Rallying: MARTIN'S GREECE LIGHTNING

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Jun 8, 2003 | by SPENCER JONES in Athens

MARKKO Martin will take a lead of almost one minute into the final day of the Acropolis Rally as he seeks to claim his first World Rally Championship victory.

The Ford driver put in a devastating drive in Lamia, Greece, yesterday, to maintain the lead he has held since the second stage of the event.

However, he will be conscious of the fact that he has been in this position on both of the last two rounds, only to be forced out with mechanical problems.

He will have to endure six nerve-wracking stages today before he claim his first time.

The three-way battle for second place is currently led by Spain's Carlos Sainz, in a Citroen, who is 57 seconds behind the Estonian rally leader.

Subaru's Petter Solberg is in third, 20.2secs further adrift, having overcome the transmission problems which had seen Britain's Colin McRae overhaul him.

McRae, also in a Citroen, is now chasing hard in fourth place.

"Even though the special stages are less rough, there are some big stones which have been brought on the road by the previous cars," McRae said.

"A victory is still possible, but we need others to hit bad luck."

Earlier in the day, Peugeot's hopes of victory in the Acropolis Rally suffered a major blow during the second stage when Harri Rovanpera suffered a major gearbox problem.

Starting the day in second place, the Finn rapidly tumbled down the field into eighth as the gearbox in his Peugeot 206 became a victim of this famously gruelling conditions.

LEADERS - 1 Markko Martin (Est) Ford 3hr 30min 25.8secs; 2 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Citroen 3:31.21.6; 3 Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru 3:31.42.8; 4 Colin McRae (Gbr) Citroen 3:31.59.4; 5 Tommi Makinen (Fin) Subaru 3:32.30.8; 6 Richard Burns (Gbr) Peugeot 3:32.36.5; 7 Harri Rovanpera (Fin) Peugeot 3:33.56.9; 8 Gilles Panizzi (Fra) Peugeot 3:34.00.7; 9 Didier Auriol (Fra) Skoda 3:34.38.7; 10 Roman Kresta (Cze) Peugeot 3:37.48.0.