Rally Portugal 2001
LEG ONE
Rally Portugal, usually driven in nice Portuguese spring weather on dusty gravel roads had a totally different feel to it this year. Continuous rains prior to the event had turned the roads into muddy tracks and the drivers expected very difficult conditions on stages.
A hint of what was to come was experienced on the opening super special Thursday evening. The super special, driven on what usually is a rallycross track, turned into a mudbath, which beared very little resemblance to World rallying. Fastest through the mud pit was Tommi Makinen, and the time differences were quite large for such a short sprint.
The first proper stage of the rally, SS 2 was won by the Swedish Rally winner, Harri Rovanpera who took an early lead in the event. Carlos Sainz was second and Tommi Makinen third. The Skodas, usually known for their reliability, faced a disaster in Portugal. Bruno Thiry retired with electrics problems already after the super special on the previous night, and Armin Schwarz managed to get going in the morning but failed to start SS 2 as the clutch in his Octavia broke.
On the following stage Tommi Makinen fought back, posting the fastest time. Rovanpera still held the lead, but on stage 4 Makinen made a staggering time, leaving everyone else almost half a minute behind. Makinen has always been fast on the Fafe stages, and this time he got the better of the conditions, too. Rovanpera was now second with Sainz hanging in third, already 46 secs behind the Mitsubishi driver. Then came Marcus Gronholm and Freddy Loix, who was after just 4 stages a whopping two minutes behind his leading team-mate.
Carlos Sainz was fastest on stage 5, despite complaining about the conditions on the stage. Makinen was still firmly in the lead, while Richard Burns passed Loix into 5th place. The Fafe stage was supposed to be run again as SS 6 but some of the later runners had got stuck on the muddy stage and blocked the road, so the stage was cancelled. Stage 7 was also cancelled on safety grounds; the conditions had turned so bad on the first run of the stage.
The conditions clearly favoured the first cars on the road, and for example Colin McRae, running 10th on the road demanded that the event should be cancelled altogether becaus it's unfair for the later runners. McRae didn't have to worry no more after SS 8, though, as the engine of his Ford Focus blew within sight from the stage finish and the Scot was out of the event. Also Petter Solberg with one of the Subarus had problems on the stage and stopped with a broken steering. Makinen lost most of his lead to Harri Rovanpera, who was now only 5 secs behind the four time champion.
Harri Rovanpera had problems on stage 9, as the radiator temperature rose on his Peugeot. He managed to continue to the service after emptying his drinks bottle into the radiator. He received a ten second penalty for leaving the service late and dropped to third place behind the winner of SS 9, Carlos Sainz. The Lousada super special, or the Lousada mud pit, ended the day again. Sainz edged a little closer to Makinen and starts the second leg 17.4 secs behind the leader. The leading trio seem to be in a class of their own, as fourth placed Marcus Gronholm is more than a minute behind.
Situation after stage 10 of 22:
1. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi - 1.27.34,8
2. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +17,4
3. Harri Rovanperä (FIN) Peugeot +26,3
4. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot +1.18,8
5. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +2.12,2
6. Freddy Loix (BEL) Mitsubishi +3.06,3
7. Francois Delecour (FRA) Ford +3.29,9
8. Markko Märtin (EST) Subaru +4.40,9
9. Kenneth Eriksson (SWE) Hyundai +5.14,1
10. Alister McRae (SCO) Hyundai +5.53,0
