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RALLY OF TURKEY
[WRC] Rally of Turkey - Final
Sunday, 02 March 2003
Carlos Sainz held his nerve through the final leg of Rally of Turkey, the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship, to clinch his first victory of the year &endash; and his first victory for the Citroen team. The Spaniard's success on this Kemer-based rally makes him the joint most successful driver of all time, equalling Colin McRae's record of 25 world championship win. Sainz's Xsara WRC ran without fault for the final day's five stages and Sainz's win promotes him to third in the race for the driver's title.Richard Burns took second place for Peugeot. The 206 WRC driver started the day 25.7 seconds ahead of François Duval, but fastest time on SS15 was enough for him to ease his way clear of the Ford man. Burns eventually brought his car home 58 seconds ahead of Duval to claim eight points and the championship lead. Duval's third place was his best ever finish on a round of the championship.
Citroen maintains its lead in the manufacturer's championship, now nine points clear of Peugeot, with Ford in third place six points further back.
The second round of the Junior World Rally Championship ended with victory for Finland's Kosti Katajamaki in his Volkswagen Polo. Spaniard Salvador Canellas moved up to second place in his Suzuki Ignis after Britain's Guy Wilks, third in his Ford Puma.
Citroen
Technical: The two remaining Citroen Xsara WRCs of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae ran reliably today. Sebastien Loeb retired on Friday when his car ran out of fuel.Sporting: Carlos Sainz's win on Rally of Turkey was his first success on a round of the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time since Argentina last season. The 40-year-old drove sensibly but quickly through the final day. He started the day the 1m 19.5s ahead of Burns and while the Briton narrowed the gap to 47.9 seconds through Sunday, Sainz's lead never looked under threat. McRae enjoyed a mechanically trouble-free day, but admitted his chances of catching Duval and the final the podium position were slim. McRae was happy to reach the finish of a rally and retain his second place in the driver's title.
Quotes: Carlos Sainz said: "Of course I am happy to have won here, but I am also very happy for the team. It is a fantastic result to give Citroen its first win on gravel."
Colin McRae said: "We couldn't afford to back off today. It would have been nice to have caught Duval, but at the same time we had to make sure that we didn't let Gilles past. It would only have taken a half-spin or something for that to happen. Again today some of the stages have been rough, maybe a bit too rough &endash; this is supposed to be a sprint event. I'm happy for the team, though, we've shown what we can do on this type of rally."
Peugeot
Technical: The Peugeot 206 WRCs of Richard Burns and Marcus Gronholm ran reliably throughout today's stages. Harri Rovanpera had retired on the final stage of leg two with suspension damage.Sporting: Richard Burns held on to his runners-up spot. He took time out of the leader on every stage today, reducing the deficit by 32.4 seconds. While it wasn't enough to pass Duval, it was enough to make his second place comfortable from Duval. Gronholm spent another day running first on the road following his power steering problems of the opening day. The team's decision for him to remain in the running was justified when the Finn collected a single manufacturer's point.
Quotes: Richard Burns said: "I pushed hard on the second stage of this morning's loop of stages, that was the plan. I wanted to try and pull out more of a lead on François Duval. We did that and set fastest time. After that it was okay, we drove for the finish without any problems. It's great to be leading the championship again, but at the same time we have to remember that this means wewill be running first on the road in New Zealand &endash; that might not be ideal if it stays dry."
Marcus Gronholm said: "The team was right for us to carry on, but it has been hard to keep the motivation up. Now I'm looking forward to New Zealand and not running first on the road for the opening day."
Ford
Technical: The Ford Focus RS WRCs of François Duval and Markko Martin ran without any problems today.Sporting: François Duval started and finished the day in the same position. The Belgian said he was pushing quite hard in the faster stages to make sure he could maintain the gap between himself and McRae. Markko Martin moved ahead of Skoda's Toni Gardemeister to take sixth place, which he held until the finish, after a problem-free day on the event.
Quotes: François Duval said: "It is a great feeling to make the podium for the first time. Malcolm (Wilson, team director), told me the way he wanted me to drive and I did that. The stages have been okay, the car seemed to suit the twistier ones, but I preferred the faster ones."
Markko Martin said: "I am happy that we managed to recover and get some points for the team, from that perspective this is a good result, but it is such a shame that we lost the time on the first day. It's a little bit depressing that we were able to run so well after the problem, depressing because you can just imagine the result we could have had without the problem."
