Motorsport: McRae edges closer to Gronholm

Colin McRae set the fastest time on today’s opening stage but it only scratched the surface of his deficit to Swedish Rally leader Marcus Gronholm.

The big thaw has set in and the snow covering is rapidly disappearing to leave slushy ice on the forest roads.

The leading drivers are competing in reverse order today so McRae is having to contend with road partly churned up by previous cars.

McRae has 40 seconds to claw back if the Ford ace is to topple the so far dominant Peugeot team and this morning’s 40-kilometre opener was an ideal opportunity to try one of his spectacular comebacks.

A combination of fourth-fastest time and delays to his rivals has brought Richard Burns into 11th overall and closing fast on Hyundai’s Juha Kankkunen.

Burns lost time yesterday when he stuffed his third placed Peugeot into a snow bank and dropped to the foot of the top 20.

The day has already seen a flurry of drama with Citroen’s Thomas Radstrom late out of the first service area after having to change a turbo and Subaru’s Norwegian star Petter Solberg sidelined with engine failure halfway through the first stage.

Not since Monte Carlo 2001 has Subaru suffered a complete wipeout of its team, Tommi Makinen retiring yesterday after snow blocked his radiator and overheated the engine.

The next two stages are also a repeat of roads run yesterday before this afternoon’s three stages are run for the first time.