns and Gronholm
third, 2.5 secs behind. McRae took the 4th place from Solberg in the overall
situation. Burns was now 6.3 secs behind Gronholm and Rovanpera had dropped
already to 19.7 secs, only 5 secs in front of McRae. Didier Auriol was
struggling with the handling of the Seat and had an off losing 50 secs.
SS 7
The 8.4 kilometre stage 7 saw extremely close racing. Five drivers
finished within one second. Burns was again fastest, but Gronholm was
only 0.6 secs slower. He was 4th, as Solberg and Rovanpera posted a time
only 0.4 secs slower than Burns. Needless to say, the stage didn't make
much of a difference in the overall situation.
SS 8
Marcus Gronholm took the honours on stage 8 by driving 1.5 secs faster
than Burns. Juha Kankkunen was third fastest on the stage driven near
his home, and jumped from 8th to 5th position. The time gaps behind the
two leaders were surprisingly large at such an early stage in the rally.
Petter Solberg crashed and rolled spectacularly ending up the rear of
the Ford parked firmly in a lake. The crew was unhurt but their rally,
which had started so well, was over.
SS 9
It was Burns' turn to be fastest on stage 9. Gronholm was 2nd, one
sec behind, and Rovanpera 3rd. Still third in the rally, the private Toyota
driver held off Colin McRae's attack nicely by staying eight seconds in
front of the Scotsman. Stage 9 was good for the Toyotas as Estonian driver
Markko Martin was third quickest with his Corolla. With his great time
Martin was closing on Delecour in 8th position.
SS 10
Stage 10 was a super special driven on a horse trotting track. Two
cars that started from the opposite sides of the oval track ran at the
same time for two laps. This oval racing on gravel was quite far from
stage rallying but surely entertaining for the crowds. The 2.2 km sprint
didn't bring major changes; Tommi Makinen, who hadn't been very happy
with the performance of the new version of his Mitsubishi Lancer on the
first leg, and Richard Burns were fastest with an equal time. Burns cut
Gronholm's overnight lead to 4.9 secs, while Makinen is only 2.4 secs
behind 5th placed Juha Kankkunen. Sebastian Lindholm in 7th with the Peugeot
is 2.1 secs behind Makinen, so the Finns have a good fight going on.
Results after stage 10 of 23:
1. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot - 1.03.22,4
2. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +4,9
3. Harri Rovanperä (FIN) Toyota +25,5
4. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +33,3
5. Juha Kankkunen (FIN) Subaru +42,8
6. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +45,2
7. Sebastian Lindholm (FIN) Peugeot +47,3
8. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +53,9
9. Markko Märtin (EST) Toyota +1.00,0
10. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Seat +1.15,0
