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RALLYE SAN REMO - RALLYE
D'ITALIA
Round 11 of 14 WRC Events
October 1st - 5th 2003
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FIA Press Release - www.fia.com
FIA RALLY NEWS
[WRC] 2003 San Remo Final
Sunday, 5 October 2003
Sebastien Loeb won the 11th round of this year's FIA World Rally
Championship in Sanremo this afternoon. The Frenchman enjoyed an
untroubled run through the final leg of the event to move his Citroen
Xsara WRC to within two points of championship leader Richard Burns,
who finished seventh. The weather played a big part today's action,
with the final leg starting with further dry conditions, but as the
crews returned to that loop after lunch it started to rain heavily.
Peugeot won and lost in the downpour with third-placed man Marcus
Gronholm crashing his 206 WRC out of the rally on the final stage.
His team-mate Gilles Panizzi was the only driver of the leading bunch
to go out on intermediate tyres. The triple Sanremo winner rocketed
up the leaderboard leapfrogging his way from fifth to second, taking
close to two minutes out of Loeb in the process. Ford's Markko Martin
finished third, having run in second place for most of the last two
days.
Loeb's success means that Citroen now leads
the manufacturers' standings by four points from Peugeot, with Subaru
49 points adrift in third place.
Citroen Total
Technical: The Citroen Xsara WRCs of Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz
were reliable through the final day. Colin McRae's car suffered a
hydraulic problem towards the end of the final test.
Sporting: Loeb remained calm through the final two stages to maintain his statues as leader. Running on racing tyres, there was little the Frenchman could do to stave off the onset of his countryman Gilles Panizzi, but he kept his Xsara in the middle of the road to take his third win of the season. Carlos Sainz retained his fourth place, despite Panizzi passing him, courtesy of Marcus Gronholm's retirement. The Spaniard admitted he wasn't feeling too well today, a result of the kidney stones problems which he'd suffered earlier in the week. Colin McRae also moved up one position today, but otherwise the Scot reported no problems on any of the day's four stages.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: "I was very worried when the rain was coming. I knew that Markko was only 40 seconds behind and I knew that it was also going to be exceptionally difficult to drive the stages on the slick tyres we were using. It was hard work with so much water around, but we made it to the finish and to the win, which is a great result for us and for the team."
Carlos Sainz said: "It looked okay to keep Gilles behind this morning, the gap was quite big &endash; but then the rain came and we were on the wrong tyres. There was nothing we could do to stop him from passing us. We had some moments on those stages, the roads were very slippery in places."
Colin McRae said: "The conditions were incredible, probably the worst I have ever driven in. It wasn't raining all of the time, but when it was, it was just a case of keeping the car on the road. This hasn't been a great rally, now we look ahead to Corsica and Catalunya to set what we can do there."
Marlboro Peugeot Total
Technical: All three Peugeot 206 WRCs ran without any problems
through the final day, but Marcus Gronholm crashed out of the rally
on the final stage.
Sporting: The rain might have cost the team third place, with Gronholm's crash, but at the same time it earned them second place for Gilles Panizzi who made the right tyre choice. The Finn went off the road in heavy rain at the start of stage 14. He continued down the road, but the damage to the car was too bad for him to continue. Panizzi's rise through the leaderboard took him from fifth to fourth on the penultimate test. On the 21-kilometre over Colle d'Oggia, however, he was 1m 16.7s faster than anybody, which was enough for him to pass Martin and move into second place. Richard Burns had dropped back to tenth place on the penultimate stage, but second fastest time through the last stage elevated him into seventh, where he clinched two championship points.
Quotes: Gilles Panizzi said: "Those stages were amazing, so much water in the last one. Of course they were very difficult to drive and we did have quite a few moments in there. I am happy for the team and I am sad for the team. Happy because I have made the points to help Peugeot in the championship, but at the same time it was a pity for Marcus, he drove a very good rally until the last stage."
Richard Burns said: "I feel like we have stolen these points. The car felt good for me this morning, better on the second of the two stages, but then on that last stage of the rally I don't know what happened. It could be that we got the best of the weather, maybe it rained more for those around us. To end this event with some points is great for me. It's also good that I'm going to Corsica in a better frame of mind than I might have done."
Ford Motor Company
Technical: The two Ford Focus RS WRC03s of Markko Martin and Francois
Duval ran without any problems today. Mikko Hirvonen retired his 2002
version on the opening day.
Sporting: Martin maintained his second place through the opening loop of stages, admitting he was pushing harder on the second stage of the loop. The Estonian lost his runners-up spot on the rally's final test, running on dry-weather tyres, Martin was powerless to stop Panizzi coming past him. Duval was another driver to benefit from Gronholm's retirement, moving into fifth place after a trouble-free final day. The Belgian was happy with his result, having predicted that he would finish in fifth place before the rally started.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "We were lucky to stay on the road in those conditions. Marcus went off, but I think it could have been anybody. It was so difficult to drive. This is a shame to end the rally this way. Okay we have had the odd problem, but we had been in second place for so long. Having said that, I am happy with third position, having shown what the Ford Focus is capable of on asphalt roads."
Francois Duval said: "I worked quite hard on getting my pace notes right just before the start of this rally and it's gone very well. This has been a good event for me, especially when you consider that this is my first attempt at it in a World Rally Car. The last couple of stages were incredible. We bent the steering after cutting a corner about five kilometres into the stage. At that point I decided it wasn't worth risking things, so we backed off a little."
555 Subaru World Rally
Team
Technical: Tommi Makinen's Subaru Impreza WRC2003 ran without
mechanical trouble throughout the final leg of the event, while
Petter Solberg retired the sister car after the final stage on
Friday.
