First blood to McRae as Mitsubishi fire

THE first day of the inaugural 555 China Rally was dominated by Subaru pair Colin McRae and Kenneth Eriksson, but the event went from bad to worse for Mitsubishi driver Yoshihiro Kataoka.

He lasted only four stages yesterday in a cobbled-together reccie car after writing off his Group A Lancer during a media demonstration on Thursday.

The Japanese took a right-hand bend too tight and hit a large rock, ripping out his front suspension.

In marked contrast to Kataoka, Scot McRae and Swede Eriksson staged an intriguing battle throughout the eight stages in their 555 Subaru World Rally Team Imprezas.

It wasn't until the final stage of the afternoon, a 25-kilometre dash through a valley ending with a narrow, winding overpass from Da Zhi Zi, that 1995 world champion McRae exerted his influence to eclipse the reigning Asia-Pacific champion by 30 seconds and lead day one of the three-day competition by 39 seconds.

'The car had run well all day but on stage eight I had a serious overheating problem,' Eriksson explained. 'The water temperature got up to 120 degrees [Celsius].' McRae said he also experienced a heating problem on stage eight but added: 'I did go for it.' Japanese Yoshio Fujimoto in the Group A Toyota Celica lies third but seemingly already out of contention a distant four minutes and 26 seconds off the pace.

The drive of the day clearly was that of fourth-placed Japanese Shigeyuki Konishi in his Group N Tein Sport Subaru Impreza.