A GLOOM, as heavy and thick as the one that shrouds this mountainous lake resort centre 70 kilometres north of Beijing, descended on the Marlboro Mitsubishi Team yesterday when the world champion, Tommi Makinen, crashed out of the 555 China Rally on the 16th and final stage of the day.
A 10-point leader in this year's drivers' championship after 10 rounds of the 14-round World Rally Championship (WRC), the Finn now finds his chances of an unprecedented fourth world crown under siege from Frenchman Didier Auriol.
Toyota Castrol Team driver Auriol lies only 10 points adrift of Makinen in his Corolla and a win today would see him sharing the lead on 48 points.
It was the second major blow for the Mitsubishi Team, who lost their other driver, Belgian Freddy Loix, on the first day when he crashed on the penultimate stage in his Mitsubishi Carisma GT.
Makinen, who had been quickest in four of the seven stages before his demise, said: 'We were catching up and I felt confident that we could win this rally until we hit a rock [smashing the front suspension].' Two inspired drives in stages 10 and 14 gave the initiative to Auriol, who had trailed Briton Richard Burns in the Subaru World Rally Team Impreza by 19.8 seconds after the first day's six stages on Friday.
As rain again descended upon the rally late yesterday afternoon and continued into the evening, Auriol held a 10.7-second lead over Burns, with teammate Carlos Sainz of Spain, also in a Corolla, still in the equation, 48.6 seconds adrift.