Skoda
Technical: Toni Gardemeister's Octavia WRC ran without any mechanical problems through the final leg of the event.Sporting: A precautionary gearbox change at the end of the second leg forced Gardemeister to run with longer gear ratios through today's five stages. There were no problems with the transmission, but the Finn felt the ratios were too long for the twisty roads. He spun his Octavia twice on the third stage of the day, but enjoyed a clean run through the final two stages of the day.
Quotes: Toni Gardemeister said: "I did a little damage to the car today. After I spun, I reversed into a tree and dented the back bumper! I really wasn't driving so well in stage 16. I don't know what it was, it just didn't feel right &endash; I was driving like my grandmother. I needed to go quicker, but there was nothing I could do to keep Markko Martin behind me. I've got the finish of the rally with some points for myself and for the team, though &endash; that's good."
Subaru
Technical: Tommi Makinen's car suffered a minor gearbox problem on the third stage of the day, other than that it was mechanically sound.Sporting: Makinen started and finished the day in eighth place overall. The four-times world champion enjoyed a trouble-free day for the most part, save for the gearbox glitch, which lasted a couple of minutes after the third stage. He made up one minute on seventh-placed Gardemeister, but still ended the day two minutes off the Skoda driver after loosing a lot of time with suspension trouble on the second day.
Quotes: Tommi Makinen said: "The gearbox was a little strange. We went through a watersplash and then it started to do its own thing. I was in second gear and accelerating hard and it just selected fifth gear. It was being crazy like this for a few kilometres, then it sorted itself out. It's good to finish this event, it was much tougher than we expected. It's disappointing for me that before the problems we were making some good times."
David Lapworth said: "Obviously we're disappointed with the result, but we're pleased with many aspects of the of our performance and we go away from here full of confidence ahead of New Zealand. It's been a well-run event, which showed that it deserved a place in the FIA World Rally Championship."
Hyundai
Technical: The turbo on Freddy Loix's car, was slowly losing power through the final day, otherwise it was mechanically fine.Sporting: When Loix suffered a blown turbo at the end of the second leg, the team was forced to refit his car with the turbo he'd used on the opening loop of stages on day one. Loix admitted that this compromised performance, but the team had no other choice. Loix started the day ninth, but dropped back one place when Marcus Gronholm passed him on the penultimate stage of the day, losing the final manufacturer's point in the process.
Freddy Loix said: "Obviously the team wanted me to try and hold Marcus off, but there is really nothing I could do when I am using the same turbo I started the rally with. The car was down on power, which makes the job very hard to do."
Other entries
Kosti Katajamaki won his first ever round of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship today. The Volkswagen driver suffered a clutch problem for much of the day, but he was able to drive around it on the stages. He admitted that he wasn't pushing as hard through the final day, given that he held a two-minute lead over Guy Wilks (Ford Puma). Wilks missed out on second place after his gearbox jammed itself in third gear in the penultimate stage. The British driver was forced to drive through the remainder of SS17 and all of the final stage with the car in this condition. Wilks' problems allowed Salvador Canellas to move up to second place, some consolation after his fellow Suzuki Ignis driver &endash; and long time leader &endash; Daniel Carlsson retired with suspension trouble. He was lying third at the time.Renault Clio driver Simon-Jean Joseph won the A6 class overall, but he is not registered for the FIA JWRC.
Among the top non-works drivers, Gilles Panizzi finished fifth overall, his best finish on a gravel round of the championship. Panizzi said the final day had been without any problems aboard his Bozian-run Peugeot 206 WRC. Panizzi's team-mate Juuso Pykalisto suffered a clutch problem on the final day, but still managed 11th place overall.
02/03/03 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 29 crews (27 Group A and 2 Group N) started this morning.
