McRae takes narrow lead in Medan Rally
By Robert Soelistyo
PARAPAT, North Sumatra (JP): Braving the rain, a wet track and slippery roads, Scotland's Colin McRae took a narrow overnight lead after the first nine stages in the FIA World Rally Championships concluded here yesterday.
After securing a narrow advantage in the first Special Stage (SS), the Scot dropped to third after the second SS but recaptured the lead after the fifth SS and never looked back. He and co-driver Derek Ringer finished five seconds ahead of the pack at the end of the ninth SS in a time of one hour and 38 seconds.
"It's not easy with grip changes all the time from wet to dry but I'm happy with my times. There are only five seconds between me and Tommi and that's okay," McRae said after the 13.5km Sei Putih of the sixth SS.
Though the road surface dried during the day, it started off very slippery after overnight heavy drizzle drenched most of Medan. The conditions punished many of the most seasoned rally drivers.
Kenneth Eriksson of Sweden in a 555 Subaru Imprezza was forced to quit the race when he hit a bridge in the seventh SS and could not restart his engine.
Carlos Sainz of Spain, driving a Ford Escort RS Cosworth, hit the same bridge but sustained no damage. "It (the bridge) is on a tight right hand bend and there was some water just before the bridge. It was like driving on ice."
And Finn Tommi Makinen, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III, suffered the same fate as he hit the bridge, went over the parapet and damaged the suspension to loose 11 seconds. He eventually finished second behind McRae in a time of 1:38.43.
"It's driving just about right -- no real problems. I made a wrong tire choice in that stage, they were too soft. Maybe the next stage will be more slippery," Makinen said.
Mitsubishi's hopes of making a clean sweep were dashed yesterday as Richard Burns of Great Britain mirrored Eriksson's fate -- quitting the race -- due to a lack of oil pressure.
Juha Kankkunen of Finland and co-driver Nicky Grist (GB) finished third after clocking 1:41.06. They were ahead of Carlos Sainz of Spain in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
Arief Indiarto and co-driver Maman Aruman in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III led three home favorites to place themselves among the top 10. The other drivers are Dolly Indra Nasution and long-time partner Farryd Sungkar, driving a Ford Escort and the pair of Irvan Gading and Karel Harilatu on a Subaru Imprezza 555.
Arief clocked 1:49.26 while Dolly had it in 1:50.07 and Irvan finished with a time of 1:50.21.
As today's weather is predicted to be heavy cloud and possible rain and thunder, the second leg of the race, the third in the world series after Swedish and Safari rallies, is expected to be even more grueling.
Today's event will cover seven SSs with a total distance of 117.32km, around Lake Toba, the first stop of yesterday first nine SSs.
The third and final leg will cover 12 SSs and is the longest stretch of the event; 203.44km from here back to Medan.
Leading standings: 1. Colin McRae (Gbr) Subaru Imprezza 1hr 38mins 00secs 2. Tommi Makinen (Fin) Mitsubishi Lancer 5secs behind 3. Juha Kankkunen (Fin) Toyota Celica 3:06 4. Carlos Sainz (Spa) Ford Escort 3:29 5. Pierro Liati (Ita) Subaru Imprezza 3:30