Cyprus Rally 2001

Leg One

Hot, dusty, twisty and rough. That's what the Cyprus Rally, the slowest rally on the WRC calendar, is all about. The first leg of the rally consisted of 6 stages, covering 40% of the stage kilometers of the whole rally. Subaru's Petter Solberg posted the fastest time on stage 1, but it was Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm who took control of the events on the first day. The tough conditions and slippery gravel roads started to take their toll immediately. On SS 2 Harri Rovanpera hit a rock and his rally with Peugeot was over. Tommi Makinen slid off the road on SS 4, and he, too, became a spectator.

Marcus Gronholm's lead was threatened on the evening stages by Richard Burns, but at the end of the day Gronholm was still in the lead, having to start the second leg as the first car on the road, once again a difficult position because of the loose gravel on the road surface. The first leg already showed how the roads were faster for the later runners, as there were some unusual names in the top of the result sheets all through the day. Hyundai's Kenneth Eriksson was in top three on the early stages, and Francois Delecour won the two final stages of the day and started the second leg in third place, 11 secs behind leader Gronholm. Colin McRae was 5th, 14 secs behind, and Freddy Loix 5th. Carlos Sainz in 6th had suspension problems. Petter Solberg's Subaru caught fire on SS 6 and was totally destroyed, also setting the forest around it in fire.

Leg Two

Richard Burns moved into the lead of the rally on the first stage of the second leg (SS 7). Overnight leader Gronholm suffered from having to plow the road as the first car, and on the four morning stages he dropped to 4th place. Colin McRae took the second position, and after SS 10 he was only 2 secs behind Burns. Delecour hung in third place, and Gronholm in 4th was 14.4 secs behind the leader. Carlos Sainz was charging and had already cut the margin of more than a minute to 47 secs on SS 10.

The same four stages were run again in the afternoon, so there were no more problems of loose gravel for the front runner. This didn't seem to help Gronholm, though, as he continued to drop slowly, while Burns and McRae were really battling for the lead. Gronholm complained that his Michelin tires weren't as durable as the Pirellis of Subaru and Ford. Francois Delecour, whose rally had been going very well indeed, retired after stage 11 with an engine failure. On SS 12 McRae passed burns taking the lead by 3.8 seconds. On the final stage of the day (SS 15) McRae made a tactical move letting Burns by to start as the first car on the final leg. The tactics also helped Gronholm as the front cars tried to outslow each other, he closed on them and started the final day 18 secs behind the leader. Carlos Sainz was already breathing hard on Gronholm's neck, he was now 24 secs behind leader Burns.

Leg Three

Colin McRae started the final leg of eight stages three seconds adrift from Burns, closed the gap to two secs on the first stage of the day (SS 16) and taking back the lead on the following stage by 3.8 secs. On SS 18 McRae extended his lead to almost fifteen seconds. Gronholm was fighting hard with Sainz over third place, until his Peugeot stopped on the road section after SS 18 with no fuel pressure. After Gronholm's retirement, there were no major dramas on the final stages, and Colin McRae took his second win in a row with a margin of 16.4 secs. Carlos Sainz was third and Subaru's Toshihiro Arai 4th, a massive 5 minutes and 38 secs behind the winner. The private teams' cup was won by Pasi Hagstrom, who also scored his first championship point by finishing 6th with his Toyota.

The top three in championship points is closing up, with Carlos Sainz only one point behind Tommi Makinen, who still leads the table.

Results of Cyprus Rally:

1. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford - 5.07.32,7
2. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +16,4
3. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +26,5
4. Toshihiko Arai (JPN) Subaru +5.38,3
5. Freddy Loix (BEL) Mitsubishi +6.10,2
6. Pasi Hagström (FIN) Toyota +9.32,5
7. Alister McRae (SCO) Hyundai +10.35,6
8. Bruno Thiry (BEL) Skoda +11.38,0
9. Armin Schwarz (GER) Skoda
10. Abdullah Bakhasgab (UAE) Toyota
11. Gustavo Trelles (ROU) Mitsubishi N
12. Manfred Stohl (AUT) Mitsubihsi N