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PETTER
SOLBERG and Welshman Phil Mills have taken their first
WRC victory on the Rally of Great Britain!
After
Marcus Gronholm's demise on the second leg, the pair were
locked in battle with Ford's Markko Martin and Michael Park.
Fastest time on leg three's opening stage, Resolfen, catapulted
Solberg and Mills into the lead with a 20 second cushion between
themselves and Martin. Despite the Ford duo fighting back
on the following stage, Solberg was fastest on both runs through
Margam to take the win by 24.4 seconds.
Markko
Martin and Michael Park finish second ahead of Carlos Sainz
and Luis Moya in third. Tommi Makinen and Kaj Lindstrom held
on to fourth ahead of Colin McRae and Derek Ringer while privateer
Mark Higgins and Bryan Thomas secured an excellent sixth position.
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1
|
Petter
Solberg / Phil Mills |
Subaru
Impreza WRC |
3hrs
30mins 36.4secs |
|
2
|
Markko
Martin / Michael Park |
Ford
Focus WRC |
3hrs
31mins 00.8secs |
|
3
|
Carlos
Sainz / Luis Moya |
Ford
Focus WRC |
3hrs
32mins 12.1secs |
|
4
|
Tommi
Makinen / Kaj Lindstrom |
Subaru
Impreza WRC |
3hrs
33mins 13.9secs |
|
5
|
Colin
McRae / Nicky Grist |
Ford
Focus WRC |
3hrs
33mins 37.9secs |
|
6
|
Mark
Higgins / Bryan Thomas |
Ford
Focus WRC |
3hrs
35mins 38.3secs |
|
7
|
Harri
Rovanpera / Risto Pietilainen |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
3hrs
35mins 52.2secs |
|
8
|
Freddy
Loix / Sven Smeets |
Hyundai
Accent WRC |
3hrs
35mins 52.3secs |
|
9
|
Juha
Kankkunen / Juha Repo |
Hyundai
Accent WRC |
3hrs
36mins 05.5secs |
|
10
|
Toni
Gardemeister / Paavo Lukander |
Skoda
Octavia WRC |
3hrs
36mins 39.3secs |
- Colin
McRae missed a junction and had to be pushed back
onto the road on stage two. He lost just over 70 seconds.
- Justin
Dale rolled on stage two but was able to reach the
end of the stage. It was later discovered that the
rollcage had been badly damaged and Dale retired.
- Valentino
Rossi retired on stage two after sliding off the road.
No damage was done to the car but he couldn't get
it back on the road.
- Stephen
Harron retired with mechanical problems on stage three.
- Richard
Burns lost almost 100 seconds on stage three after
he went off the road.
- Stage
four was cancelled due to overcrowding of spectators.
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- Thomas
Radstrom retired with engine failure on stage eight.
- An
overhanging tree branch on stage nine smashed the
windscreens of many of the leading crews including
Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz.
- Marcus
Gronholm rolled out of the event on stage ten.
- Jani
Paasonen rolled out of the event on stage ten at the
same place as Marcus Gronholm.
- Francois
Delecour went off the road and retired on stage ten
after a late pacenote.
- Stage
ten was stopped after only 32 cars had started the
stage. This was due to a number of competitors going
off the road.
- Harri
Rovanpera lost time over stages ten and eleven with
a broken front wheel bearing.
- Colin
McRae lost time with a spin on stage 13.
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- Sebastien
Loeb retired on stage 16.
- Harri
Rovanpera lost time on stage 16 with hydraulic problems.
- Richard
Burns retired when he went off the road on stage 16.
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