Network Q Rally of Great Britain Reports Service

After Special Stage 4...

 Despite his dislike for the opening day's Mickey Mouse stages Colin McRae quickly established his superiority on this Rally of Great Britain, by taking a 10 second lead after the first four stages on a cold but dry day in central England.

After sharing the lead with his younger brother Alister, also in a works Subaru, Colin cleared off on his own in his last appearance as a Subaru driver and on the first pair of five miles stages around parts of the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone near Towcester he had set a pace which only Carlos Sainz has so far been able to stay with.

Juha Kankkunen was third heading the Ford team's last effort with the revered Escort badge while the Mitsubishi duo of World Champion Tommi Makkinen and Richard Burns were 20 seconds off the pace -seemingly without problems and holding back deliberately.

Behind the superstars Dominic Buckley, a privateer from Scottish border country near Kelso was setting the tongues wagging. Third on the opening 1.5 mile test at Silverstone in his Subaru Impreza, he dropped down the order as the morning went on but was still 14th and just ahead of veteran Flying Finn Ari Vatanen after the first couple of five miles tests at Silverstone.

Marcus Dodd, in a works backed Ford WRC car was only a handful of seconds behind Vatanen, this year part of the Subaru contingent and in the battle of the Formula Two brigade it was the Vauxhall kit car leading that of Nissan with the Sat version third. Finland's Jarmo Kytolehto had moved seven seconds clear of Mark Higgins with the SEAT driver Raimond Baumschlager of Austria 10 seconds off the pace. The pair of Renault Meganes of British champion Martin Rowe and Tapio Laukkanen were sixth and seventh nearly half a minute down on the class leader.

In Group N things were equally international. The Oman driver Hamed-al-Wahalbi, with Terry Harryman on the maps, led in his Mitsubishi Lancer from Manfred Stohl (Austria) with another Lancer, driven by Jeremy Easson, third. Frenchman Gilles Panizzi headed the Subaru contingent in fourth with the leading Japanese driver Toshihiro Arai (Subaru Legacy) fifth and the Polish entry of Lesjek Kuzal (Lancer) sixth.

Positions after SS4