MONTE CARLO RALLY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27565, 24 January 1955, Page 5

MONTE CARLO RALLY

Norwegian Leads After Mountain Test

(NX. Press Association-Copy right) (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, January 22. Per Mailing, a Norwegian driver in a Sunbeam, led the field in the Monte Carlo rally tonight with only tomorrow’s speed test to be decided. In the over-all classification issued after today’s stiff mountain circuit climb. Per Mailing led with 244.60 penalty marks. The Frenchman, Georges Gillard, driving a Dyna Panhard. was in second place with 284.00 penalties. A German. Hanns Gerdum. in a Mercedes. was third with 297.40 penalty points. Fourth was the Englishman, Gerald Burgess, in a Ford Zephyr, with 307.00 penalties. I Fewer than 90 competitors will take ;part in the final speed trial. Many competitors had narrow escapes during the 200-mile mountain test today. The 100 finalists had to drive over a slippery, twisting circuit round hairpin bends and over passes above the principality of Monaco. Leading the rally before the mountain test was Henri Marang. a young Parisian, driving a Citroen. Mrs Pochon. the French holder of the Women’s Cup, skidded on the mountain run today, hit a rock, and crashed head-on into a wall. The car was put back on the road, with the left mudguard damaged, and the time lost was made up. Peter Collins, the noted British racing driver, had a tyre burst when going at full speed, and only skilful driving saved him from sliding over a precipice. Nine starters failed to complete the formidable mountain test. Some cars were in bad condition as they limped in to the finish. One German D.K.W. somersaulted on an icy stretch, but completed the course tn keep the D.K.W.’s in the running for the team prize.