Hazardous
Well-Known Member
This rally is going to be really good. Gr?nholm and Loeb are very evenly matched, and if Loeb had not been penalised for arriving to a time control late with 10 seconds, they would only have 0.2 seconds between them. On the longest stage of the day both said they drove as fast as they could, and the gap was only 0.8 seconds.
And Petter... How much bad luck can a man have? He suffered a driveshaft failure on the very first stage and lost three minutes before it could be fixed, and was in tears after that. And as if that was not enough, he then had a gear selection problem which cost him more time on stage and caused a 2:20 minute time penalty. Subaru's day wasn't exactly helped when Atkinson had a minor off on one stage but managed to damage his power steering, losing much time as well.
Another heartbreak was for Mikko Hirvonen, whose car lost a water pump only few kilometres from the finish of the fifth stage, and he was forced to retire. He was third at the time, and looking set for a very good finish.
And Petter... How much bad luck can a man have? He suffered a driveshaft failure on the very first stage and lost three minutes before it could be fixed, and was in tears after that. And as if that was not enough, he then had a gear selection problem which cost him more time on stage and caused a 2:20 minute time penalty. Subaru's day wasn't exactly helped when Atkinson had a minor off on one stage but managed to damage his power steering, losing much time as well.
Another heartbreak was for Mikko Hirvonen, whose car lost a water pump only few kilometres from the finish of the fifth stage, and he was forced to retire. He was third at the time, and looking set for a very good finish.