Sun November 3, 2002

NEWS JUST IN

 Mäkinen excluded! @ 07:24 AM - Tommi Mäkinen has been excluded from the Rally Australia when his Subaru was declared non-comform with the rules at post event scrutineering. The car was underweight. This has a major effect on the manufacturer WRC as Skoda's Toni Gardemeister moves into 6th. This means Skoda, Mitsubishi and Hyundai are all on equal points but in the tie braker Skoda should move from 6th to 4th.

 End of rally @ 05:24 AM - Dramatic end to the rally, Juha Kankkunen retired with engine failure halfway through the stage. Peugeot collects their 8th 1-2 and breaks Lancia's record! Provisional final results: 1. Grönholm 2. Rovanperä +0:00:57.3 3. Solberg +0:01:28.7 4. Mäkinen +0:02:41.3 5. Sainz +0:03:09.0 6. Märtin +0:06:21.5 7. Gardemeister +0:07:11.6 8. Loeb +0:09:06.1 9. Eriksson +0:12:46.4 10. Paasonen +0:13:21.5

 After SS23! @ 04:17 AM - More exciting stuff. Rovanperä proves a point and increses the gap to Solberg. But sadly Duval is involved in a high speed accident and out of the rally. 1. Grönholm 2. Rovanperä +0:00:53.0 3. Solberg +0:01:15.0 4. Mäkinen +0:02:32.3 5. Sainz +0:02:50.5 6. Märtin +0:05:28.1 7. Gardemeister +0:06:30.6 8. Loeb +0:08:08.7 9. Kankkunen +0:08:47.2 10. Eriksson +0:11:56.7

 Everything changes in SS22!!!! @ 02:05 AM - Rovanperä blistering fast, takes 25s and 2nd place from Solberg! Sainz rolls and loses 4th place to Mäkinen! Duval reports having spun and stalled, but he moves past Märtin now by a bigger margin!

 After SS22 @ 01:56 AM - 1. Grönholm 2. Rovanperä +0:00:57.6 3. Solberg +0:01:03.3 4. Mäkinen +0:02:18.6 5. Sainz +0:02:32.0 6. Duval +0:04:43.9 7. Märtin +0:04:50.9 8. Gardemeister +0:05:50.3 9. Loeb +0:07:25.3 10. Kankkunen +0:07:52.3

 Leg3 under way @ 01:30 AM - The battle is back on. Rovanperä closes the gap to Solberg by 5s and Märtin is ahead of Duval by 0,4s, the Ford pair having swapped places now in 4 of the last 5 stages. After SS21: 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:49.6 3. Rovanperä +0:01:08.9 4. Sainz +0:01:31.6 5. Mäkinen +0:02:08.7 6. Märtin +0:04:25.2 7. Duval +0:04:25.6 8. Gardemeister +0:05:20.4 9. Loeb +0:06:35.9 10. Kankkunen +0:07:12.7

Sat November 2, 2002

NEWS JUST IN

 Overall After Leg 2 @ 12:27 AM - 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:48.3 3. Rovanperä +0:01:12.7 4. Sainz +0:01:32.4 5. Mäkinen +0:02:08.2 6. Duval +0:04:21.1 7. Märtin +0:04:21.9 8. Gardemeister +0:05:14.9 9. Loeb +0:06:25.6 10. Kankkunen +0:07:05.8

 After SS19 @ 09:36 AM - Yet another fastest for Grönholm. Yet again Märtin and Duval swap places, now Duval in front by 0.7s! 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:49.5 3. Rovanperä +0:01:11.6 4. Sainz +0:01:30.8 5. Mäkinen +0:02:12.4 6. Duval +0:04:21.1 7. Märtin +0:04:21.8 8. Gardemeister +0:05:14.2 9. Loeb +0:06:24.6 10. Kankkunen +0:07:04.9

 After SS18 @ 09:17 AM - Another fastest for Grönholm, Märtin back ahead of Duval by 0.3s! 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:48.4 3. Rovanperä +0:01:10.2 4. Sainz +0:01:28.8 5. Mäkinen +0:02:11.3 6. Märtin +0:04:15.9 7. Duval +0:04:16.2 8. Gardemeister +0:05:06.5 9. Loeb +0:06:16.8 10. Kankkunen +0:06:58.2

 After SS17 @ 08:48 AM - The longest stage of the day was relatively trouble free. Duval passes his Ford team mate Märtin by just 0.6s! Grönholm increases his lead severely. 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:47.6 3. Rovanperä +0:01:07.7 4. Sainz +0:01:23.6 5. Mäkinen +0:01:56.0 6. Duval +0:03:59.8 7. Märtin +0:04:00.4 8. Gardemeister +0:04:43.0 9. Loeb +0:05:53.8 10. Kankkunen +0:06:38.1