Sporting: Makinen started the day in 11th place, but moved into the top ten when Gronholm retired on the last stage. The four-times world champion's run through the final leg was without incident, the Finn using the time to test different tyres with an eye to the next two asphalt rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Quotes: Tommi Makinen said: "This morning was okay, no problems &endash; but the last two stages were very different. There was so much water it was very treacherous. Stage 13 was completely white with hail stones. Okay we have made the top ten at the end of the rally, but we prefer to be at the top of the top ten rather than the bottom. We found it hard to get the right set-up here and that's something we've got to work towards for the next rallies in Corsica and Catalunya."
David Lapworth said: "It's going to be hard work to find an answer to the pace that Markko (Martin) and Sebastien (Loeb) have been running at this weekend, but I think a podium position is attainable on the next two asphalt rallies. A lot will depend on the weather conditions."
Skoda Motorsport
Technical: Didier Auriol's Skoda Fabia WRC ran without mechanical
problems through the final leg of the rally. Toni Gardemeister
retired from the rally when he rolled off the road on the second
stage.
Sporting: Auriol had made some changes to the suspension set-up of his Skoda last night and felt it was a retrograde step after the first loop of stages this morning. The team changed the Fabia back to how it had been prior to stages 11 and 12 &endash; only for the rain to come and the Frenchman to run on the wrong tyres. He finished the event in 12th place.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "This morning the car was too bad, it wasn't right at all. We had made the car too hard for the stages, which cost us some time. Also we had quite a bad vibration from in those first two stages this morning. Another problem we had came when I stalled the car on the start-line of stage 12. This afternoon, the rain was incredible &endash; really not good at all to drive in."
Other entries
Mirco Baldacci maintained his grip on the lead of the FIA Junior
World Rally Championship field until the end of the event. The Fiat
driver didn't put a foot wrong through the final loop to beat
second-placed man Salvador Canellas (Suzuki Ignis) by more than five
minutes. Kris Meeke had held the runners-up spot since yesterday, but
he crashed his Opel Corsa off the road on the first stage this
morning. Dimitar Iliev was third in his Peugeot. Series leader Brice
Tirabassi retired his Renault Clio with electrical trouble earlier in
the rally and now holds just a three-point lead from Canellas with
two rounds to run. Daniel Carlsson &endash; who also retired &endash;
and Britain's Guy Wilks are joint third.
Of the non-official drivers, Cedric Robert was ninth in his private Peugeot with Roman Kresta taking a similar car to 11th, both ahead of Auriol's works Skoda.
05/10/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 39 crews (30 Group A and 9 Group N) restarted this morning.
TOP RETIREMENTS: Gronholm (FIN), Katajamaki (FIN), Meeke (GB)
TODAY:
Sunday 5 October
Leg 3 started from Sanremo at 07h00 and covered 333.56km, including
96.12km on four stages.
SS11 VIGNAI 1 (26.54km)
1 Loeb (F) Citroen 18m
00.7
2 Martin (EE) Ford 18m
04.2
3 Duval (B) Ford 18m
07.5
LEADERS AFTER SS11
1 Loeb (F) Citroen 3h 25m
01.4
2 Martin (EE) Ford 3h 25m 48.1
3 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 26m
19.4
SS12 COLLE D'OGGIA 1 (21.52km)
1 Martin (EE) Ford 16m
00.1
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 16m 02.0
3 Sainz (E) Citroen 16m
09.1
LEADERS AFTER SS12
1 Loeb (F) Citroen 3h 39m
06.6
2 Martin (EE) Ford 3h 39m 46.8
3 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 40m
23.2
SS13 VIGNAI 2 (26.54km)
1 Panizzi (F) Peugeot 19m 42.6
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 20m 02.6
3 Loeb (F) Citroen 20m
10.9
LEADERS AFTER SS13
1 Loeb (F) Citroen 3h 59m
17.4
2 Martin (EE) Ford 3h 59m 59.8
3 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 4h 00m
25.8
SS14 COLLE D'OGGIA 2 (21.52km)
1 Panizzi (F) Peugeot 15m 59.6
2 Tarantino (I) Renault 16m
16.9
3 Bernardi (F) Renault 16m
50.8
LEADERS IN SANREMO AFTER SS14
1 Loeb (F) Citroen 4h 16m
33.7
2 Panizzi (F) Peugeot
+28.3
3 Martin (EE) Ford
+54.6
4 Sainz (E) Citroen +2m
33.2
5 Duval (B) Ford +2m
58.9
6 McRae (GB) Citroen +4m 23.8
7 Burns (GB) Peugeot +7m 09.5
8 Bugalski (F) Citroen +7m
12.6
9 Robert (F) Peugeot +7m 26.7
10 Makinen (FIN) Subaru +7m
32.2
FIA JWRC LEADERS AFTER SS14
1 Baldacci (RSM) FIAT 4h 43m 22.6
2 Canellas (E) Suzuki +5m 21.8
3 Iliev (BG) Peugeot +6m
39.5
4 Teuronen (FIN) Suzuki +8m 39.2
5 Cecchettini (I) FIAT +11m 45.2
6 Wilks (GB) Ford +17m 10.4
7 Feghali (RL) Ford +21m
18.0
FINAL STATISTICS
EVENT: The rally covered 1375.86km, including 387.36km on 14 special stages (including seven run twice). All stages were on asphalt roads closed to other traffic.
