McRae's Podium Hopes Are Bjorn Again In Sweden
Published: 14th February 2003
Fellow team-mates Sebastian Loeb and Carlos Sainz have also improved significantly on their first day by getting into the overall top ten, at tenth and eighth respectively.
McRae had an incident-free run during the day’s six stages, never dipping below seventh place behind the stage leader and working up to an equal third with Tommi Makinen in Special Stage 11, which also saw Loeb set his best stage performance, finishing second, just 1.9 seconds behind the leader.
Special Stage 8 provided Sainz with his finest moment when, in his Xsara WRC, he set the fastest time of 10:47.5 before the stage was closed following an incident and eventually declared a tied stage.
McRae needs to make up 61.7 seconds over tomorrow’s
120 kilometres of rallying, to overtake fellow Briton Richard
Burns whose Peugeot 206 is currently lying third overall.
McRae’s fellow Citroen drivers will endeavour to ensure
that all three Xsara WRCs finish in the points.
