TITLE FIGHT WIDE OPEN AS GRONHOLM WINS DOWN-UNDER

Peugeot star Marcus Gronholm took victory in a fascinating Australian Rally, which saw Richard Burns improve his title chances as he claimed second position, with fellow Briton Colin McRae down in fifth. The drivers' title could still be won by four drivers after Tommi Makinen took sixth and Carlos Sainz, now the championship-outsider, finished eighth.

Leg One opened with a spectator special around Langley Park on the Thursday night. Carlos Sainz (Ford Focus) was fastest through the stage, stopping the clock just 0.2 seconds faster than Peugeot's Didier Auriol. Despite the fact he is to lose his championship crown, Marcus Gronholm was fastest on the second stage to move him to the top of the leaderboard. Colin McRae was second fastest on SS2, but had to settle for third overall behind the impressive Harri Rovanpera, forming a Peugeot 1-2.

The two Peugeots were fastest through the third stage, extending their advantage at the head of the field. Sainz was the quickest driver on the next stage, while Burns took advantage through SS5. Gronholm still held the lead despite not being completely happy with his car, but by now team-mate Rovanpera had dropped to fifth. The third Peugeot of Auriol was fastest over the next two stages, and would repeat the feat on the day's final stage - another sprint around Langley Park.

There was no such luck for Sainz - having hit a post on SS6, he lost one and a half minutes in the stage and the same in penalties after leaving the service halt late. Gronholm and McRae traded the lead over the remaining stages, with the Finn ending the day on top after the Scot lost time on the pair of Helina stages. This allowed Burns into second position, while Auriol's impressive afternoon netted him third overnight, just 3.8 seconds off Gronholm. McRae was fourth, ahead of another driver to drop time during the afternoon - Harri Rovanpera.

However, the Peugeot driver was only 15.9 seconds adrift of his team-mate's leading time. Over a minute behind in sixth, was championship contender Tommi Makinen in his Mitsubishi. The former world champion was suffering back pains following his accident in Corsica the previous month. However, the new Lancer WRC was more impressive on the gravel roads of Australia than it had been on the asphalt events, and points were a possibility.

Subaru's Petter Solberg was seventh despite stalling at the start of SS3. The Norwegian was five seconds behind Makinen, but seven seconds ahead of the fourth Peugeot of Gilles Panizzi. Having taken victory on the asphalt based San Remo Rally, Panizzi was back on his less favoured surface. Freddy Loix's improved Mitsubishi Lancer was ninth, ahead of Francois Delecour, whose team-mate, Carlos Sainz was eleventh, now over three minutes off the lead and seemingly out of the hunt for championship points.

The running order for the second day was to be chosen by the drivers themselves, with those high up the leaderboard able to nominate a lower starting position so that they wouldn't be sweeping the gravel off the roads. The scheme was implemented in Australia after several drivers had deliberately lost time on previous events this year in order to start the second or third legs further down the order. It was no surprise that rally leader Gronholm chose to start as far down as possible to allow other cars to run the loose gravel off the road.

Gronholm would run 14th with Burns and Auriol in 13th and 12th. McRae would have surely chosen to run 11th if he had not arrived late for the meeting and be forced to run first on the road. This would mean that he would be severely hindered by sweeping away the gravel. However, Ford decided to send Francois Delecour to the first stage thirteen minutes early, gaining enough penalties to mean that he had to run first on the road, and give McRae a chance to pick up some points!

As the rally moved south, Gronholm set about consolidating his lead in the best possible way, by setting the fastest times on the day's first two stages, adding another 12 seconds between himself and Burns in the battle for the rally lead. McRae, as expected, suffered running second on the road, losing 37 seconds to Gronholm on the day's first stage and another 15 on the second. His chances were not improved when Delecour crashed out on SS13. The Frenchman, in his last event for Ford, hit a tree halfway though the stage. With his co-driver Daniel Grataloup injured, the Wellington Dam stage was cancelled to allow medics to attend. Grataloup was diagnosed with cracked ribs and collarbone, and remains in hospital.

