Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Delecour / D. Grataloup

The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews of François Delecour/Daniel Grataloup and Alister McRae/David Senior finished the controversial second leg of Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava in 12th and 13th positions respectively.

The day got off to a bad start when two of the opening three stages were cancelled for safety reasons, the combination of high temperatures and the weekend bringing spectators out in their thousands. The 52 remaining crews who left Lloret de Mar were forced to drive both stages at normal road speed and, with the same stages repeated this afternoon, the organisers had a mammoth job to ease the traffic and number of spectators in the mountains. The first of this afternoon’s stages (SS10) ran, however Carlos Sainz, powering his Focus out of a corner, had to take evasive action to avoid hitting unaccompanied cars parked on the side of the road. Travelling at 140 kph, the Spaniard threw the car into a spin to scrub speed, going backwards into a rock and instant retirement. Today’s scheduled six stages and 112 competitive kilometres run to the northwest of Lloret de Mar around the service park at Manlleu were therefore reduced to four and 77.80 kilometres.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Delecour / D. Grataloup

"Safety is the highest priority, not just for the crews but also the spectators", commented Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Derek Dauncey. "Being the weekend, and with such hot weather, there have been thousands of people in the stages and the organisers were right to cancel them. Obviously it’s disappointing for everyone and you can understand why spectators were angry, especially as it only takes one to have parked in a prohibited place, but we cannot put anyone’s safety in jeopardy".

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC driver François Delecour, co-driven by Daniel Grataloup, has had a trouble-free run today, the advantage he hoped to pick up at the front of the field on cleaner roads not as marked as expected. "Tomorrow it’s full attack to try and overhaul Freddy (Loix) and Toni (Gardemeister) to get a manufacturer point", commented François. Adding to his driver’s comment, Daniel Grataloup said: "There were no less people in the stages this afternoon, but at least some of the cars had been moved and the spectators were very well behaved. François is quite gentle on the car and therefore gets less tyre wear so we were able to push quite hard in the last stage today. Hopefully we’ll be able to benefit from this tomorrow because the last stage in both groups of three is a long one at 35 kilometres".

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart A. McRae / D. Senior

Team-mates Alister McRae and David Senior have similarly run without problems today, but the close proximity of cars to the road continues to cause concern, break rhythm and concentration. "The spectators were good this afternoon, but there were still places where we could’ve but didn’t cut because of parked cars", said Alister. "The car is basically the same as yesterday and François and I are essentially running to the same spec. The set-up appears to be working a bit better for him though as he seems to be able to carry more speed through the corners than us, possibly because he has more confidence".

Meanwhile...

Gilles Panizzi (Peugeot) continues to dominate the event and leads team-mate Richard Burns by 44.4 seconds at the end of the second leg of Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava. The only driver seemingly capable of matching the flying Frenchman’s pace was Petter Solberg (Subaru), the Norwegian snatching victory in stage 10 by a mere two-tenths of a second, the only stage not won by Panizzi. Behind the leading Peugeots, Philippe Bugalski and Sébastien Loeb (both Citroën) have upped the pace and are fighting hard in third and fourth positions respectively. The top six remains unchanged from leg one, with Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) in fifth position ahead of Solberg in sixth. Ford drivers Colin McRae and Markko Märtin lie seventh and eighth, their team-mate Carlos Sainz forced out of his 155th World Championship rally when he had to take evasive action to avoid hitting parked cars in stage 10. Ninth position is held by Harri Rovanperä (Peugeot) while Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister has inched into the top ten.

The other leading retirements of the day include Tommi Mäkinen, the Subaru driver failing to reach the first service in Manlleu, 80 kilometres to the northwest of Lloret de Mar. The Finn’s retirement appears to be related to damage caused to the radiator in an accident in the final stage yesterday, forcing him out of his third consecutive event this season. Former World Champion Stig Blomqvist (Skoda) was also on the sidelines late last night with alternator problems.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N P. Tsjoen / D. Colebunders

In Group N, Mitsubishi drivers continue to dominate and hold the top four positions in the category. Pieter Tsjoen has extended his advantage over second-placed Tobias Johansson to eight and a half minutes, but Fabio Frisiero has now moved ahead of Ildefonso Garcia into third.

Still to come...

The final leg of Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava returns to the northwest of Lloret de Mar for six stages and 106.26 kilometres of competition, again based around the town of Manlleu. The route covers a loop of three stages, all run twice, before returning to the coastal holiday resort for the finish at 17:15 hrs (local).