San Remo Rally 2000
Leg One
With three rounds to go, the points situation in the World Rally Championship prior to the final tarmac event of the season was as tight as ever. On top of the championship table four drivers are within five points, so it's still anyone's game.
On the first stage of the rally fastest was Subaru's Richard Burns, who was followed by the three Peugeots of Gilles Panizzi, Marcus Gronholm and Francois Delecour. Panizzi took the lead on stage two with a margin of 3.7 secs to Burns. Marcus Gronholm was up to speed from the word go, as he had previous experience on the Italian event unlike on the previous round in Corsica. The championship leader was third after two stages.
Francois Delecour posted the fastest time on SS3 and moved to third spot, ten secs behind leader Panizzi. On the following stage Panizzi extended his lead over Burns to 12 seconds, while Delecour was now only two secs behind the Brit.
Delecour was again fastest on SS5 and took the second place by 0.3 secs. Ford's Piero Liatti was going well on his home turf and rose to past Gronholm to 4th. Gronholm was being chased hard now by Carlos Sainz who was only one tenth of a second behind. 7th in the rally was Tommi Makinen who had Subaru's Simon Jean Joseph on his heels.
There are three stages to go today. They, as the stages of leg 2, will be reported tomorrow.
Situation after stage 5 of 17
1. Gilles Panizzi (FRA) Peugeot - 1.00.22,1
2. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +11,4
3. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +11,7
4. Piero Liatti (ITA) Ford +27,1
5. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot +30,2
6. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +30,3
7. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +30,5
8. Simon Jean-Joseph (FRA) Subaru +35,8
9. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +42,2
