Rally Australia 2000
Leg Two
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| Burns on the move (Photo by SWRT) |
Richard Burns took the lead of Rally Australia on the first stage of the second leg (SS 11) and continued charging on the following stages. After stage 13 he had a lead of 29 secs over team-mate Juha Kankkunen, the overnight leader. Tommi Makinen was third and Marcus Gronholm 4th.
Gronholm was fastest on stages 14 and 15, as the silly draw for the starting places for the final leg seemed to start again. On stage 15 Burns, apparently having no problems, was 30 secs slower than the Peugeot driver. Again, the final forest stage, SS16 decided the running order for the final leg. Juha Kankkunen had an off on the stage and was forced to retire from the rally.
There were now only three front runners left. Tommi Makinen, winning SS 16, came off worst in the draw, having to start as the road sweeper on Sunday, or so it seemed at the moment. Marcus Gronholm was second, only 3.7 secs behind Makinen, and Burns third, 7.3 secs behind. A mighty battle was expected to be seen on the four stages of the final leg between the remaining title contenders Burns and Gronholm.
The Langley Park super special ended the day once again.The gaps within the top three became even smaller there. Fourth in the rally was Francois Delecour and 5th Kenneth Eriksson, whose rally was going very well with the Hyundai, although the margins to the front would be larger had the top drivers not played their game with the tactics.
Things got even more complicated as the stewards imposed a ten second penalty to Tommi Makinen for jump starting on SS 16. Whether the jump start was an accident or a clever way to play the game, we don't know, but it meant that Gronholm was now the road sweeper on the final leg and Burns second.
Situation after stage 17 of 21:
1. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot - 2.49.41,1
2. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +2,6
3. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +8.4
4. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +38,3
5. Kenneth Eriksson (SWE) Hyundai +55,7
6. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Seat +1.18,3
7. Tapio Laukkanen (FIN) Ford +1.35,3
8. Possum Bourne (NZL) Subaru +2.13,7
