Rallying: McRae just happy to be still in the race in Turkey

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Mar 2, 2003

World Championship leader Colin McRae tip-toes into the closing five stages of the mobile car-breaker's yard which is the Rally of Turkey fearing for the welfare of his new Citroen Xsara and yet confident he can bag his second podium finish of the year.

The 34-year-old from Lanark, who started the second leg in seventh place, heads out this morning in fourth, a position he harvested not so much through his own speed, but more through the misfortune and indiscipline of those in front.

"This is such a technically demanding rally that it's almost a case of having to pick your way between the pot-holes and the boulders," McRae said after returning to rally HQ in Kemer. "It's just a nightmare. These stages are just horrendous. There's no way you can drive fast. It's difficult to see quite why Turkey has been accepted on to the calendar because as far as I'm concerned, this isn't rallying. It's self preservation."

Just 40 of the original 60 starters left Kemer yesterday morning for the day's seven stages in the Bey Mountains and immediately McRae was forced to play second fiddle to his Citroen team-mate Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard, who began the day second, posted three fastest times as he applied the pressure to overnight leader, Harri Rovanpera. The pressure paid off when on stage 10 at Myra, the Finn broke the rear suspension on his Peugeot and despite limping through another couple of tests, he was forced to retire on stage 13 at Kumluca.

Sainz inherited the lead and built on his advantage to take a 79.5- second lead ahead of Peugeot's Richard Burns, co-driven by Perth's Robert Reid, into the final day. The Englishman holds a 24.5-second lead over the Ford of Belgium's Francois Duval who in turn is 42 seconds ahead of McRae.

In addition to Rovanpera, the gruelling conditions have already claimed the Citroen of Sebastien Loeb, the Subaru of Petter Solberg and the Hyundai of Freddy Loix. Among the walking wounded are defending world champion Marcus Gronholm who dropped almost eight minutes with damage to the power steering on his Peugeot, a similar fate to that which befell four-times world champion Tommi Makinen's Subaru. The Finn though is clinging on to the final championship point in eighth place.