STARTERS: 54 crews (34 Group A and 10 Group N) started the rally
FINISHERS: 36 crews (27 Group A and 9 Group N) finished the rally
STAGE WINNERS: Loeb (SS1-2-5-6-11) Martin (SS3-4-7-8-9-10-12) Panizzi (SS13-14)
RALLY LEADERS: SS1-SS14 Loeb
FIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (provisional
standings after 11 of 14 rounds):
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers:
Burns (GB) 57, Loeb (F) 55, Sainz (E) 53, Solberg (N) 48, Martin (EE)
43, Gronholm (FIN) 38, C. McRae (GB) 36, Makinen (FIN) 21, Rovanpera
(FIN) 18, Duval (B) 15, Panizzi (F) 14, Gardemeister (FIN) 9, Auriol
(F) 4, Robert (F) 3, A.McRae (GB) 3, Hirvonen (FIN) 3, Schwarz (D)
3, Tuohino (FIN) 2, Loix (B) 1, Ginley (GB) 1, Lindholm (FIN) 1,
Bugalski (F) 1.
FIA World Rally Championship for
Manufacturers:
Citroen 125, Peugeot 121, Subaru 76, Ford 71, Skoda 21.
FIA Junior World Rally Championship
(after 5 of 7 rounds):
Tirabassi (F) 28, Canellas (E) 25, Carlsson (S) 18, Wilks (GB) 18,
Aava (EE) 16, Baldacci (I) 12, Katajamaki (FIN) 10, Ligato (RA) 10,
Teuronen (FIN) 10, Broccoli (RSM) 9, others
FIA Production Car World Championship
(after 6 of 7 rounds/how many rounds entered, this event not
counting):
Rowe (GB) 37/5, Arai (J) 30/5, Singh (MAL) 30/6, Blomqvist (S) 26/5,
Sola (E) 22/5, Ligato (RA) 13/5, others.
NEXT EVENT:
October 15-19: Rallye de France-Tour
de Corse
Website: www.rallyedefrance.com
[WRC] 2003 San Remo Leg 2
Saturday, 4 October 2003
Frenchman Sebastien Loeb continues
to lead the Rallye Sanremo, round 11 of this year's FIA World Rally
Championship. The Citroen Xsara WRC driver is in the strange position
of having finished each stage slower than second-placed Markko
Martin, but still enjoys a bigger lead than the one he started with
this morning. The reason for this is that Martin had a 30-second time
penalty added to his overall time after he was late leaving service
while the Ford mechanics solved an electrical problem on his Focus RS
WRC03. Loeb confessed that with a one-minute cushion, there wasn't
the need for him to drive on the limit the way he had through the
opening leg. Loeb's day was without incident - save for a stall at a
hairpin on the day's second test. Loeb now goes into the final day of
the rally with a 43.2-second advantage over Martin. Marcus Gronholm
remains third on a day which provided little movement in the top
ten.
Tomorrow's third leg returns crews north of the rally's Sanremo base
for four stages.
Citroen Total
Technical: The three Citroen Xsara
WRCs ran without mechanical fault throughout the second leg.
Sporting: Loeb maintained his grip on the event today, his only problem came when he stalled the car in a hairpin on the second stage of the day. The Citroen driver's lead was 43.2 seconds at the end of the leg, after Ford's Markko Martin set fastest time on every stage today. Spain's Carlos Sainz held station in fourth place, easing another 6.2 seconds clear of Gilles Panizzi on the final stage of the day. It was a similar story with Colin McRae, the Scot maintained the pace that he was happy at throughout the leg and remained in seventh place, although he did suffer a problem with the car's handbrake which caused it to stall on the final stage of the day.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: "When I heard about Markko's penalty this morning then I decided to not go on the full attack. It is quite hard, though, trying to drive the car when it is not flat-out. I am having to concentrate very hard now. I dropped about six or seven seconds on stage seven when the car stalled. Today has been a good day, I am happy - but there's still tomorrow."
Carlos Sainz said: "Today we have had no problems. Of course I am still trying to push hard and the car is working well. We changed the master cylinder on the brakes last night and we have not had any more trouble from that part of the car."
Colin McRae said: "If you don't get off to a flying start and get embroiled in the fight straight away then you don't have that extra push. Sebastien is driving a very good rally, he's going very well. It is physically possible for me to drive at this pace in this car - but it seems not on this rally."
Ford Motor Company
Technical: Markko Martin's Focus RS
WRC03 refused to start after first service this morning. An
electrical problem was traced and fixed, but the Estonian was three
minutes late arriving at the control and was forced to take 30
seconds of penalties. Francois Duval's car ran without any
reliability troubles today, while Mikko Hirvonen retired his 2002
version early on yesterday with a cam-belt problem.
Sporting: Martin's starter problem dropped him back to third place, but he was back past Gronholm by the end of the long opening test. Martin was fastest on every stage today, ruing the combination of today's mechanical problem and the leaves which starved his car of air yesterday - without which the fight for the lead would have been considerably closer. Francois Duval slid into a bank on a gravely corner 17 kilometres from the end of the first stage. Then on the next loop he chose a tyre too soft for the Italian roads. Duval started the day in fifth place, but by the close of play he was one place back having dropped behind Gilles Panizzi.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "The problem this morning was really frustrating, I can't believe what happened. The problem was with a part which was located underneath my seat, so they had to take this out. I fixed the seat back in myself on the way out of service. After that everything was okay, but being more than a minute down makes the fight not so interesting anymore. It's good to set fastest time on all of the stages today, but it could have been a closer battle."
Francois Duval said: "The gravel was bad in the corner on the first stage, the back end of the car snapped away and that was it. After that we didn't have so much confidence in the tyres on the next two. Being too soft, the compound was allowing the tyre to move around too much."
Marlboro Peugeot Total
Technical: All three 206 WRCs have
run without mechanical fault today.
