The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Mettinen snatches slender lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 17, 2006
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Mettinen snatches slender lead

D. Ravi Shankar

Makassar (Indonesia): The Finnish pair of Jarkko Mettinen and Mikko Markkula battled hard for

Team MRF to snatch a slender lead over Cody Crocker (Ben Atkinson) on the first day of the Gudang Garam International Rally Indonesia 2006.

Jarkko Mettinen, who had trailed Cody Crocker by less than a second at the fourth stage, produced a super burst on the fifth stage to take the lead in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship section. In the overall section though, Japan's Toshihiro Arai (Tony Sircombe, UK) had a 0.23 seconds lead over the duo from Finland. To Jarkko's credit, his inspired driving on the seventh stage gave him a tiny lead for the overall section till Arai regained the lead on the last stage for the day.

Unfamiliar conditions

Cody Crocker, making his debut on the Indonesian circuit, found the heat enervating and the conditions quite unfamiliar.

The dusty roads in the sugar plantation area of Makassar proved to be more than a handful for the Australian as Toshihiro Arai, with navigator Tony Sircombe, kept up a relentless challenge in the overall section. By the end of the fourth stage, Arai had crept into the overall lead and in the APRC registered section, Team MRF's duo from Finland Jarkko Mettinen and Mikko Markkula was just a little over one second adrift of the Les Walkden Rallying team.

Provisional standings (drivers only):

1. Jarkko Mettinen (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, (1:59.52.3); 2. Cody Crocker (Subaru ImprezaWRX, 2:0:26.8); 3. Hiroshi Yanagisawa (Subaru Impreza WRX, 2:2.33.4); 4. Katsuhiko Taguchi (Mistubishi Lancer Evo IX, 2:4:10.4); 5. Rifat Sungkar (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, 2:5:5.5).

Overall Leader: 1. Toshiro Arai (Subaru Impreza WRX, 1:59.29.7).

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