Event Bulletin
13 July 2002

Following the retirement of more than a third of the field yesterday, just 29 of the original 48 starters left the Nairobi Parc Ferme today to begin the second leg of the 2002 Safari Rally.
Today's route was made up of 410 competitive kilometres and five stages based around the central service point at Suswa. Leg two was run entirely on repeated stages, which meant a deteriorating road surface with even more ruts, rocks and changing terrain.
There was action early on when overnight leader Tommi Makinen, who had led the event from the first stage, lost nearly eight minutes with a suspension problem and dropped to sixth overall. Colin McRae inherited the lead and his teammate Carlos Sainz moved to second. Makinen later retired on CS9 and was swiftly followed by Carlos Sainz with an engine problem. Kenneth Eriksson and current World Champ Richard Burns also retired - both within sight of the service area.
Ahead of the final three stages tomorrow, Colin McRae holds the lead, 2m26s ahead of the Peugeot of Harri Rovanpera, with Citroen's Thomas Radstrom in third.
In the Group N Category, Mitsubishi driver Marcos Ligato leads, with the Subaru Impreza of Toshihiro Arai right behind in second, and Karamjit Singh in a Proton third.

"Yesterday everything was going so well, the car was working perfectly, but everything changed this morning and then finally we lost steering after a hairpin left about 30kms in to CS8. I don't understand what happened, but it was fortunate that the wishbone broke in a slow section and not the flat out section. We have enough speed for the Finland rally we just need reliability and to make sure the car is perfect we will do an extra test. It's not going to be easy as my home rally is always flat out. "

"From the first stage yesterday Tommi was very confident about his chances, but it all went wrong this morning and a faulty set of dampers cost us the rally. Kenya is an extremely tough rally, and there will be few finishers this year. We have to forget about this event now. We're already thinking, talking and planning for Finland."

SS7 08:35 Bauxites I (23.45km)
Following yesterday's frustrations, 555 Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg went on the attack right from the start. He claimed his second stage win of the rally on SS7 by a margin of more than seven seconds and moved up the overall order from 17th to 14th. Ford's Colin McRae was second quickest, a performance which elevated him from third to second overall. Richard Burns came in third, less than a second behind McRae. Meanwhile Ford's Estonian hero, Markko Martin, kept up the good form he'd shown on leg one and finished fourth quickest to retain his overall lead.
Fastest Time : Solberg (Subaru) 14:00.4

CS5 07:03 Kedong - Ngema ((73.63km))
The first test was another pass through the punishing Kedong - Ngema section, run on leg one as CS1, but driven today in the opposite direction. On yesterday's first attempt, the gruelling terrain wreaked havoc on the cars and caused the retirements of Marcus Gronholm and Freddy Loix. This time there were serious consequences for rally leader Tommi Makinen of the 555 Subaru team who lost more than eight minutes with rear suspension-damper problems. Makinen completed the stage and returned to service, but the problem dropped him from first to sixth overall, 15.6s behind Markko Martin. Citroen's Sebastien Loeb won the stage - to collect the French manufacturer's first Safari stage win - although after problems yesterday and 40s of penalty time he remained ninth overall. Carlos Sainz was second-fastest, moved to second overall and closed the gap on his Ford colleague and new rally leader Colin McRae to 2m03s.
Fastest Time : Loeb (Citroen) 37:30.6

CS6 08:52 Nailongilok - Il Damat ((74.57km))
Low cloud cover prevented the spotter helicopters from flying and organisers cancelled the stage for safety reasons.
Fastest Time : Stage Cancelled n/a

CS7 10:59 Kedong - Ntulele ((106.37km))
The reverse-repeat of CS4 resulted in a British 1, 2, when Richard Burns took his first Safari stage win for Peugeot with Colin McRae behind him in second. Harri Rovanpera was third in another 206WRC and capitalised on a slow time from Carlos Sainz who stopped to change a puncture. Rovanpera moved ahead of the Spaniard and into second overall 3m28s behind rally leader McRae. Sainz now lay 40 seconds behind Rovanpera in third, with Skoda's Kenneth Eriksson another 2m49s back in fourth. The stage brought continued frustrations for Makinen. He had difficulty running in the dust trail of the car in front, the punctured Ford of Carlos Sainz, and in the limited visibility collected a slow-puncture himself after hitting a sharp rock. 25kms from the finish Makinen and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom stopped to change the wheel. Altogether the incidents cost the pair almost three minutes. But there was more drama to come before the next service. Kenneth Eriksson, Skoda's speedy Swede, left the stage for the 65kms journey to Suswa with a gearbox that had been damaged on the stage. It's condition deteriorated during the drive and finally failed just 500 metres from the service entrance. Eriksson and co-driver Tina Thorner weren't able to push the car over the sandy ground and they retired.
Fastest Time : Burns (Peugeot) 51:11.1

CS8 14:04 Kerrerie - Serabei ((81.67km))
Peugeot driver Gilles Panizzi set the fastest time, with his French compatriot Sebastien Loeb second and Harri Rovanpera third. But the story of the stage concerned the two drivers who didn't make it out. The 81km Kerrerie - Serabei section proved a real giant killer. First to go was Tommi Makinen, the Finn was 30kms from the start line when a front suspension wishbone broke on his Subaru and he could go no further. Carlos Sainz retired shortly after, his Focus lost oil pressure due to an oil pump drive-belt failure and stopped 35kms before the finish line. Richard Burns was in the wars too, his Peugeot suffered front suspension damage after a crossmember bolt sheared 500metres before the finish line. The wheel hung in the arch but he was able to continue and finish the stage. With Sainz gone, Rovanpera moved into second place and Markko Martin inherited third. But the action didn't stop there. In a scene reminiscent of Kenneth Eriksson's retirement so close to his team base after the last stage, Richard Burns got his Peugeot stuck in the thick dust and dry soil at the entrance to the Suswa service area. Despite frantic efforts to dig out the stricken machine he ran out of time, retired, and made the rest of the journey on foot.
Fastest Time : Panizzi (Peugeot) 37:22.4

CS9 16:16 Kedong - Ntulele ((73.63km))
Comparatively few incidents on the last stage of the day. Sebastien Loeb was quickest, with Gilles Panizzi second and Harri Rovanpera third. Colin McRae was fourth, and kept the lead, although Rovanpera managed to chip 30 seconds off the Scot's advantage and bring it down to 2m26s.
Fastest Time : Loeb (Citroen) 36:36.6

Starts from the Safari Park resort at 0445hrs. Ahead of the remaining competitors will be three more stages and a total of 262 competitive kms. The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp back in Nairobi at 1615hrs.