Safari Rally 2000
Saturday 26 February
COMMUNIQUE 3

TREACHEROUS CONDITIONS CLAIM FREDDY LOIX
BUT MITSUBISHI STILL LEADS GROUP N

During the second leg of the Safari Rally - the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship - the crews were faced with a mammoth 1193 kilometre journey and 15 hours of driving as the four competitive sections took them to the north of Nairobi and into both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Searing temperatures topping 38 degrees and dry, rock-strewn open roads took their toll and there was little respite for the crews during a gruelling leg that covered the length of a traditional three-day rally.

Few of the World Championship campaigners escaped the day unscathed, but Subaru drivers Richard Burns and Juha Kankkunen maintained their 1-2 positions and fared better than most. After yesterday’s drama-filled afternoon, both Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz moved up the leaderboard, the Spaniard powering his Focus up the order from an overnight tenth position to fourth. Team-mate McRae was as high as third but was forced onto the sidelines in the final section when the engine failed to re-start after a river crossing. Swedish Rally winner Marcus Gronholm also retired in the final test, a broken clutch and power-steering failure halting his assault. Following the retirement of four-times World Champion Tommi Makinen, team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets led the Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart assault in eighth position this morning. However, the Belgians experienced their own problems when they were unable to start the car at the beginning of competitive section 5. Picking up an 8 minute penalty as they battled to jump-start the Carisma GT on the rough and rocky terrain, the Belgians went on to post sixth fastest time and drop only one position.

Worse was to come however as the extremely rough conditions took their toll in competitive section 7. After breaking the left rear shock absorber, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart decided to retire Freddy and the Carisma GT. Although the Belgians could have picked their way through the inhospitable terrain, the remaining 65 kilometres of the test would have caused further unnecessary damage with little to gain.

"I was taking the stage steady, but after five or six kilometres we heard a noise from the shock absorber", said Freddy. We were in a bad part of the stage, slowed down, but then the shock absorber broke. We stopped to have a look, but there was no chance to carry on. I am disappointed because I have had some good finishes recently and I like the Safari, but you need luck here and we have definitely missed out".

In the Group N production class, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Claudio Menzi, in his first rally outside his homeland, continues to lead and now has an 11 minute advantage over Subaru driver Roberto Sanchez. The Argentinean, who has experienced only minor problems today, is delighted with his current position.

"It is a really hard rally, almost too hard", he said. It is tougher than we expected and we are going gently, as Martin Christie - our ’manager’ - told us to. He said that if we were careful we could expect to be in the top three in Group N - this is even better"!

Behind Sanchez, Austria’s Manfred Stohl holds third in the category, the three rivals bunched together and holding overall ninth, 10th and 11th positions respectively.

The third and final leg of the 2000 Safari Rally starts on the outskirts of Nairobi at 05:00 hrs (GMT+3) on Sunday. The four competitive sections are a repetition of those run on the opening day and, judging by the carnage they created, will undoubtedly provide a thrilling finale to a drama-filled event.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 2