The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews of Jani Paasonen/Arto Kapanen, François Delecour/Daniel Grataloup and Alister McRae/David Senior lie 14th, 15th and 18th at the conclusion of the opening leg of competition in the Cyprus Rally, round 5 of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
J. Paasonen / A. Kapanen
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The event got underway last night with a ceremonial start on the seafront in Limassol, but the action began in earnest this morning as the 60 competing crews left the holiday resort to tackle two loops of three stages on the slopes of Mount Olympus. With the Mediterranean island having suffered such a severe winter, conditions in the Troodos Mountains are rougher than ever and, while the roads were cleaner on the second run through this afternoon, ruts have formed in the hard-packed roads providing a punishing and car-breaking surface. Warm and dry weather will however have been a welcome sight for the crews, the forecasted showers this afternoon never materialising.
Jani Paasonen and Arto Kapanen, despite not having driven the Lancer Evolution WRC on gravel before Thursday’s shakedown test, lead the team challenge, but have lost time during the day with various spins. "We’ve had a few spins and stalled each time, but otherwise the car has been going very well", said Jani. "Unlike François and Alister, we’ve had no problems with the transmission at all and it’s nice to be the lead car in the team, especially as this is also my first time in Cyprus. Tomorrow we’ll see what the conditions are like and whether we can push a bit harder".
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
F. Delecour / D. Grataloup
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Team-mates François Delecour and Daniel Grataloup got off to a bad start this morning, brake problems and a broken drive-shaft losing them time in the opening three stages. "The roads are incredibly rough and the problems we had this morning lost us a lot of time", said François. "This afternoon we’ve had no mechanical problems, but I think we went too stiff on the suspension. Now we have to look at getting the best set-up for tomorrow because it’s a long and tough day".
Like François, Alister McRae and co-driver David Senior experienced the same problems in the opening three stages, and their woes continued this afternoon when they had to drive stages 5 and 6 with broken transmission. "It’s frustrating to have lost time like this, but it’s like that in Cyprus and the same thing is likely to be happening to other crews", said Alister. "We broke another drive-shaft towards the end of stage 5 and then the other front one broke towards the end of the last stage. We need to have a better run tomorrow".
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
A. McRae / D. Senior
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Adding to their comments, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Derek Dauncey said: "We’ve had some technical problems today which have affected both cars and we’ve lost time as a result. The engineers are now looking at the components and hopefully we won’t have the same problems tomorrow. I think with a clean run the drivers can start to put in some competitive times".
Looking ahead to tomorrow and the second leg of the event, British co-driver David Senior said: "It’s going to be an incredibly difficult day for the crews and cars with three stages of 30 kilometres, one of which is run twice. Stage 8, 11 and 13 are also the same stage, and the first seven kilometres are the same as stages 1 and 4 today, so you only have to imagine the condition of this section of road which will be run for the third, fourth and fifth time".
Meanwhile...
Colin McRae (Ford), still recovering from an injured finger, has taken the overnight lead and holds a narrow 6.9 second advantage over 2000 World Champion, Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot). Neither has reported problems throughout the day. Ford is enjoying the return to gravel, the loose surface suiting the Focus, and both Markko Märtin and François Duval hold impressive third and fourth positions respectively, Märtin leading the event after stage 3 and Duval setting his first-ever fastest time in a world rally (SS2). Fifth position is held by four-times World Champion Tommi Mäkinen (Subaru), however the Finn dropped time in stage 2 when the dashboard screen failed making it difficult to know which gear he was selecting in the tight hairpins. Kenneth Eriksson holds a fine sixth overall for Skoda, the Octavia renowned for its strength over such car-breaking roads. Freddy Loix (Hyundai), now back to full fitness after his accident in Monte Carlo, is just outside the top six but, like his rivals, the Belgian lost time with brake and handling problems, the likely result of hitting a rock in the third stage. Harri Rovanperä is second of the Peugeots in eighth position, just ahead of team-mate and reigning World Champion Richard Burns. Germany’s Armin Schwarz (Hyundai) rounds of the top ten. Carlos Sainz (Ford), now back with regular co-driver Luis Moya, has struggled throughout the day and dropped a significant amount of time with a drive-shaft problem in the first stage, which then couldn’t be fixed until service after another two stages. The Spaniard holds 23rd position. The only major retirement of the day was that of Juha Kankkunen (Hyundai), the former Finnish World Champion forced out on the road section before stage 5 with a damaged sump.
Still to come...
The second leg of Rally Cyprus starts from Limassol at 06:00 hrs on Saturday. It is the longest and toughest day of the event, run to the north and northwest of Limassol, with eight stages and 145.97 competitive kilometres. The crews return to the coastal resort at 20:18 hrs (local).
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