Finland Stage Notes - Final

Unofficial final results:

1 Mäkinen/Mannisenmäki        Mit. Lancer V                3:16:56,1
2 Sainz/Moya                Toyota Corolla WRC        3:17:31,7
3 Kankkunen/Repo        Ford Escort WRC          3:17:41,3
4 Auriol/Giraudet        Toyota Corolla WRC        3:19:25,3
5 Burns/Reid                Mit Carisma GT            3:19:52,9
6 Rådström/Barth        Toyota Corolla WRC        3:20:07,0
7 Grönholm/Rautiainen        Toyota Corolla WRC        3:21:02,0
8 Kytölehto/Kapanen        Subaru Impreza 555        3:23:46,4
9 Hagström/Gardemeister        Toyota Celica GT4        3:28:11,4
10 Thiry/Prevot                Ford Escort WRC                3:30:05,5

Formula 2:

1  McRae/Senior                   VW Golf                3:39:45,6
2  Gardemeister/Lukander   Seat Ibiza                3:40:05,4
3  Higgins/Mills           Nissan Almera         3:41:27,5

Group N:

1  Trelles/Christie                Mit Lancer V                3:41:45,7        
2  Climent/Romani                Mit Lancer V                3:46:50,5
3  Walfridsson/Mattsson         Mit Lancer IV                3:50:10,0

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Headlines - Tommi Makinen becomes the first driver in the history of the World Championship to win an event five times in a row. - Grönholm: `We’ll continue making best times as we had some bad luck yesterday, and want to show we can go fast." He is fast and he won 5 of the days 6 stages! - Burns: `That was bloody quick.' He reached 209kph on SS22 - Vatanen retired with engine problems - Wayne Bell (Hyundai) also retired with engine problems - Gomez (Seat WRC) crashed and retired due to damaged wheel - Jokinen (2nd Grp N) retires after a roll - In the spirit of rallying: car 107 Godwin `The exhaust manifold today is being held on by one bolt and a pair of French mole grips. I must say the mole grips are working very well.´

Weather: - dry, some fog in early morning.

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Stage Details:

Leg 3, Sunday 23rd August

Start   07:00   Start from Laajavuori
SS 19   07:51   Ruuhimäki II      7,34
SS 20   08:49   Hauhanpohja      11,34
SS 21   10:07   Lempää I         28,47
SS 22   10:57   Ylemmäinen I     11,91
SS 23   12:45   Lempää II        28,47
SS 24   13:35   Ylemmäinen II    11,91
End     16:10   Arrival in Jyvaskyla

Total Kms Leg 3: 99,44

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Stage Winners:

SS19 - Burns, SS20 - Grönholm, SS21 - Grönholm, SS22 - Grönholm, SS23 - Grönholm, SS24 - Grönholm

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SS 19, Ruuhimäki II 7,34km

Notes: - A.McRae Left parc ferme this morning to find that the power steering had failed. He wasn’t sure if there was time to fix it before the first stage of the day. - Burns Fastest on SS19: `There was a bit of fog, which is quite like home. I got some "big air" on the last jump, but the car’s fine. It was good for me as I’ve been through this stage already on the first day. Now it’s new stages all the way.´ - Vatanen The engine died at the Stop Control for the first stage but started again after a few frantic moments. `It’s OK. When the engine’s hot it’s always difficult to start. There isn’t an electrical fault.´

Stage Pos/ Driver/ Car/ Stage Time:

1 Burns/Reid                        Mit Carisma GT          3:52,9
2 Auriol/Giraudet                Toyota Corolla WRC        3:53,1
3 Grönholm/Rautiainen           Toyota Corolla WRC        3:53,8
4 Sainz/Moya                        Toyota Corolla WRC        3:54,1
5 Kankkunen/Repo                Ford Escort WRC         3:54,2

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SS 20, Hauhanpohja 11,34km

Notes: - Rovanperä Broke front shock absorber losing over 20 seconds. The team will change it at the next service after SS20. - Mäkinen At the end of SS20: `This stage is always bad for me. I was driving very carefully but it’ll be allright on the next stage.´ - Burns `That was really good. I slid wide a couple of times, and the camber of the road is very heavy in places. But I’m very happy with my times, and the important thing is to keep Thomas (Rådström) behind. ’ - Rådström At the end of SS20 (Hauhanpohja): `It’s not possible for us to catch Richard (Burns). The roads are not suitable for the Corolla.´ - Grönholm Fastest on SS20: `We’ll continue making best times as we had some bad luck yesterday, and want to show we can go fast. The roads seem fine for our Corolla.´ - Vatanen `I’m still looking for the right rhythm.´ - Burns: `That was bloody quick. I had 209km/h on that stage. The car is working well.´

Stage Pos/ Driver/ Car/ Stage Time:

1 Grönholm/Rautiainen        Toyota Corolla WRC        5:44,5
2 Kankkunen/Repo        Ford Escort WRC         5:44,9
3 Burns/Reid                Mit Carisma GT          5:46,1
4 Mäkinen/Mannisenmäki        Mit. Lancer V                5:47,1
5 Kytölehto/Kapanen        Subaru Impreza 555        5:47,3

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SS 21, Lempää I 28,47km

Notes: - Vatanen Co-driver Fred Gallagher said: `After a heavy landing on SS20 (Hauhanpohja) the OK/SOS board fell down between me and Ari. I could see the OK side, Ari had the SOS. Perhaps that’s a message for us - Jokinen Second in GpN: `Just after the start of SS20 I heard a noise when I changed gear, and it disturbed my concentration. We went wide and rolled in a big way. The spectators couldn’t believe we wanted to continue, and we lost two minutes before they started to get us back on the road. We lost four minutes in all. At the moment I’m most concerned about the transmission. The cosmetics can be fixed at service.´ - Gomez Crashed 2kms into SS21 And damaged the suspension. Continued for a further 4kms until the wheel broke off completely and retired. - Higgins `I knocked the ignition switch on SS19 and killed the engine. We’ll try to stay close to Gardemeister and McRae, and if we have to push harder to improve our position then we will.’ - Bell, Engine died and they are out of the rally.

