MARC THIERCELIN, one of only two skippers left in the solo Around Alone race, was heading for the Falkland Islands yesterday after his mast snapped. The competitors face 600 miles against the clock until the rally’s completion on Sunday.Makinen, who leads Kankkunen and France’s Didier Auriol by 13 points after winning the first two rallies of the season, was well beaten by his fellow Finn yesterday after struggling with tyre grip.Burns, whose victory in Kenya last season was his maiden championship triumph, is confident of repeating that success following his switch from Mitsubishi, saying: “I know I’m in very good company as all the top drivers are candidates to win But I’m not intimidated and I know I can do it.”. The Finn had also earlier been fined around pounds 6,000 following a collision with a Subaru car during the pre-event race last week.However, despite those setbacks, Makinen is still favourite to win the rally when the action resumes this morning on the dusty, pot-holed roads of East Africa. Scotland’s Colin McRae was fourth fastest despite suffering with a broken thumb while Spain’s Carlos Sainz was third quickest with Makinen back in 12th place.
Makinen, aiming for a sixth victory in the last seven rallies, finished four seconds off the lead over the one and a half mile section in Nairobi’s Jamhuri Park. BRITAIN’S Richard Burns made a promising start to the defence of his Safari Rally title in Kenya yesterday as Tommi Makinen, the world champion, suffered a double setback. Burns clocked the second-fastest time on the opening special stage behind Juha Kankkunen from Finland, his Subaru team-mate, although the real action does not begin until today. While Russia’s win was expected, the day’s other action featured a surprise as Finland edged out favourites Norway to snatch the Nordic combined Finland beat Norway by 1min 14.7sec..

By starting lower on the hill, officials hope to avoid delays that could be caused by adverse weather conditions higher up on the mountain.At the Nordic World Championships at Ramsau, in Austria, Russia completed a decade unbeaten in women’s cross-country 4x5km relay in major competitions when their quartet stormed to victory.It was Russia’s first success in an otherwise disappointing championships after dominating Nordic events in the 1990s. I’ll worry about the GS after that.”Organisers decided to use a two-leg sprint format for Saturday’s downhill in the hope of avoiding the notorious fog here. “But I feel fine and know I need to put some points on the board in the downhill, and that’s my goal. “I feel good on the skis so there are no worries from that standpoint, which is always the best way to enter a race.”The overall World Cup standings leader, Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria, cruised through the run in 14th place as she prepared to put Wednesday’s disappointing giant slalom race behind her, and keep Gerg from cutting too much into her 447 points lead.”I made a mistake in the GS but that happens when you go all out Sometimes you go just over the edge,” Meissnitzer said. Gerg was sixth in the training run.”There is still a lot of time between now and Saturday so the main thing for me is to stay focused and relax,” Gerg said.

France’s Melanie Suchet was third fastest, 0.22sec off the pace.
The season’s leading downhiller, Austria’s Renate Gotschl, placed fifth on 1:03.91 as she looks to put some distance between herself and Germany’s Hilde Gerg, who sits just 51 points behind with three races left in the season, including Saturday’s event. The 23-year-old Italian, fifth in the downhill standings, covered the 1,650 metres Gastrappet course in 1min 3.56sec, better than the German Regina Hausl by 0.08sec. Spreading herself a bit thin, perhaps?E-mail: j.willcock independent.co.uk. ISOLDE KOSTNER posted yesterday’s fastest training run for the women’s World Cup sprint downhill event to be held tomorrow in Are, Sweden. CLARE SPOTTISWOODE, the former gas regulator, has jacked in her full-time job with Enron after just six months in order to join PA Consulting. Ms Spottiswoode has left her post as senior vice-president of regulatory affairs in Europe for the American utility giant, in order to spearhead PA’s drive for European energy business.
Just last week, Ms Spottiswoode signed up with a team of high-profile advisers from the private sector to push forward an pounds 8bn Whitehall efficiency drive.