 Action packed SS16 @ 07:16 AM - Paasonen rolls, he can continue but drops outside top10. Duval closes gap to Märtin to only 2.6s 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:38.2 3. Rovanperä +0:00:54.5 4. Sainz +0:01:09.2 5. Mäkinen +0:01:34.7 6. Märtin +0:03:17.2 7. Duval +0:03:19.8 8. Gardemeister +0:04:07.7 9. Loeb +0:04:58.0 10. Kankkunen +0:05:44.5

 SS14&15 (Muresk run twice) @ 05:41 AM - SS15 saw 3 drivers sharing the stage win: Grönholm, Rovanperä and Sainz! Rovanperä is closing in on Solberg, so does Duval on his team mate Märtin. Overall positions after SS15: 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:32.3 3. Rovanperä +0:00:48.4 4. Sainz +0:00:59.6 5. Mäkinen +0:01:21.3 6. Märtin +0:02:49.1 7. Duval +0:03:00.2 8. Gardemeister +0:03:41.3 9. Gardemeister +0:04:27.5 10. Paasonen +0:04:58.6

 Colin Mc Rae out! @ 05:19 AM - Colin Mc Rae, even though he posted an impressive time during the short Muresk stage (first run, SS14), he is reported to have suffered some damage to his car after a jump and has retired from the rally.

 After SS13 @ 04:50 AM - SS13 is the first of 3 short stages in succession, the stage win is shared between Colin Mc rae and Harri Rovanperä. 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:31.4 3. Rovanperä +0:00:49.3 4. Sainz +0:01:01.5 5. Mäkinen +0:01:24.8 6. Mc Rae +0:01:41.9 7. Märtin +0:02:39.1 8. Duval +0:02:52.1 9. Gardemeister +0:03:30.2 10. Loeb +0:04:09.5

 After SS12 @ 02:56 AM - And another fastest for Rovanperä 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:30.0 3. Rovanperä +0:00:50.5 4. Sainz +0:01:00.1 5. Mäkinen +0:01:22.8 6. Mc Rae +0:01:43.1 7. Märtin +0:02:32.7 8. Duval +0:02:48.9 9. Gardemeister +0:03:25.1 10. Loeb +0:04:02.9

 After SS11 @ 02:04 AM - Sainz drops back in fight vs Solberg for 2nd, in fact Rovanperä wins the stage and passes Sainz 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:31.1 3. Rovanperä +0:00:52.0 4. Sainz +0:00:52.2 5. Mäkinen +0:01:17.3 6. Mc Rae +0:01:42.5 7. Märtin +0:02:21.8 8. Duval +0:02:35.1 9. Gardemeister +0:03:10.3 10. Loeb +0:03:39.1

 Leg2 is go! @ 01:27 AM - After SS10: 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:28.5 3. Sainz +0:00:35.9 4. Rovanperä +0:00:53.7 5. Mäkinen +0:01:07.2 6. Mc Rae +0:01:35.3 7. Märtin +0:01:55.4 8. Duval +0:02:09.8 9. Gardemeister +0:02:42.7 10. Loeb +0:02:58.2

Fri November 1, 2002

NEWS JUST IN

 End of Leg One @ 01:05 PM - 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:29.5 3. Sainz +0:00:33.4 4. Rovanperä +0:00:54.2 5. Mäkinen +0:01:03.8 6. McRae +0:01:28.5 7. Märtin +0:01:47.4 8. Duval +0:01:58.8 9. Gardemeister +0:02:34.2 10. Loeb +0:02:44.5

 Shake Up Down Under part2 @ 09:26 AM - In an unlucky repeat of incidents in Australia last year, we hear that SS7 has been stopped after Francois Delecour hit a tree. His co-driver Daniel Grataloup has been air lifted to hospital for checks.

 Shake Up Down Under! @ 09:07 AM - Action in SS7&8. After Burns retired in SS7 we had Mc Rae briefly going off in SS8, he lost some 12s. Kankkunen lost over 1m30s in SS8 for unconfirmed reasons. Only minutes earlier his team mate Schwarz has retired with a blown engine in SS7, so all Hyundais are in trouble. But probably worst of all, Delecour went off in SS7, resulting in the stage having to be stopped.

