The Rally San Remo is four stages old, and the teams are in service until this afternoon, but so far, this rally promises to shakeup the championship standings. Seb Loeb is currently in the lead, with a 21 second cushion over Markko Martin (who won stages 3 and 4), and 28 second cushion over Marcus Gronholm. Francois Duval has been surprisingly quick, and he holds fourth place at the moment. Gilles Panizzi is currently in fifth place, 40 seconds off the pace, and quite unhappy with his Peugeot at the moment. Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae are in sixth and seventh, and Petter Solberg rounds out the top 8, just over a minute off Loeb’s pace.

Absent from the points at the moment is Richard Burns. He had a rough time on SS1 and SS2 (this rally has never been kind to Burns), and he’s fighting to stay in the top 10 at the moment. Solberg was quick on SS1, but some suspension issues caused him to lose time on SS2, but he’s back on pace at the moment, holding his position and gaining on Sainz and McRae. Expect him to charge at some point.

Posted on 3 October 2003