Great Britain : Skoda Motorsport
Skoda Motorsport World Rally Team drivers Colin McRae and Armin Schwarz ended the second leg of Rally GB in 11th and 18th places respectively.
After six stages in the fast Welsh forests, the leg ended with possibly the shortest stage in the championship, the 1.10kms indoor superspecial at Cardiff`s Millennium Stadium. It may have lacked distance but there was no lack of atmosphere as over 20,000 rally fans gathered to support their heroes with the noise reaching deafening levels when Colin`s Fabia WRC 05 burst into the stadium.
Colin`s hopes of setting super-fast times were dashed on the run out to this morning`s first stage. The semi-automatic gearshift system failed and the Scot had to revert to the manual option. Nevertheless he dropped little time and by the end of the leg had climbed into the top 10 and was poised to chase a points finish on tomorrow`s final leg.
Colin McRae
"Losing the auto shift wasn`t the best start to today but it didn`t actually cost me a lot of time. The biggest problem was that the manual gearshift isn`t located in the best position for me and I had to stretch to reach it. Generally it`s been a good day and tomorrow`s stages could suit the car a little bit better so we`ll be pushing as hard as possible.”
Armin Schwarz
“We`ve had no problems today but I haven`t had any speed either. The conditions are a bit like Mexico but unfortunately I`ve been driving like I did in Mexico too. I really don`t know what the solution is.”
Martin Muehlmeier, Head of Skoda Motorsport
“Colin was unlucky to lose the auto shift this morning but I think he has done a really good job to minimize the effect and keep his speed. I hope he can have a clear run tomorrow and finish the rally with the result he deserves.”
Rally GB ends with two long stages (29.39 and 27.42kms respectively) each run twice to the east of Swansea before the crews head for the finish podium in Cardiff at 1400.


Tags: colin-mcrae, nicky-grist, champion, star, great-britain, skoda, welsh,