Rallying: McRae closes gap as Makinen eases off

Just four stages were on the menu for yesterday's opening leg of the Safari Rally, but they represented just under three hours of gruelling competition.

As the drivers headed back to Nairobi for a well-deserved rest it was Finland's Tommi Makinen in a Subaru who led the event, having held the advantage from the first kilometre to the last.

However, even the four-times world champion demonstrated that judging the pace on this African adventure is tough as he eased off the throttle a little too much on the final stage and saw a 2min 21sec lead over Colin McRae in a Ford Focus slashed to just 16.1sec.

McRae kept his cool to win the two stages that Makinen lost out on and is finely placed for today's longest day that includes two more runs over yesterday's first stage, already regarded as one of the roughest of the event.

The rally breaks from tradition by not reverse seeding the leading 15 cars on legs two and three, so Makinen and McRae will not be further penalised.

As several drivers fell by the wayside, Britain's Richard Burns, in a Peugeot, climbed into the top 10 but the reigning world champion seems unable to match his rivals' pace.

The championship was thrown open on the opening stage when the series leader, Marcus Gronholm of Finland, retired with a blown engine in his Peugeot .

As the day unfolded, Subaru lost their Norwegian driver Petter Solberg with engine problems, Toni Gardemeister (Skoda) found himself with three wheels on his car, François Delecour (Mitsubishi) blew his engine and Hyundai lost both Armin Schwarz and Freddy Loix before the first service with electrical and clutch failure respectively.

"It's not going to be an easy day tomorrow," McRae said, "and we'll have to drive as much with our head as with our right foot. There's a long, long way to go and no chance to relax before Sunday afternoon."

SAFARI RALLY (Kenya) Leading positions after fourth stage: 1 T Makinen (Fin) Subaru 2hr 52min 17.4sec; 2 C McRae (GB) Ford +16.1sec; 3 C Sainz (Sp) Ford +2min 54.8sec; 4 H Rovanpera (Fin) Peugeot +3:37.1; 5 K Eriksson (Swe) Skoda +5:52.4; 6 M Martin (Est) Ford +6:34.2; 7 T Radstrom (Swe) Citroën +11:00.8, 8 R Burns (GB) Peugeot +15:43.1, 9 S Loeb (Fr) Citroën +18:33.8, 10 R Kresta (Cz Rep) Skoda +22:06.0.