Laukkanen leads Trackrod Rally, MacHale fourth

At the end of the first leg of the Trackrod Rally, Finland's Tapio Laukkanen, on board his Subaru WRC has a slim 5.9 second lead over fellow countryman and teenage sensation, Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus WRC).

Sat, 27 Sep, 2003 - 20:13

At the end of the first leg of the Trackrod Rally, Finland's Tapio Laukkanen, on board his Subaru WRC, has a slim 5.9 second lead over fellow countryman and teenage sensation, Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus WRC).

The pair swapped times on the closing stages to set up a dramatic finish for tomorrow's final leg of six stages.

Meanwhile, Pirelli British Rally Championship leader, Jonny Milner in a Toyota Corolla WRC, remains focused on the championship and is quite content with third, allowing the Finnish duo slug it out at the top.

Dublin's Austin MacHale and his co-driver Brian Murphy in a Subaru WRC retain fourth - a position they held throughout the nine stages.

MacHale is over a minute ahead of the Hyundai WRC of Steve Petch.

Elsewhere, Northern Ireland's Kris Meeke leads the Super 1600 after Gwyndaf Evans (MG ZR) bowed out on today's penultimate stage.

Fellow Ulsterman Garry Jennings is third in the same category.

In Group N, Tipperary's Roy White (Mitsubishi) is fourth in the showroom category and 14th overall.

The Peugeot 206 Super Cup is proving to be a hot contest with less than five seconds between the top three.

Donegal's Shaun Gallagher has slipped to third 1.8 seconds behind Chris Moore, who is 2.8 seconds off leader Stuart Jones.

Trackrod Rally:

Top 6:

1. Tapio Laukkanen (Subaru WRC) 58m. 07.5s.

2. Jari-Matti latvala (Ford Focus) 58m. 13.4s.

3. Jonny Milner (Toyota Corolla WRC) 58m. 49.3s.