Michele Mouton extends rally lead

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 40

Michele Mouton extends rally lead

From

JOHN FRIDD

in Taupo

Michele Mouton roared through the mud and the slush in the Kaingaroa Forest last evening to open out a 7min lead on Walter Rohrl after 22 special stages of the Sanyo Rally. Mouton’s four-wheel-drive Audi Quattro was suited to the forest tracks made muddy by torrential rain yesterday, but even she complained about the conditions. “It was impossible to drive,” she said as she belted herself into her Quattro for special stage 23 last evening. “Of course if it’s impossible for four-wheel-drive cars, imagine what it’s like for the others.” Motion was not worried

that Rohrl beat her by 8s on the first stage of the final leg last evening: “I was waiting for the next stage,” she said. On that 35km stage she beat the world champion by a stunning minute and a half, showing that she was likely to extend her lead over Rohrl further during the night. Rohrl conceded last evening that the Audi had a big advantage over his Lancia: “It was all deep mud and it was impossible to get traction,” he said. The other drivers found the conditions on stage 22 very demanding. Paul Adams, who is well up the order in his tiny Toyota Starlet described the conditions as the worst he had pvpr sppti Reg Cook, of Aqpkland,

dropped behind his Nissan team-mate, Jim Donald, when he slid off the road on the first stage last night. Earlier in the day, as the cars toured into Rotorua after leg two Mouton had a 4min 51s lead over Rohrl, and Salonen held a secure third place, 7min 40s in arrears of Rohrl but 14min ahead of the second Lancia driver, Attilio Bettega. Audi’s anguish deepened early yesterday morning when Hannu Mikkola’s rally ended in a wet forest north of Rotorua. The turbocharger of his Quattro caught fire and the brief, fierce fire burned much of the motor’s fuel-injection equipment, rendering the engine useless. When Mikkola dropped out he had just forged his

way into fourth place, seven seconds ahead of Bettega, and was starting to peg back the 12min deficit on Salonen. The highlights of the second leg was stage 19, a 95km whopper inland from Gisborne. Drivers had to contend with 22 bridges, four cattle-stops and three fords as well as just keeping their cars on the slippery road, and Mouton blasted through to take the fastest time, 19s ahead of Mikkola, with Rohrl third just 12s behind. Mouton completed the incredibly twisting stage in Ihr 4min 7s, for an average speed of 89.7 km/h. After leg two Mouton had taken the lioness’s share of the special stages wins, with 11 fastest times, compared

with six to Rohrl and three to Mikkola. Brian Stokes was the top South Islander after leg two. As the crews got some sleep in rainy Rotorua Stokes held thirteenth place in his Escort 1600. The Waikuku driver was a huge Ihr 15min behind the leader, Mouton, but he was only three and a half minutes behind the twelfth-placed Toyota Corolla of Kevin Smith (Waikanae). John Sergei, of Christchurch, was not among the starters for the third and final leg in Rotorua last evening. His co-driver Brian Clark, had become violently ill with the flu on the last two special stages of leg two yesterday morning and Sergei was told by an official that Clark cogld go

straight to bed when the crew reached Rotorua. Sergei took his Toyota Starlet to Parc Ferme alone, which is against the regulations, and was stunned to learn that he was being excluded from the event. He appealed but was told just five minutes before the third leg began last evening that he was out of the rally. Sergei had been holding twenty-second place after leg two. The top 10 placings after stage 22 are: Mouton, 7h 48min 40s, 1; Rohrl, 7:55.54, 2; Timo Salonen, 8:02.48, 3; Attilio Bettega, 8:17.18, 4; Shekhar Mehta, 8:24.33, 5; Jim Donald, 8:35.49, 6: Malcolm Stewart, 8:43.55, 7; Cook, 8:50.38, 8; Shane Quinn, 8:57.51, 9; Adams, 8:58.38, 10.