London to Sydney Marathon

5th June - 4th July 2004

Day 8 - Igoumenitsa to Thessaloniki (Greece)

A McRAE DOUBLE TODAY

The fierce rivalry continues unabated between the rival Honda and Toyota teams. McRae scored two stage wins, the first by four seconds ahead of McAndrew and the second stage by a scant single second.

And this is marathon rallying where victory and second place is counted in single seconds. Stirring stuff.

Graham Lorimer holds third in his Toyota while Mike Montgomery sits on his tail in another of the Hondas while Steve Blunt in another Toyota sits quietly in fifth place.

How close is that with the order being - Toyota-Honda-Toyota-Honda-Toyota. The first three classics sit in 6th, 7th and 8th places.

The overnight ferry discharged its combatants into the land of the Olympics midst banners slung across small town streets welcoming the London-Sydney. Out in the remote villages the rally was more in evidence that the Olympics.

The Mayor and most of the town turned out in Thessaloniki to welcome the event. Flags and bunting fluttered on the harbourside where a special enclosure had been built to contain the 70 cars.

Welcome returnees who made it to the ferry were Paul Shaver in his Honda and Mark and Rosina Laucke in their 911 Porsche.

Laucke had speared across country from Genova after effecting repairs to his gearbox and Shaver had fitted a new electronic brain to his American-built Honda having been stranded in Rheims for three days. more...

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5th June to 4th July 2004 day by day