Rally Portugal 2000
LEG TWO
Marcus Gronholm now had the task of sweeping the road from the slippery loose dust as the first car on the road. On leg one this had cost tens of seconds for Tommi Makinen prior to his retirement. As expected, Richard Burns started a mighty charge right from the morning. On the first stage of the day, SS12, Burns was 19 seconds faster than Gronholm and moved into second position in front of Sainz. On SS13 Burns was again fastest and cut Gronholm's margin to 16 secs. After SS14 the gap is 11.4 seconds.
Sainz was still third, almost 40 secs behind the leader. Behind Sainz, Petter Solberg made good progress first by passing Auriol as the Frenchman dropped with problems and then taking the 4th spot from Harri Rovanpera on SS14. As Auriol dropped, Delecour took the final points scoring position. Hyundai's Kenneth Eriksson retired with clutch failure, but showed the potential of the new Hyundai Accent WRC by keeping up with the leading teams until the problems.
Burns continued to eat away Gronholm's advantage stage by stage. After stage 15 the margin was 6.6 secs, after stage 16 1.2 secs, and finally on SS17 Burns was 11.2 secs faster and took the lead by ten seconds. Solberg was fighting with Rovanperä to keep his 4th spot. On SS18 Burns was one second faster than Gronholm. Solberg spun and Rovanpera moved into 4th.
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| Gronholm stroke back in the evening (Photo by Peugeot Sport) |
On SS19 Gronholm's disadvantage of driving first on the road became an advantage. The rally timetable was running an hour late, and dusk was falling. This meant that Burns suffered fom the dust that was left hanging in the air by Gronholm's Peugeot and the Brit had to slow down in places to keep it on the road. Gronholm was 14.6 secs faster and in the lead again. Petter Solberg regrettably retired from the event that was going so well for him with a clutch failure.
On the final stage of the day Gronholm was again fastest and starts the final leg of three stages in a lead of 14.6 seconds. Sainz broke the steering rod on SS20 but remained in third place.
Situation after stage 20 of 23:
1. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot - 3.50.29,4
2. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +14,6
3. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +1.38,2
4. Harri Rovanperä (FIN) Toyota +2.06,7
5. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +3.00,0
6. Markko Märtin (EST) Toyota +5.07,
7. Freddy Loix (BEL) Mitsubishi +6.07,2
8. Armin Schwarz (GER) Skoda
9. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Seat
10. Didier Auriol (FRA) Seat +11.02,9
11. Adruzilio Lopes (POR) Toyota +12.03,1
