Start of Day 3

One hundred and nine crews left Cheltenham before dawn at the start of the third and final leg of the Network Q Rally with the knowledge that the seven stages in the south Wales forests still left them with 103 miles of competition.

And within minutes came news of the first major retirement - Alister McRae rolling the last remaining works Subaru Impreza into the trees three kms from the end of the opening eight mile test. A sad end to the high hopes of a British one-two on the final round of this year's World Rally Championship.

McRae started the day half a minute ahead of Juha Kankkunen's Ford Escort and a minute behind leader Richard Burns' Mitsubishi Carisma. His departure from second spot was good news for the Toyota team and Carlos Sainz who only needs to finish in the top four to win the World Championship for a third time.

Throughout the event Sainz has concentrated on staying clear of trouble and with the back-up of France's Didier Auriol, the two Corolla had experienced a troublefree run. However their reliability was shattered at the end of the second day when Auroil's car was retired with a broken clutch.

Today seven stages include the longest stage of the event in the Resolven forest which is 27 miles long while the Rhondda stage is 22 miles long.

However the real sting in the tail lies right at the end of the leg when crews have to do three stages, totalling 37 miles without service.

1998 Network Q Rally of Great Britain