Gronholm set fastest times on the next three stages, and only lost out to team-mate Auriol on the day's last. Taking victory on five of the six stages was an amazing feat, and his rivals will have been glad that he was unable to increase his lead further on the longest stage of the rally - the cancelled Wellington Dam run. He had, however, increased his overnight lead to 34.3 seconds by the end of the second leg.

Burns couldn't keep up with the flying Finn, but was looking more comfortable in second as he pulled away from Auriol. Rovanpera passed McRae on the day's first stage, and had pulled out 30 seconds by the end of the day. The Scot was one minute ahead of Makinen, who was struggling with new co-driver Timo Hantunen. Solberg was just 0.4 seconds behind, while Gilles Panizzi was still in eighth, ahead of the recovering Sainz. The Spaniard had been closing on those ahead of him during the day. Sixth fastest over the first two stages, then fifth fastest over the next pair, and then fourth fastest over the last two. However, only Panizzi seemed a reasonable target, and unless some of the leaders encountered trouble, he would go away empty-handed.

Alister McRae had managed to break into to the top ten by the end of the day, but he, and team-mate Kenneth Eriksson were off the pace in 10th and 12th places respectively undermined by a seeding system they felt was unfair. They were split by Loix who, despite being faster than his team-mate Makinen on four of the six stages, had dropped further down the leaderboard following a 2m 10s time penalty for arriving late at the start of a stage when the car wouldn't start.

Burns started the final day by setting the fastest time over the first of the four stages that made up the final leg. However, he was only 0.4 seconds faster than Gronholm, and the Finn would have to suffer a major problem to lose his lead. Gronholm set the second fastest time over the next stage, and with two to go, Burns had failed to make an impression. However, the Brit was now moving ahead of Auriol, who was falling into the clutches of team-mate Rovanpera.

Colin McRae was fastest on SS19, a feat he would repeat on the two remaining stages of the day in his bid to catch Rovanpera. With one stage to go, the Scot was eleven seconds behind, but with just three miles left, Rovanpera was only 1.5 seconds slower, and held onto the place. Rovanpera took fourth behind team-mate Auriol who was, ironically, not nominated for manufacturer points. Both Burns and Gronholm eased off over the final stages as not to throw their car off the road, although the Finn was lucky to survive an altercation with a rock on SS20.

Gronholm actually increased his lead to just over 40 seconds, with Burns' second position opening up the driver's fight. Makinen's sixth position means he is also in contention for the title, holding off Solberg in Australia. Sainz took eighth, but his fight back failed to yield any points. Panizzi claimed ninth in his private Peugeot, and Alister McRae took tenth, despite sweeping the roads for much of the event. Another to suffer with the running order on the final day was Loix, who took eleventh. Kenneth Eriksson had an interesting if fruitless rally. He ran high up the order and suffered dust coming into the car on day one, had a narrow miss with a kangaroo on day two, and suffered a misfire on day three.

Colin McRae still holds the championship lead with 42pts following his fifth place in Australia. Makinen has 41pts, and Burns 40pts. Sainz has an outside shot at the title with 33pts. The four Peugeot drivers are set to battle over fourth spot with Rovanpera, Gronholm, Auriol and Panizzi separated by eight points. Peugeot lead Ford by four points in the team's championship.

Australia Rally Result:
1. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiaenen (Peugeot)
2. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru) +40.4s
3. Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (Peugeot) +1m 20.1s
4. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (Peugeot) +1m 30.9s
5. Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Ford) +1m 40.0s
6. Tommi Makinen/Timo Hantunen (Mitsubishi) +3m 02.7s
7. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) +3m 41.2s
8. Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford) +4m 59.2s
9. Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot) +5m 09.0s
10. Alister McRae/David Senior (Hyundai) +7m 31.7s

Championship Standings: 1. C McRae 42pts; 2. T Makinen 41pts; 3. R Burns 40pts; 4. C Sainz 33pts; 5. H Rovanpera 30pts; M Gronholm 26pts.

Manufacturers' Standings: 1. Peugeot 90pts; 2. Ford 86pts; 3. Mitsubishi 69pts; 4. Subaru 62pts; 5. Skoda 15pts; 6. Hyundai 13pts.