Rally leader challenged

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 28

Rally leader challenged

NZPA Monte Carlo A tremendous effort by Finland’s Hannu Mikkola and Arne Hertz, of Sweden, in the last surviving works Audi Quattro was not enough to shake the Monte Carlo Rally pacesetters, Walter Rohrl and Christian Geistdorfer. of West Germany, early yesterday. Winners at Monte Carlo in 1980, Rohrl and Geistdorfer, in their Opel Ascona, stayed comfortably clear of their teammates, Jochi Kleint and Gunter Wanger, and as leading crews headed towards the rugged Arxdeche region they had opened up a lead of more than two minutes.

Mikkola was pulling out all the stops. In spite of the absence of snow, on which the four-wheel drive Audi Quattros perform so well, the Finn, aged 39, was still able to set the feastest times for four of the first nine time trials of the gruelling 1500 km "common run."

Mikkola, who is hoping for

a first Monte Carlo Rally victory to cap a dazzling career, closed the gap on the third-placed Porsche of Guy Frequelin and Jean-Francois Fauchille. of France, to only 19 seconds, and was just one minute behind the secondplaced Opel Ascona of Jochi Kleint and Gunter Wanger. But Rohrl. sensing the threat, produced two scratch times himself and after the leading crews had raced through the 38km special stage through the Fayolle Pass, Mikkola still trailed the 1980 world champion by more than three minutes and a half.