Duval Holds Lead in Rally Australia

VOA Sports
Voice of America
November 12, 2005

Belgian rally driver Francois Duval holds the lead headed into Sunday, the final day of the Rally Australia - the last event of this year's World Rally Championships.

Duval, in a Citroen, won the 20th stage to hold onto a 27-second lead over Scotland's Colin McRae in a Skoda.  Harri Rovanpera of Finland is third overall in a Mitsubishi, 32 seconds out of the lead.

Overnight leader Petter Solberg of Norway had a bizarre accident that forced him out of the event.  Solberg hit and killed a kangaroo in the second stage and severely damaged the cooling system on his Subaru Impreza.

The Norwegian had a chance to take second place in the overall standings because Marcus Gronholm of Finland was knocked out of the rally Friday.  Sebastien Loeb of France has won this year's World Rally driving title, but was also eliminated from the Australian event Friday when he hit a tree.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.