Swedish Rally 2001
LEG
TWO
6 stages
Stage 7
 |
| Tommi Makinen / Risto Mannisenmaki. (Photo by Mitsubishi Motors) |
Carlos Sainz extended his lead on the first stage of the second day to 14.8 seconds over Harri Rovanpera. Fastest on the stage was Tommi Makinen, who no longer had to plough the road as the first car.
Stage 8
It was now Carlos Sainz who suffered from running as the first car
on the road. Apart from having to clear the loose snow he reported, as
Makinen on the previous leg, spectators on the road who because of the
snow banks couldn't hear the first car coming. This resulted in several
dangerous situations and Sainz having to slow down. Harri Rovanpera was
now really breathing on Sainz' neck, he was only 0.3 secs behind the Spaniard.
Tommi Makinen also kept on closing to the top three and was now 2 secs
behind the third placed Thomas Radstrom.
Stage 9
The 9th stage saw a change in the leaderboard as Peugeot's Harri
Rovanpera took the lead and Tommi Makinen flew past Radstrom and Sainz
into the 2nd spot. Sainz dropped to 4th, 9.5 secs behind the leader. 5th
in the rally was, quite surprisingly, Francois Delecour with the Ford
Focus, who is known to perform well mainly on asphalt surfaces. He was
more than a minute behind the leaders, though.
Stage 10
Harri Rovanpera kept his lead on SS 10, while Mitsubishi drivers
Radstrom and Makinen were fighting it out behind him. Radtsrom took the
second position, 7.7 secs behind Rovanpera and 2 secs in front of his
team-mate. Sainz was still dropping, he was 17 secs behind the leader.
Stage 11
The fastest man of the rally had all through the morning been Colin
McRae, who after his off on SS 3 was no longer in contention with the
lead. SS 11 was, however, won by Tommi Makinen, thus again moving past
Radstrom into the second place. Rovanpera's lead shrunk into 5.8 secs.
Kenneth Eriksson, who had been fighting for the 5th position with Didier
Auriol and Francois Delecour, dropped with transmission problems.
Stage 12
The day ended with the two kilometre Lugnet super special. Rally
leader Harri Rovanpera was fastest there and starts the final day in a
lead of 7.3 secs. Tommi Makinen will challenge his fellow countryman from
the second place and third, 5.1 secs behind Makinen is Thomas Radstrom.
Carlos Sainz also has chances to catch up the 28 secs he lost as he will
run in an ideal slot as the fourth car on the road.
Situation after stage 12 of 17:
1. Harri Rovanperä (FIN) Peugeot - 2.33.09,9
2. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +7,3
3. Thomas Rådström (SWE) Mitsubishi +12,4
4. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford 28,5
5. Francois Delecour (FRA) Ford +1.22,0
6. Didier Auriol (FRA) Peugeot +1.28,6
7. Petter Solberg (NOR) Subaru +1.34,1
8. Toni Gardemeister (FIN) Peugeot +2.00,7
9. Daniel Carlsson (SWE) Toyota +2.56,5
10. Kenneth Eriksson (SWE) Hyundai +3.14,2
11. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +3.59,4
12. Bruno Thiry (BEL) Skoda +4.00,1