Sporting: Marcus Gronholm continued to lead the charge for the Velizy team on leg two. The Finn moved into second place overall before the start of the first stage courtesy of Markko Martin's electrical problem and subsequent 30-second road penalty. Third fastest on the day's opener dropped him back behind the Ford driver where he remained until the end of the leg. Gilles Panizzi moved up one place during the day when he passed Francois Duval for fifth place on the penultimate stage of the day. The triple winner of this event was happy with his car throughout the day and admitted that he was pushing as hard as he dared. Richard Burns dropped out of the top ten on the seventh stage but was back after SS8. Burns struggled on the day's opening stage, but following more changes to his 206 WRC's set-up, was happier for the next loop of two.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "I have been concentrating on my driving today to try and make sure that I don't use the left foot on the brake too much, so the brakes aren't fading. The car has been okay today, but still if there was noting I could do about the two ahead today, there's not going to be anything I can do about them tomorrow."
Gilles Panizzi said: "I am still pushing to the maximum, Carlos is not so far away and I am trying to catch him.
Richard Burns said: "The first stage was really difficult, I wasn't happy in there at all. The second two stages - where I could see more of the road - were better. I was able to get the car on the limit and feel what it was doing there. I left the set-up of the car the same for the second run through the long stage. It was better, but still I wasn't happy with the time."
555 Subaru World Rally Team
Technical: Tommi Makinen's car
suffered a broken front brake disc on the first stage of the day. The
Finn's Subaru was also hit by a minor clutch problem on the second
run at the 52-kilometre Teglia stage. Petter Solberg's Impreza
WRC2003 retired after the last stage last night when a calibration
problem caused it to run out of fuel.
Sporting: Makinen slipped two places down the leaderboard through the second day of the rally Richard Burns passed the Finn on the penultimate test of the day, while Peugeot privateer Cedric Robert also eased his way through on the final stage.
Quotes: Tommi Makinen said: "The brake problem first thing was quite bad. It was early in the stage, I don't know how the disc broke but it caused a bad vibration under braking. It hasn't been such a good day for us today, especially when the oil was getting on to the clutch in the last stage."
Skoda Motorsport
Technical: Didier Auriol's Skoda
Fabia WRC has run without any mechanical trouble today. Toni
Gardemeister retired on the second stage of the rally, crashing his
Fabia after suffering from brake failure.
Sporting: The suspension modifications Auriol made to his car worked well for the second leg of this event, although he remaine din the same position on the leaderboard throughout the leg. Auriol was happier with the way today went, but said he was losing time on the uphill sections due to the Fabia's engine, which is not as powerful as those around the Frenchman.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "Today has been okay. The handling is nice, we have no problems with this at all, but with the engine the story is the same - we need more power. On the last stage of the day the brakes were starting to fade a little - but that is to be expected after such a long stage. "
Hyundai World Rally Team
Sporting: The Hyundai Motor
Corporation will withdraw from the FIA World Rally Championship at
the end of the season, returning with a new car late in 2006 for a
full programme the following season.
Other entries
San Marino driver Mirco Baldacci
continues to head the FIA Junior World Rally Championship standings
in his Fiat Punto. He picked up a ten-second time penalty on the
ninth stage of the day, but that aside it's been a good day for the
leader. Britain's Kris Meeke moved into second place in his Opel
Corsa, following the demise of Daniel Carlsson who suffered a
puncture and then slid his Suzuki Ignis into a wall on the first
stage of the day. Cedric Robert continues to lead the non-works cars
in his Peugeot 206 WRC.
04/10/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 43 crews (32 Group A and 11 Group N) started this morning.
TOP RETIREMENTS: Carlsson (S), Ceccato (I), Broccoli (RSM)
TODAY:
Saturday 4 October
Leg 2 started from Sanremo at 07h00 and covered 491.06km, including
149.10km on four stages. The first car arrived back in Sanremo at
19h20.
TOMORROW:
Sunday 5 October
Leg 3 starts from Sanremo at 07h00 and covers 333.56km, including
96.12km on four stages. The first car is expected to arrive at the
finish in Sanremo at 15h30.
WEATHER FORECAST: Changeable but humid.
SS7 TEGLIA 1 (52.30km)
1
Martin
(EE)
Ford
35m 01.7
2
Loeb
(F)
Citroen
35m 02.4
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
35m 19.0
LEADERS AFTER SS7
1
Loeb
(F)
Citroen
2h 05m 18.1
2 Martin
(EE)
Ford
2h 06m 19.8
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
2h 06m 24.3
SS8 COSIO 2 (19.19km)
1
Martin
(EE)
Ford
11m 51.3
2
Panizzi
(F)
Peugeot
11m 57.3
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
11m 57.6
LEADERS AFTER SS8
1
Loeb
(F)
Citroen
2h 17m 19.0
2
Martin
(EE)
Ford
2h 18m 11.1
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
2h 18m 21.9
SS9 S. BARTOLOMEO 2 (25.31km)
1
Martin
(EE)
Ford
14m 44.2
2
Loeb
(F)
Citroen
14m 46.2
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
14m 48.3
LEADERS AFTER SS9
1
Loeb
(F)
Citroen
2h 32m 05.2
2
Martin
(EE)
Ford
2h 32m 55.3
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
2h 33m 10.2
SS10 TEGLIA 2 (52.30km)
1
Martin
(EE)
Ford
34m 48.6
2
Loeb
(F)
Citroen
34m 55.5
3 Sainz
(E)
Citroen
34m 58.1
LEADERS AFTER SS10
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
3h 07m 00.7
2 Martin
(EE) Ford
+43.2
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
+1m 10.5
4 Sainz
(E)
Ford
+1m 42.3
5
Panizzi
(F)
Peugeot
+1m 59.1
6
Duval
(B)
Ford
+2m 23.8
7
McRae
(GB)
Citroen
+3m 07.3
8
Bugalski
(F)
Citroen
+4m 06.6
9
Burns
(GB)
Peugeot
+5m 12.1
10
Robert
(F)
Peugeot
+5m 16.5
[WRC] 2003 San Remo Leg 1
Friday, 3 October 2003
Sebastien Loeb continued his good
run of form in the FIA World Rally Championship, leading the Rallye
Sanremo at the end of the opening leg. The Frenchman was quickest out
of the blocks this morning, blasting his Citroen Xsara WRC into a
16-second lead at the end of an occasionally fog-bound opening
loop of stages north-west of the rally's host town. He dropped time
to Ford's Markko Martin on the middle two stages, but was back at the
top of the timesheets over stages five and six - a repeat of the
first two this morning - to end the leg with a 32.4-second cushion
over Martin. The Ford driver's efforts were not helped by his car
scooping leaves into the air intake on the first time through
Perinaldo and Ceppo. The engine on his Focus started to overheat,
running on safe mode for half of each test. Marcus Gronholm is third
overnight, despite brake trouble on his Peugeot 206 WRC.