 After SS8 @ 08:56 AM - 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:29.0 3. Sainz +0:00:33.4 4. Rovanperä +0:00:54.7 5. Mäkinen +0:011:01.9 6. Mc Rae +0:01:28.9 7. Märtin +0:01:45.3 8. Duval +0:01:56.8 9. Gardemeister +0:02:32.1 10. Loeb +0:02:41.1

 After SS7 @ 08:26 AM - 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:24.0 3. Sainz +0:00:28.0 4. Rovanperä +0:00:45.4 5. Mäkinen +0:00:52.6 6. Mc Rae +0:01:09.6 7. Märtin +0:01:26.7 8. Duval +0:01:36.6 9. Kankkunen +0:01:58.8 10. Gardemeister +0:02:07.3

 Burns out @ 08:06 AM - Richard Burns has retired half way through SS7. We understand he had a slipping clutch from the start of the stage.

 After SS6 @ 06:31 AM - Freddy Loix crashed on this stage. Carlos Sainz managed a convincing 2nd fastest stage time and look at the battle for 2nd place overall, places 2-4 are seperated by only 2.6s. After SS4: 1. Grönholm 2. Burns +0:00:20.6 3. Solberg +0:00:22.3 4. Sainz +0:00:23.2 5. Rovanpera +0:00:41.2 6. Mäkinen +0:00:43.5 7. Mc Rae +0:01:05.4 8. Märtin +0:01:20.1 9. Duval +0:01:23.1 10. Kankkunen +0:01:40.5

 Freddy Loix out! @ 06:14 AM - Freddy Loix' strong drive came to an abrupt end in SS6. He had a superb drive and was placed on the edge of the top6 after SS5. However 7km into SS6 Freddy went off the road and retired from the rally.

 Peugeot 1-2 After SS5 @ 05:41 AM - After SS5: 1. Grönholm 2. Burns +0:00:10.6 3. Solberg +0:00:12.2 4. Sainz +0:00:19.0 5. Rovanpera +0:00:25.5 6. Makinen +0:00:35.9 7. Loix +0:00:37.3 8. C McRae +0:00:39.4 9. Martin +0:01:04.4 10. Kankkunen +0:01:11.9

 After SS4 @ 04:13 AM - After SS4: 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:08.9 3. Burns +0:00:09.2 4. Sainz +0:00:11.3 5. Rovanpera +0:00:16.2 6. Loix +0:00:25.2 7. Makinen +0:00:27.6 8. C McRae +0:00:27.9 9. Duval +0:00:35.5 10. Martin +0:00:45.5

 Gronholm Leads After 3 @ 03:02 AM - After SS2: 1. Grönholm 2. Solberg +0:00:01.6 3. Burns +0:00:04.3 4. Rovanpera +0:00:04.5 5. Sainz +0:00:09.6 =5. Loix +0:00:09.6 7. Makinen +0:00:18.2 8. Duval +0:00:18.8 9. Gardiemister +0:00:19.1 10. Gardiemister +0:00:20.9

 Freddy Fastest on SS2 @ 02:28 AM - After SS2: 1. Solberg 0:05:30.2 2. Grönholm +0:00:00.7 3. Loix +0:00:00.8 4. Rovanpera +0:00:01.6 5. Sainz +0:00:01.7 6. Burns +0:00:02.6 7. C McRae +0:00:02.8 8. Duval +0:00:05.2 9. Gardiemister +0:00:05.9 10. Paasonen +0:00:08.1

 Wet In Australia @ 00:54 AM - Very Heavy rains overnight and in early morning will make stages wet in places, especially the shade - weather looks to be on the mend and the sun is shining.

Thu October 31, 2002

NEWS JUST IN

 Delecour 10s Penalty @ 02:16 PM - Francois Delecour suffered a 10 second penalty after a jump start on the Langley Park SS1 stage. This places him way down in 45th position (0:01:40.2) instead of 7th.

 Australia @ 01:00 PM - SS1 Langley Park: 1. Solberg 0:01:28.7 2. Grönholm +0:00:00.3 3. Burns +0:00:00.9 4. Sainz +0:00:00.9 5. Rovanpera +0:00:01.1 6. Makinen +0:00:01.3 7. Eriksson +0:00:01.6 =7. Loix +0:00:01.6 9. C.McRae +0:00:01.7 10. Loeb +0:00:01.8 11. Duval +0:00:02.2 12. Gardemeister +0:00:02.6 =12. Kankkunen +0:00:02.6 14. Schwarz +0:00:02.7 15. Paasonen +0:00:02.9 16. Kuchar +0:00:03.8 17. Barratt +0:00:05.7 18. Herridge +0:00:06.7 19. Stohl +0:00:07.4