Stage Pos/ Driver/ Car/ Stage Time:

1 Grönholm/Rautiainen        Toyota Corolla WRC        13:45,3
2 Kankkunen/Repo        Ford Escort WRC         13:50,2
3 Sainz/Moya                Toyota Corolla WRC        13:51,5
4 Auriol/Giraudet        Toyota Corolla WRC        13:52,7
5 Mäkinen/Mannisenmäki        Mit. Lancer V                13:55,6

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SS 22, Ylemmäinen I 11,91km

Notes: - Kankkunen At finish of SS22 (Ylemmäinen) Juha threw his helmet and balaclava into the back of the car and kept the window up. Even over the sound of the engine, onlookers could hear five-letter Finnish words, despite Juha setting second best time. - Mäkinen `We wrote the notes for a corner as left, but the road actually went right (SS22). Luckily the corner held no surprises, so it wasn’t a problem, just funny.´ - Burns `SS22 was very difficult and narrow and there were lots of rocks by the side of the road. I couldn’t remember any of it from the recce.´ - Jokinen After his roll on SS20, they repaired the broken windscreen from his Mitsubishi Lancer with one from the #118 Ford Ka crew. Stopped on SS22 and worked on the engine. Eventually got to the end of the stage, losing 11 minutes. - Trelles At Service Park Josemora: `We have an engine problem. One piston has gone. We will continue, but I don’t know how far we will make it.´ - A.McRae `The power steering was repaired at the first service, and we got out just one second before we got lateness, so it was close.´ - Gardemeister `The car is only bad looking, it works fine. Still we’ll drive at 80% as it will not be possible to catch Alister. It is important that we collect championship points.´ - Rovanperä `There is something wrong with the computer, and the engine stalled once and the warning lights are flashing like a Christmas tree. We had a right front puncture in SS21 (Lempää 1), but we didn’t lose much time.´ - car 107 Godwin `The exhaust manifold today is being held on by one bolt and a pair of French mole grips. I must say the mole grips are working very well.´ - Vatanen Limped to the end of SS22 with smoke pouring from the car, and an engine temperature of 130 degrees. The engine died and refused to restart. He was pushed out of the Time Control and is out of the rally.

Stage Pos/ Driver/ Car/ Stage Time:

1 Grönholm/Rautiainen        Toyota Corolla WRC        6:25,2
2 Mäkinen/Mannisenmäki        Mit. Lancer V                6:27,2
3 Kankkunen/Repo        Ford Escort WRC         6:28,3
4 Sainz/Moya                Toyota Corolla WRC        6:29,3
5 Auriol/Giraudet        Toyota Corolla WRC        6:31,1

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SS 23, Lempää II 28,47km

Notes: - Mäkinen At Service Park Josemora co-driver Mannisenmäki said: `There are still two stages to go, and we hope that we can win. The atmosphere in the car is very relaxed.´ If Tommi wins he will be the first driver in the history of the World Championship to win an event five times in a row. Commenting on this Mannisenmäki said: `This is not so much about history books, it’s about taking maximum points for the championship.´ - A McRae Clipped a rock on SS22 (Ylemmäinen) but no damage to the wheel or tyre, and didn´t lose any time. `We’re still battling. It isn’t over yet. We should be OK, we have 31 seconds to Toni. We started the day on narrow tyres, but switched to wider ones later. The car now feels much better.´ - Gardemeister At Service Park Josemora co-driver Paavo Lukander went over to Alister McRae and said: `In the next stage put your right indicator on. We’re coming!´ - Higgins `We altered the suspension and increased the rev limit and the car feels so much better, as you can see from the times.´ - Trelles Now has to put two litres of oil into the car before the start of each stage. - Rovanperä At Service Park Josemora: `The car feels much better now. We changed the shock absorbers. We’ve driven the car for three days now, which is important for the development. We’re getting a better feeling for the car.´ - Thiry `I am much more confident today now that it’s dry, and this shows in my times. I am quite close to Juha (Kankkunen) on some stages.´ - Rådström `To beat Richard with only two stages to go is impossible. It would be stupid to risk something this close to the finish. Yesterday was much better for me.´

Stage Pos/ Driver/ Car/ Stage Time:

1 Grönholm/Rautiainen           Toyota Corolla WRC        13:45,1
2 Mäkinen/Mannisenmäki                Mit. Lancer V                13:49,3
3 Auriol/Giraudet                Toyota Corolla WRC        13:50,0
4 Sainz/Moya                        Toyota Corolla WRC        13:50,5
5 Kankkunen/Repo                Ford Escort WRC         13:50,9

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SS 24, Ylemmäinen II 11,91km

Notes:

Stage Pos/ Driver/ Car/ Stage Time:

1 Grönholm/Rautiainen        Toyota Corolla WRC        6:20,8
2 Rådström/Barth        Toyota Corolla WRC        6:25,8
3 Mäkinen/Mannisenmäki        Mit. Lancer V                6:26,0
3 Kankkunen/Repo        Ford Escort WRC         6:26,0
5 Sainz/Moya                Toyota Corolla WRC        6:27,8

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