Makinen so near yet so far...

Tommi Makinen (Subaru-Pirelli) escaped unhurt from a huge accident at the end of the penultimate stage but the roll ended his bid for victory in Argentina.

Makinen had taken an overnight lead of 0.5 seconds into today's final leg and was locked in a tense battle with World Championship leader Marcus Gronholm when the accident happened.

Makinen so near yet so far...

Tommi Makinen (Subaru-Pirelli) escaped unhurt from a huge accident at the end of the penultimate stage but the roll ended his bid for victory in Argentina.

Makinen had taken an overnight lead of 0.5 seconds into today's final leg and was locked in a tense battle with World Championship leader Marcus Gronholm when the accident happened.

Gronholm's event win was later taken away when he was excluded for breaking the servicing rules outside parc ferme this morning.

Ford-Pirelli brought home all three of its official team cars with Subaru's second driver, Petter Solberg, splitting the trio in third place.

The championship battle between the two Pirelli teams has swung Ford-Pirelli's way after Argentina and with the Acropolis Rally next on the schedule, Ford will be hoping to take its third consecutive victory on the Greek event.

In Group N, Pirelli again dominated with Peruvian driver Ramon Ferreyros (Mitsubishi) heading Subaru's Toshihiro Arai and Proton's Karamjit Singh.

Throughout the event, Pirelli used the KM pattern PZero gravel tyre exclusively and, once again, it performed to a high standard with the EMI anti-deflation system ready to take over whenever a tyre or wheel rim was damaged.

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