Finn probable rally winner

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33277, 14 July 1973, Page 3

Finn probable rally winner

r.Vew Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 13. Ihe Finnish rally driver. Hannu Mikkola. seems almost certain to win the 19/3 international Heatway rally.

Rally officials said tonight that barring unforseen mechanical problems or accidents, Mikkola looked unbeatable. The rally cars left Rotorua for Auckland at 10 p.m. today on the final stage of the event, and the first cars are expected to arrive in Auckland about 1.30 p.m. tomorrow. Mikkola, driving a Ford Escort RS 1600, has led throughout the week-long rally, and has not had any great problems. Mikkola’s team-mate M. Marshall, of Auckland, is running second in another RSI6OO and has a handy points lead over the thirdplaced Shekhar Mehta, of East Africa, in a Datsun 1808. BIG CHANGE One big alteration in placings between Hastings and Rotorua was the fall of A. Woolf (Auckland) from sixth to twenty-second. His car landed in a ditch and damaged its suspension.

A ieature of the latest re-1 suits is the sharp improve-' tnent of the Scots driver, A. | Cowan, last year’s Heatwavi winner. ~ Cowan lost all chance of: victory this year when his Clubman GT suffered mech- i amcal problems in the South; Island. He dropped as far as sixty-fourth but has pulled back through the field. STILL GAINING Provisional results have him m thirty-third position, but rally headquarters said that later amendments meant Cowan would be twentyeighth car to leave Rotorua tonight. the'e'nri °n? 1 i cs>u ! ts computed at rua) arc:- dlV ' Si ° n five ,Rot * Escort Im 1 i ’„ 1707 - 4 . 4 PO'ntj lost, 1; At RSl'wm 'Auckland!. Escort RSI6OO. 1749.2 a, 2; S. Mehta (East 1 Africa). Datsun 1808 1768.54 3* i 1529 90 a Al i St, , ;, . lia1 ’ Tora,la XL-I’,l ! v < J; 9 -29 4: R. Millen (Auckland!.: Alazda R.\3. 1875.29. 5; T. Bailev ■Auckland), Porsche 91 IT, 1881 61 I R\ ' S ' w h a ngareih S';! Hn 2 iu 908 i 78 ’ Lund lustra-! a), Mazda RX3, 1910.75. 8; A ' CS° P lU 'unn tingSll Mitsubishi' LGS(, 1944.09, 9: (• Turner (Auckland), Fiat 125. 1947.15 lb:i ; c , on J „ ordar L 'Kaikohei. Escort I (tSIGOO. 1968.04 11. B. Robson m7- C i4 an io - i- E scort RSlfiOO. C- *■■■ Green ■Australia,. Monaro GTS. 1993.41. |:j- \ ‘VX'mgtoni. Corolla SLJ 2007.19. 14; . Benscmann (Nel--2026 16 ’ 13: J Glad-!>V-o ejlrngton'. Mitsubishi GL. 2003.61, 16; S. Millen (Auckland). ?u-''n'l a Vl ’ 2054 '>‘>. i?; W. Kav (Wellington), Corolla. 2062.79. 18; I .;£E'van (Wellington), Datsun. 2069.47. 19; D. Nicltoll (Auckland). Mitsubishi Colt, 2074.57. 20.