Tomorrow starts with the first of two runs through the 52-kilometre Teglia stage, which crews estimate will take around 36 minutes in good weather. These two stages (seven and ten) are likely to have a big impact on the rally.
Citroen Total
Technical: The Citroen Xsara WRCs of
Sebastien Loeb and Colin McRae ran without fault today, while Carlos
Sainz was not happy with the brakes on his car.
Sporting: Loeb was fastest on four of the day's six stages and enjoyed a trouble-free opening leg aboard his Xsara. Sainz held fourth place overnight. The Spaniard reported a lack of feeling on the brakes aboard his Xsara, otherwise his car ran without any serious mechanical trouble. McRae rounded out the trio of official Citroens in seventh. The Scotsman had taken a compound of Michelin too soft for the final loop of stages, feeling the tyres were moving around towards the end of the longer of the two stages.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: "There's no way that we can be lifting off anywhere, Martin is going very well - he's not far behind. We have had to take some chances today, on the second stage we hit a wall with the right-rear of the car when we were braked too late for a corner."
Carlos Sainz said: "I am still taking medication, but I feel okay today. The car is also okay, but the brakes aren't quite right. I don't seem to be getting the right feeling from the pedal. The team is going to change the discs and master cylinder at the last service tonight, so hopefully this should solve the problem. I have to say I am happy to be here after the way I felt earlier in the week."
Colin McRae said: "This morning I wasn't pushing so hard. I could see the places where Sebastien was taking the time, he's going very well. The car is fine, no problems. It's been a very average day today, nothing to report really."
Ford Motor Company
Technical: Both Ford Focus RS WRC03s
ran without fault through the opening leg, while Mikko Hirvonen
retired on the 2002-specification Focus after the third stage with a
broken cambelt..
Sporting: Francois Duval made the fastest start from the Ford camp, moving into second position on the opening stage. The Belgian slipped back over the second loop of stages, but was still in touch with the leaders. Markko Martin suffered a strange problem this morning, as the leaves on the road were scooped up into the air intake of his Focus, starving the engine of air and causing it to overheat and lapse into a safe mode. The team attempted to fix the problem by drilling holes in the lip of the front spoiler to drop the leaves out. It wasn't as bad on the second loop of stages, but the Estonian said it was still causing the temperature to rise. Hirvonen was happy after the first loop of stages, holding 12th overall. It all came to nought for the young Finn on the next test, however, when he was forced into retirement with a broken cambelt.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "I don't know why this is happening with the leaves, but it is very frustrating. When there's no power from the engine for half of the first stage and half of the second one, then it becomes a bit of a Sunday drive - it's actually quite dangerous because the anti-lag system doesn't work which stops the engine responding so well."
Francois Duval said: "I was pushing quite hard this morning, everything was going well. We're running with new notes for this event and they were very good. On the fourth stage I hit the back wheel quite hard, the vibration was getting so bad I thought the wheel might actually come off."
Mikko Hirvonen said: "It is really disappointing. This was an event we had done last year and one which I had an idea of what to expect. The two stages this morning were okay. I hit a wall under braking, but the car wasn 't damaged and looking at our times we weren't that far away from drivers like Tommi Makinen - which was great. Then what I thought was an electrical problem turned out to be something much more serious and we retired."
Marlboro Peugeot Total
Technical: Marcus Gronholm's Peugeot
206 WRC suffered brake problems through the first day, while Richard
Burns and Gilles Panizzi struggled to find the right set-up for the
car, although the Frenchman was more satisfied with his 206 after the
third and fourth stages.
Sporting: Marcus Gronholm led the Peugeot attack on the opening leg, although the reigning world champion admitted he wasn't too happy with his driving or with the car's brakes. Panizzi and Burns were demoralised when they arrived at second service this morning, neither could put their finger on the precise nature of the problem - but both knew the car could have been better. Panizzi eventually went back to last year's set-up and felt that was an improvement - his times certainly improved - while Burns stiffened his suspension and also felt an improvement.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "In the fog this morning I was using my left foot on the brake quite a lot, it was a bit more like gravel driving - because I wasn't sure all of the time where the road was going. The brakes would then get too hot, the pedal would go long and I have to then come off the brakes for a while. It takes away the confidence and makes it impossible to brake late. All the time I am having these problems."
Richard Burns said: "This morning really wasn't good. I had no confidence in the car at all, everything seemed to be happening too quickly. I wasn't going at the corners, the corners were coming right at me. I wasn't surprised to see how much time we lost on the longer stage - we just weren't in the rally then. The second loop were better, but then I know those stages a bit more. On the whole things are better than when we started this morning, but I'm not where I want to be."
Gilles Panizzi said: "The car was really terrible this morning, I couldn't drive it at all. It was everywhere in the fast corners, not good. Last year's set-up is helping, but I am not happy with the way this has gone. I am driving absolutely flat out now, there is nothing left in me."
