Rallying: Motivated McRae leads Kankkunen and Sainz

Tuesday 24 March 1998 01:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

BRITAIN'S Colin McRae set a scorching pace on the second day of the Portuguese Rally yesterday, powering his Subaru Impreza into a 44.2-second lead after the first leg.

McRae, the 1995 world champion, took command of the race in the third stage and clocked the fastest times in six of the day's stages.

The 29-year-old Scot, who came home in third place in the Monte Carlo Rally but failed to finish in the following two events of the season, said that his aggressive driving was fired by his fear of slipping further back in the world drivers' championship. "My tactics are to win here, so I've decided to go all out from the start," McRae said.

The Spaniard Carlos Sainz and Finland's Juha Kankkunen are joint championship leaders on 16 points, while McRae lies joint fifth with four points.

Behind McRae is a hotly disputed battle for second place between Kankkunen and Sainz. The Finn, in a Ford Escort WRC, eked out a six-second advantage over his Spanish rival in the Toyota Corolla.

The reigning champion, Tommi Makinen of Finland, in his Mitsubishi Lancer was lying fourth, 43 seconds off the lead, ahead of the Belgium's Freddy Loix in a Toyota Corolla WRC. England's Richard Burns was lying in sixth in a Mitsubishi more than 73 seconds off the pace.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in