Swedish Rally 2000
LEG THREE
The reigning world champion Tommi Makinen won the first two stages (SS16 and SS17) of the final day of the Swedish Rally and cut Marcus Gronholm's lead to 19.8 secs. Makinen had pulled a gap of 12 secs to McRae, who was battling hard to keep Radstrom and Burns behind.
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| Winner Marcus Gronholm in the Peugeot 206 WRC |
Radstrom was fastest on SS18 and he was just 0.3 secs behind McRae. On SS 19 the Swede moved in front of McRae by 0.4 secs. Makinen was faster than Gronholm all through the final day, before the last stage the difference was 15.9 secs. On the final stage Makinen was 9 seconds faster, but that wasn't enough to take away the victory from Marcus Gronholm and Peugeot. Gronholm took his first WRC win by 6.8 seconds after dominating the extremely fast and competitive rally from the second stage. It was also Peugeot's first victory with the new 206.
Colin McRae won the final stage beating Radstrom by 1,6 seconds and took the third place with a margin of 1.2 secs. Richard Burns couldn't match the speed of the drivers in front of him on the final stages and finished 5th, 35 secs behind the winner. His team-mate Juha Kankkunen finished in a secure 6th position and Francois Delecour brought another manufacturers' point to Peugeot with his 7th place as Radstrom's Toyota doesn't compete in the manufacturer's championship.
Didier Auriol, Markko Martin and Freddy Loix diced all through the final day for the 8th position, which was finally taken by Loix. Markko Martin finished 9th after a great rally by the Estonian privateer, in front of the fastest works-Seat driven by Didier Auriol. Hyundai's first event with theWRC cars didn't go without problems, but at times the Korean manufacturer showed some good speed. Kenneth Eriksson and Alister McRae finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
Results of the Swedish Rally:
1. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot - 3.20.33,3
2. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +6,8
3. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +27,8
4. Thomas Rådström (SWE) Toyota +14,9
5. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +35,0
6. Juha Kankkunen (FIN) Subaru +2.47,6
7. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot +3.31,9
8. Freddy Loix (BEL) Mitsubishi +5.08,3
9. Markko Märtin (EST) Toyota +5.14,0
10. Didier Auriol (FRA) Seat +5.15,9