RETIREMENTS: 2 drivers
TODAY: Sunday 9 February
Leg 3 started from Kemer at 07h00 and covered 320.95km, including 84.01km on five stages.FINAL RALLY STATISTICS
EVENT:
The rally covered 1193.85km, including 337.88km on 18 special stages (including seven run twice). All stages were on gravel roads closed to other traffic.STARTERS: 58 crews (53 Group A and 5 Group N) started the rally
FINISHERS: 27 crews (25 Group A and 2 Group N) finished the rally
STAGE WINNERS: Gronholm (SS1-SS9-SS17-SS18)
Rovanpera (SS2-SS4-SS6-SS7)
Solberg (SS3)
Martin (SS5-SS12-
Sainz (SS8-SS10-SS13
Burns (SS11-SS15
McRae (SS14-
Duval (SS16-RALLY LEADERS: SS1 Gronholm
SS2-SS3 Solberg
SS4-SS9 Rovanpera
SS9-SS18 SainzFIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (provisional standings after 3 of 14 rounds):
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers:
Burns (GB) 18, C. McRae (GB) 17, Sainz (E) 16, Martin (EE) 13, Loeb (F) 12, Gronholm (FIN) 10, Makinen (FIN) 9, Duval (B) 8, Panizzi (F) 4, Solberg (N) 3, Robert (F) 3, Gardemeister (FIN) 3, Schwarz (D) 1.FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers:
Citroen 39, Peugeot 31, Ford 25, Subaru 13, Skoda 6, Hyundai 3.FIA Junior World Rally Championship (after 2 of 7 rounds):
Tirabassi (F) 10, Katajamaki (FIN) 10, Ligato (I) 8, Canellas (E) 8, Broccoli (RSM) 6, Wilks (GB) 6, Aava (EE) 5, Teuronen (FIN) 5, Cecchettini (I) 4, Ceccato (I) 4, Feghali (RL) 3, Sebalj (HR) 3, Baldacci (RSM) 2, Iliev (BG) 2, Harrach (A) 1.
FIA Production Car World Championship
(after 1 of 7 rounds, this event not counting):Blomqvist (S) 10, Singh (MAL) 8, Rowe (GB) 6, Bourne (NZ) 5, Holowczyc (PL) 4, Roman (S) 3, Sztuka (PL) 2, Richard (CAN) 1.
For more extensive results please consult the FIA Internet site at: www.fia.com
NEXT EVENT: April 9 &endash; 13: Propecia Rally New Zealand, Auckland, New ZealandWebsite: www.rallynz.org.nz
[WRC] Rally of Turkey - End of Second Leg
Saturday, 1 March 2003
Leaderboard at the end of leg two (after SS13)
1 Sainz (E) Citroen 3h28m 09.4
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot +1m 19.5
3 Duval (B) Ford +1m 44.0
4 McRae (GB) Citroen +2m 26.0
5 Panizzi (F) Peugeot +2m 45.1
6 Gardemeister (FIN) Skoda +3m 39.7
7 Martin (EE) Ford +3m 54.3
8 Makinen (FIN) Subaru +7m 01.0
9 Loix (B) Hyundai +10m05.6
10 Pykalisto (FIN) Peugeot +11m14.6
As the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship progressed into its longest leg with stages to the west of the event's base in Kemer, Carlos Sainz moved his Citroen Xsara WRC to the head of the field on the tenth stage. Previous incumbent of the number one spot Harri Rovanpera, suffered suspension failure after a collision with some rocks two kilometres into the Myra test. Rovanpera had been 22.8 seconds ahead of Sainz when they went into the stage, but the Finn's problem cost him close to eight minutes and his place in the top ten. He would retire from the event after the day's final stage.Sainz was on fine form through the second leg, fastest on three of the day's seven stages to build a lead of 1m 19.5s by the close of play. Richard Burns enjoyed a similarly trouble-free day, to climb four places into the runners-up spot, with Ford's François Duval maintaining his leg one pace to take third. The Belgian had lost his podium position to Makinen on the second stage of the day, but suspension damage dropped the Subaru driver back down the field. Colin McRae moved in the opposite direction to hold fourth ahead of Gilles Panizzi and Toni Gardemeister.
Kosti Katajamaki took over the lead of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship category in his Volkswagen, following a power steering problem late in the day for Daniel Carlsson.
Citroen
Technical: The two remaining Citroen Xsara WRCs of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae ran reliably today. Sebastien Loeb retired yesterday morning when his car ran out of fuel.Sporting: Despite his status as rally leader, Carlos Sainz was refusing to make any predictions about a possible 25th FIA World Rally Championship win. The Spaniard had set a blistering time through SS10, beating the rest of the field by 25 seconds. On the next stage, however, he suffered a puncture and an overshoot at one junction. Sainz ends Saturday's stages with a 1m 19.5-second advantage over Richard Burns. Colin McRae was happier with the set-up of his car, having stiffened the suspension. McRae spun in stages eight and ten and admitted he was backing off in some places, particularly towards the end of SS11.
