SS13: Markko top as Marcus wobbles
Markko Martin set a hat trick of best stage times on the re-run of the first part of today's opening stage, the 25.18km Parahi, as rally leader Marcus Gronholm rolled and lost over half his lead advantage.
Gronholm completed the stage with the loss of just 35 seconds to Martin but that means that his lead which stood at 1m01.2s after SS12 is now a mere 26.2s. It does look as though the Peugeot 206 is not too badly damaged as Marcus picked up the pace again after his mid-stage incident. There is another long stage to complete before service.
Peugeot team chief Corrado Provera is confident that his man is back on the straight and narrow though: "The car is absolutely definitely fine," he said. "Marcus thought he'd just liven things up a little bit!"
Richard Burns is staying more or less in touch with second placed Martin, but he dropped another three seconds on this one though he was second fastest. Harri Rovanpera was third quickest, 6.5s off Martin's pace, but his advantage over Petter Solberg looks a lot more secure after the Norwegian lost time here.
The Subaru left the road early in the stage and Solberg dropped around 30 seconds to Martin. The Subaru also looks to be working fine again, running a competitive pace over the balance of the stage.
Citroen drivers Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz took fourth and fifth best times, with Tommi Makinen completing the top six.
- WRC.com
Kuten arvelinkin. Ei se Bosse nyt niin ylivoimainen ole.