555 Subaru World Rally Team
Technical: Petter Solberg retired
his Subaru Impreza WRC2003 from eighth place one kilometre out of
service, with a fuel problem. Tommi Makinen suffered no mechanical
problems in his Subaru.
Sporting: Solberg's day started badly when the right-front top mount on the suspension broke. The middle loop of stages went without problem as did the next two - until he was on the road section back to service in Imperia north of Sanremo. The car stopped with a fuel problem. The crew pushed it along the road section but were forced to retire before they reached the service park. Makinen felt the engine on his Impreza was down on power on some of the stages, but admitted there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the car. He ended the leg in eighth position.
Quotes: David Lapworth said: "We haven't seen Petter's car yet, so we don't know what the problem was, but clearly there is something not right. We put more fuel in the car than we did for the same loop of stages this morning, when the car made it back without a problem.
Tommi Makinen said: "Not such a good day today. I don't really know what is wrong, the engine doesn't feel quite right and maybe the suspension was a little bit too stiff. Tomorrow some damp conditions in the long stage would help us make some time up."
Skoda Motorsport
Technical: Toni Gardemeister crashed
out of the rally on the second stage after suffering from brake
problems. Didier Auriol's Fabia was hit by shock absorber problems
through the second loop of stages.
Sporting: Auriol spent the day outside of the top ten. His run through the first two stages of the day were without incident, but the suspension trouble in stages three and four cost him a lot of time. The Fabia moved around too much on the fast roads, forcing the Frenchman to lift off and get to the end of the tests. Gardemeister was marginally slower than his team-mate through the opening stage, but then crashed off the road and rolled 21 kilometres into the next one..
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "The car was handling very well this morning, but then the shock absorbers broke. I don't know which one it was, maybe all of them. The car was hopping around all over the place - very difficult to drive. For the final loop it was fine again."
Toni Gardemeister said: "I had some brake trouble on the first stage, so I didn't push too hard. On the next one the brakes went completely coming into one corner, the only way for me to slow the car was to drive into a wall. We hit that, rolled over and went backwards into a tree. It's very disappointing to go out of the rally this early. "
Hyundai World Rally Team
Sporting: The Hyundai Motor
Corporation will withdraw from the FIA World Rally Championship at
the end of the season, returning with a new car late in 2006 for a
full programme the following season.
Other entries
Fiat driver Mirco Baldacci leads the
FIA Junior World Rally Championship runners at the end of leg one on
his third attempt at this event. The San Marino man is almost
one minute 30 seconds ahead of Daniel Carlsson's Suzuki..
Of the non-factory drivers, Peugeot's official test driver Cedric Robert was the fastest. His 2001-specification 206 WRC ran without fault through the opening leg. The similar machine of Roman Kresta gave the Czech Republic driver some brake problems on the opening loop, but otherwise he was happy with his 12th overall at the end of today's action.
03/10/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 54 crews (41 Group A and 10 Group N) started this morning.
TOP RETIREMENTS: Hirvonen (FIN), Solberg (N), Gardemeister (FIN), Tirabassi (F)
TODAY:
Friday 3 October
Leg 1 started from Sanremo at 06h30 and covered 551.24km, including
142.14km on six stages. The first car arrived back in Sanremo at
20h13.
TOMORROW:
Saturday 6 September
Leg 2 starts from Sanremo at 07h00 and covers 491.06km, including
149.10km on four stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in
Sanremo at 19h20.
WEATHER FORECAST: Showers expected overnight, with changeable conditions tomorrow.
SS1 PERINALDO 1 (12.40km)
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
7m 56.2
2 Duval
(B)
Ford
7m 56.7
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
7m 57.5
SS2 CEPPO 1 (36.42km)
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
24m 05.5
2 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
24m 20.2
3 Duval
(B)
Ford
24m 25.6
LEADERS AFTER SS2
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
32m 01.7
2 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
32m 17.7
3 Duval
(B)
Ford
32m 22.3
SS3 COSIO 1 (19.19km)
1 Martin
(EE)
Ford
11m 51.8
2 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
12m 00.9
3
Panizzi
(F)
Peugeot
12m 01.5
LEADERS AFTER SS3
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
44m 03.0
2 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
44m 22.8
3 Duval
(B)
Ford
44m 24.3
SS4 s. BARTOLOMEO 1 (25.31km)
1 Martin
(EE)
Ford
14m 47.2
2 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
14m 48.4
3
Panizzi
(F)
Peugeot
14m 56.1
LEADERS AFTER SS4
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
58m 51.4
2 Martin
(EE)
Ford
59m 12.9
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
59m 20.1
SS5 PERINALDO 2 (12.40km)
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
7m 45.6
2 Martin
(EE)
Ford
7m 46.1
3
Gronholm (FIN)
Peugeot
7m 50.2
LEADERS AFTER SS5
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
1h 06m 37.0
2 Martin
(EE)
Ford
1h 06m 59.0
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
1h 07m 10.3
SS6 CEPPO 2 (36.42km)
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
23m 38.7
2 Martin
(EE) Ford
23m 49.1
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
23m 55.0
LEADERS AFTER SS6
1 Loeb
(F)
Citroen
1h 30m 15.7
2 Martin
(EE) Ford
+32.4
3 Gronholm
(FIN)
Peugeot
+49.6
4 Sainz
(E)
Ford
+1m 14.8
5 Duval
(B)
Ford
+1m 19.0
6
Panizzi
(F)
Peugeot
+1m 29.6
7
McRae
(GB)
Citroen
+1m 41.9
8
Solberg
(N)
Subaru
+2m 03.8
9
Makinen
(FIN)
Subaru
+2m 50.2
10
Bugalski
(F)
Citroen
+2m 52.3
[WRC] 2003 San Remo Preview
Thursday, 2 October 2003
The FIA World Rally Championship arrives back in Europe
for this week's Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italie, the first of three
asphalt rallies in October. Richard Burns continues to lead the race
for the drivers' championship, having extended his advantage to seven
points on the last round of the series in Australia. The Peugeot
driver has never won in Italy, however, and is still chasing his
first victory in a 206 WRC. Behind Burns, Carlos Sainz and Petter
Solberg are tied on points. Subaru-driving Solberg arrives in Sanremo
on the back of success down under, while Sainz was forced to pay a
visit to hospital earlier this week after suffering from kidney
stones.
