Only 39 cars reach finish line
By Robert Soelistyo
PARAPAT, North Sumatra (JP): The drizzle that began in North Sumatra last Friday continued until yesterday to hamper the start of the World Gudang Garam Rally Championship. Only 39 of the 69 starting cars made it over the finish line yesterday.
Snatching the lead from pacesetter Tommi Makinnen of Finland after Special Stage two at Batulokong, Collin McRae of Scotland led the way to the finish here on the edge of Lake Toba in one hour 38 minutes and 44 seconds.
Makinen was delayed a few minutes at stage two with tire problems.
Also at stage two Didier Auriol broke his front left guard after earlier hitting a bank and smashing his left bumper.
Leaving behind his disappointment with his performance in last year's event where he was beaten at the last kilometer by Carlos Sainz of Spain.
From there on, the 29 year old Scot, set out to take the most points in the early stage of the rally speeding up the stages with accurate timing and perfect control of his machine to finish ahead of the 39 finishing cars.
Makinen, driving a Mitsubishi Evolution IV, led the world driver standings after the Finland world rally with 320 points. He came in second yesterday with a time of 1:39.19 seconds.
Makinen, who was flagged off second behind last year's champion Spanish driver Sainz, and who is also trying to get the most points at the start of the rally, was forced to slow his pace due to the difficult conditions.
He clocked 10 minutes and 44 seconds in a Toyota Corolla WRC at stage one at Sei Merah, three minutes and three seconds ahead of Frenchman Didier Auriol of the Toyota Castrol Team.
The overnight rain turned many of the stages into muddy tracks, particularly the gravel and hard clay base roads. The rubber plantation sections have many narrow, twisty stages over gravel roads.
Thirty cars failed to pass the ordeal on the first day of competition.
Most were local cars that dropped out with engine trouble after the third stage.
They include former leading national driver Chandra Alami in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III, Rudi Fahrudin (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III, Hartono, Suhardiman and Saladin Mazlan of Malaysia (Proton Wira 4WD).
Yesterday's first round took the cars through eight stages over a distance of 351.56 km although the competitive distance is only 137.72 km through oil palm, cocoa and rubber plantations.
Locals
Of the 35 cars driven by locals only 15 survived the rigors of the first day.
The survivors were headed by Pratikto Singgih and navigator Farryd Sungkar in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV.
They clocked 1:42.52 seconds and were placed eighth ahead of Hutomo Mandala Putra, also in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV who finished the day in 1:56.05 and was placed 16th. Pratikto is Hutomo's brother-in-law.
McRae's prediction that local drivers would find it difficult to challenge the professional drivers was proved as the pros dominated the top seven rankings.
Today the remaining field will ply eight stages over 396 kilometers with the competition being fought over 149.07km.
The route will take them on a loop from and to Parapat.
Results: 1. Collin McRae/Nicky Grist (Sco - Subaru Imprezza 555) 1:38.44 2. Tommie Makinen/Seppo Harjane (Fin-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV) 1:39.19 3. Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo (Fin-Ford Escort WRC) 1:39.29 4. Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya(Spa-Ford Escort WRC) 1:39.50 5. Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Permander(Swe-Subaru Imprezza 555) 1:40.09 6. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Gbr-Mitsubishi Carisma GT) 1:40.40 7. Didier Auriol/Denis Girauded (Fra-Toyota Corolla WRC) 1:40.49 8. Praktito Singgih/Farryd Sungkar (Ina-Mitsubishi Evo IV) 1:42.52 9. Karanjit Singh/Allen Oh (Mal-Proton Wira 4WD) 1:45.56 10. Yoshio Fujimoto/Anne Hertz (Jpn/Swe-Toyota Celica) 1:47.25