McRae hanging on in Kenya
Pressure is mounting on Ford’s Colin McRae in Kenya as the Scot hangs on to a diminishing lead in the Safari Rally.
McRae is being hounded by Peugeot’s Finnish driver Harri Rovanpera and no longer has the cushion of Spanish team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Sainz, along with Subaru’s Tommi Makinen from Finland, was forced out of the event on stage eight.
Sainz broke an oil pump belt, and the engine lost all oil pressure as a result, while Makinen terminally damaged his front suspension.
Swede Kenneth Eriksson retired when transmission failure in his Skoda halted his efforts within sight of the sanctuary of the service area.
These three retirements turned the leaderboard on its head.
McRae continues to head Rovanpera, but third is now held by Markko Martin, Ford’s Estonian driver who, despite hating his first Safari Rally, is in with a chance to become only the third driver to win this classic at his first attempt.
Richard Burns, in his Peugeot, has now climbed into the points to lie fifth but is over 15 minutes behind McRae.