In recent years, Gilles Panizzi has been the man to beat on the stages north of the rally's host town of Sanremo. The Frenchman hasn't been beaten here since 1999, taking his hat-trick last season despite driving with a broken bone in his shoulder. Peugeot, however, hasn't won since Marcus Gronholm took ten points from Argentina in April.
This is the final year that Italy's round of the FIA World Rally Championship will be held in the Riviera resort. For next season, Rally of Italy switches to a gravel format and comes from the island of Sardinia.
Marlboro Peugeot Total (1st - 110
points)
Technical: The three 206 WRCs arrive in Italy with no
significant changes to the specification.
Sporting: Gilles Panizzi is the only driver of the Peugeot trio to have won this event before, but the Frenchman is missing match practice, not having competed since Rally Deutschland. Gronholm ran his team-mate a close second on last year's Sanremo Rally, ending the event just 20 seconds behind him. The Finn is in need of a big points haul on this rally if he is to stand any chance of clinching his third world title at the end of the year. Richard Burns, however, is the leader of the pack and will be hoping to better his fourth place of last season - which remains his best result on the Italian asphalt.
Quotes: Richard Burns said: "The weather is going to play a very important part in this rally. If you haven't got the right tyres on when you leave service then it's going to be very hard work. Another important factor is that there aren't that many stages - we've only got 14 chances to get it right."
Marcus Gronholm said: "For me to win the championship is going to be hard work now. We need Richard to retire and I think I also need some help from the others. I still haven't won an asphalt round of the championship, but we went well here last year - maybe this is my best chance yet."
Gilles Panizzi said: "I think I can win this rally. Okay, there hasn't been so much work done on the car, but the Peugeot is still very, very fast and competitive."
Citroen Total (1st - 110 points)
Technical: The Citroen Xsara WRCs of Carlos Sainz,
Sebastien Loeb and Colin McRae are running in similar specification
to the last asphalt round of the championship, save for larger
diameter rear discs for McRae and Sainz. All of the cars are ex-Monte
Carlo, with Loeb using his winning Xsara.
Sporting: The three official cars are joined by a Piedrafita Sport-run Xsara for Philippe Bugalski, who is the only one of the four to have competed on this event last year in a Citroen. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he crashed out on the second leg. Loeb's maiden run in a Xsara WRC was on this event two years ago, where he finished a close second to Gilles Panizzi. Loeb, who suffered from a bout of the flu earlier in the week, also finished a close second on the last round of the championship in Australia after a big battle with Petter Solberg. McRae is the only driver to have won this event, the Scotsman clinching back-to-back victories in 1996 and 1997. Sainz is another Citroen driver recovering from illness, his recce was affected by a kidney stones problem on Monday.
Quotes: Carlos Sainz said: "This wasn't the best start to the rally for me. On Monday I was only able to recce two of the three stages, it was quite painful. Since then, though, I've had some medication and I feel much better now but I would have preferred to have been on the stages than in bed."
Colin McRae said: "This isn't my favourite tarmac rally. I've nothing against it, it's just not great. I have won here before, though - a lot depends on the weather. I'm quite happy with the car, we didn't have too much work to do at shakedown, we just altered the anti-roll bar settings."
Sebastien Loeb said: "I came away from last year's rally with mixed feelings. I had gained valuable experience, but at the same time I didn't feel like I was on the pace. Even on the second run at the stages I didn't feel I was getting the best out of myself. I will do what I can to keep close to my team-mates this time around."
555 Subaru World Rally Team (3rd - 74
points)
Technical: Petter Solberg's Subaru Impreza WRC2003 is
fitted with a new roll-control suspension system. The Norwegian's car
also has a revised electronic control system for the rally, utilising
Formula One technology and processing data at a higher speed. Tommi
Makinen's car runs to the same specification as the previous round.
Sporting: Solberg arrives in Italy on the back of his second win of the season. He won out in a tight battle with Citroen's Sebastien Loeb to clinch ten points on Rally Australia. His success on the Perth-based event moved him into joint second position in the drivers' championship. This event has been a happy hunting ground in the past for Solberg's team-mate Makinen. Prior to Panizzi's three-year monopoly of the top step of the podium, the Finn won the rally twice.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: "I'm feeling great after my win in Australia, the top of the championship is getting closer. This is going to be a big month for everybody in the championship, but I'm feeling positive and will be working really hard to finish all three rallies on the podium. I beat Richard (Burns) on this event last year and I'll be looking for a similar result this time around. It's a rally which I really enjoy."
Tommi Makinen said: "This will be a challenging rally. Running in the Autumn it means the conditions might not be so good. There's probably going to be standing water and leaves on the road, which make it very difficult. Sanremo is a good event, the stages are flowing and nice to drive on."
Ford Motor Company (4th - 61 points)
Technical: The two Focus RS WRC03s which are running for
Markko Martin and Francois Duval have been fitted with a lightened
bell-housing and different hydraulic pumps for this event. Mikko
Hirvonen's will be driving his usual 2002 specification Ford.
Sporting: Martin is likely to be a strong contender on this event. The Estonian finished fifth and top Ford driver last year, beating Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, both of whom had more experience than him here in Italy. Just as Martin's pace on this event is well-known, this year's Focus also showed its mettle on sealed surfaces on Rally Deutschland in July - with Martin leading on leg one and posting fastest times on almost half of the stages. Martin's Belgian team-mate Duval is no stranger to asphalt, either. He's contested this rally twice before, both times in a Ford Puma. Duval and co-driver Stephane Prevot will make new pace notes for this event, but Duval pointed out that given that the rally's moving next year, there's not a lot of point in spending the event checking the notes. This event is one of just three WRC rounds that Hirvonen has competed on before.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "The car went very well in Germany, hopefully we can use that as a good base to work from on this rally. Sanremo is a tough rally - the conditions can be so inconsistent; you can start a stage on a south-facing slope and have good weather, then you go over a hill and onto the north side and it's very different."
Francois Duval said: "One stage in particular on this rally is going to be really tough: Teglia, the 52-kilometre stage. That's going to be so hard on the brakes and everything, maybe it would have been better to have divided this into a 20 and a 30-kilometre stage."
Mikko Hirvonen said: "I learned a lot about driving a Focus on asphalt in Germany, I know more about looking after the tyres and things like that. Having been here before, I know it can be a tough rally - the stages are quite twisty: worse than Greece, but not as bad as Cyprus."
Skoda Motorsport (5th - 20 points)
Technical: This will be the second asphalt rally for the
Fabia WRC, but the stages in Sanremo will present an entirely
different challenge to those Skoda experienced on the car's debut in
Germany. The team has worked on the car extensively since the last
round in Australia, trying to improve the engine power and to improve
the handling.
Sporting: Both Fabia WRC's reached the finish of Rally Australia, with Toni Gardemeister overcoming the pain of driving with a broken bone in his wrist to lead his former world champion team-mate home. The Finn expects his injury to be fully healed this weekend and won't be driving with any support on his arm. Auriol has fond memories of this event, having won in Italy three times previously. The Frenchman is also back to full fitness for this event, having recovered from the operation he had on his shoulder prior to the last round.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "Having won this rally a few times before, it is one which I enjoy. It's hard to say how the rally is going to be for us, we don't have so much experience with the car yet. We did asphalt in Germany, but this will be very different on things like tyre wear. In Italy there are lots of roads that go steep downhill with lots of hairpins, which will really work the tyres hard."
Toni Gardemeister said: "Sanremo is a tricky rally for me. The roads are usually quite dirty with lots of surface changes. There's a lot of work to do on the car, but we saw from the split times in Germany that the car has big potential on asphalt. It would probably be best for me if the weather was bad on this rally; if it is raining and quite foggy then nobody can drive flat out."
Hyundai World Rally Team
Sporting: Hyundai will not start this event. The Hyundai
Motor Corporation and the team which runs its cars in the FIA World
Rally Championship - Motor Sport Developments - have been unable to
reach a conclusion to their contractual dispute.
Quotes: Armin Schwarz said: "I understand that if we haven't got any money then we can't do any rallies, but I find it strange that this thing has gone on for so long and got so far."
Freddy Loix said: "There is nothing we can do. I will come to Sanremo and watch the rally, but it's not like competing. I feel sorry for the team, everybody at MSD has worked really hard this year."
Other entries
FIA Junior World Rally Championship leader Brice Tirabassi
arrives in Italy in a confident mood, having won a French national
rally in his Renault Clio last week. His efforts to defend a
ten-point lead in the series will be helped by the fact that his
Oreca-prepared car will be running new shock absorbers for this
rally. Suzuki driver Daniel Carlsson is second in the standings while
the Swede's fellow Ignis pilots Salvador Canellas and Umo Aava are
third and fourth. Peugeot's WRC test driver Cedric Robert tackles
this event in a private 206 WRC, as does Roman Kresta.
02/10/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
EVENT: The Rallye Sanremo- Rallye d'Italia is the 11th of 14 events in the FIA World Rally Championship.
ENTRIES: 63 (51 Group A, 12 Group N)
DRIVERS: Austria 1, Argentina 1, Belgium 2, Bulgaria 2, Czech Republic 3, Estonia 2, Finland 6, France 9, Germany 2, Great Britain 5, Italy 18, Lebanon 1, Monaco 1, Norway 1, Republic of San Marino 2, Slovenia 1, Spain 2, Sweden 4.
MANUFACTURER TEAMS: Citroen, Ford, Peugeot, Skoda, Subaru, Hyundai.
CARS: (including the manufacturer cars): Citroen 5, Fiat 5, Ford 6, Hyundai 2, MG 1, Mitsubishi 3, Opel 2, Peugeot 10, Renault 16, Skoda 3, Subaru 3, Suzuki 4, VW 3 plus one TBA.
TIMETABLE:
Thursday 2 October
Ceremonial start at 20h30, Sanremo.
Friday 3 October
Leg 1 starts from Sanremo at 06h30 and covers 551.24km, including
142.14km on six stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in
Sanremo at 20h13.
Saturday 4 October
Leg 2 starts from Sanremo at 07h00 and covers 491.06km, including
149.10km on four stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in
Sanremo at 19h20.
Sunday 5 October
Leg 3 starts from Sanremo at 07h00 and covers 333.56km, including
96.12km on four stages. The first car is expected to arrive at the
finish in Sanremo at 15h30.
Total
The rally covers 1375.86km, including 387.36km on 14 special stages
(including seven run twice). All stages are on asphalt roads closed
to other traffic.
TOMORROW:
Friday 3 October
Leg 1 starts from Sanremo at 06h30 and covers 551.24km, including
142.14km on six stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in
Sanremo at 20h13.
WEATHER FORECAST: Changeable conditions expected throughout the
opening leg.
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