Quotes: Carlos Sainz said: "I'm still not 100 percent confident in the car, but it is getting better with every kilometre. Tomorrow is the longest day of the rally, so we will see where we are then. There's not a lot more for me to say, except that I'm happy now."
Colin McRae said: "The end of that 11th stage was atrocious. It was fast downhill for about four kilometres and there were big, big rocks everywhere - at that speed you just had to run over them. This is going to take its toll on the competitors, the difficult thing is trying to make sure it doesn't take its toll on us. The spin in stage ten cost us about 20 seconds, we had to reverse to get the car turned around."
Peugeot
Technical: The Peugeot 206 WRCs of Richard Burns and Marcus Gronholm ran reliably, but Harri Rovanpera's car suffered suspension failure on SS10. He retired three stages later with further suspension trouble.Sporting: Harri Rovanpera dropped to 11th overall after hitting the rocks on the tenth stage. He attempted repairs after the stage, but there was nothing he could do as the right-rear damper had burst through its mounting. The Finn dropped another three minutes through the 20-kilometre Kemer test. Rovanpera then retired on the final stage of the day when the suspension problems re-occurred.
After the first two stages of the day, Richard Burns said he thought a podium position could be possible, two stages later he was there. The tenth stage wasn't without incident, however, as he slid off the road briefly. Marcus Gronholm moved up the order from an overnight 19th to hold 11th at the end of the leg.
Quotes: Harri Rovanpera said: "We went into a third-gear left-hand corner, slid a little sideways and smashed into the rocks. We weren't taking any risks or doing anything stupid - this is just Turkey, with rocks everywhere - or maybe it is just my luck at the moment, I thought I had left this behind in Sweden."
Richard Burns said: "We stalled when we slid off on SS10 and then we had to reverse, so we dropped time there. This is a rally where it really pays to be sensible. Top two or three stages times will pay off by the end of the event."
Marcus Gronholm said: "There is nothing to talk about today, we haven't had any problems. We went off the road after 15km of SS10 - but that's about all."
Ford
Technical: The oil-pressure warning light came on in Markko Martin's car during the middle loop of stages, but it didn't appear to cause any problems, while the steering on François Duval's Focus RS WRC was damaged on SS9. He also suffered from a sticking throttle in SS13.Sporting: François Duval started the day well, closing to the gap between himself and Sainz to less than one second. Unfortunately for the Belgian, he spun in the next test and dropped back to fourth behind Makinen. Burns passed Duval in the tenth stage, but by then both Rovanpera and Makinen had hit trouble, so the Belgian retained third. Markko Martin continued his climb back up the leaderboard after his gearbox troubles on the opening leg. The Estonian moved into the top ten and ended the day in seventh place.
Quotes: François Duval said: "It was my mistake on the second stage this morning. I had to reverse three times to get the car straight and then it stalled twice. It was frustrating. On the stage where Tommi had his problem, I caught him up, but he was moved over and didn't cost us time. In the afternoon it was hard to turn the car after I'd hit something and damaged the steering."
Markko Martin said: "We're getting closer to Freddy Loix and Toni Gardemeister with every stage, but I think that's as good as it can get for us. Stage 11 was terrible, it was like driving down a field with rocks rather than a road."
Subaru
Technical: Tommi Makinen's car suffered suspension trouble this morning after hitting a rock on the second stage. He hit another rock on SS10 and smashed the wishbone on the front-right wheel. Petter Solberg had retired yesterday with suspension trouble.Sporting: Makinen moved past Duval and into third place on the second stage of the day, despite the left-front suspension damage. The four-times world champion posted second fastest time on the ninth stage, opening up a 12.1 second advantage over Duval, only to lose it when he clouted a rock on a fifth-gear downhill stretch. The impact smashed the front-right wishbone and tore a hole in the wheel arch where the suspension part was fixed to the car. Makinen stopped after the stage and tried to repair the damage using the strap used to keep the spare wheel in the car. The repair broke soon after the start of the stage, but he made it through the stage, but dropped over three minutes. He ended the day in eighth place.
Quotes: Tommi Makinen said: "The rock was right in the middle of the road in stage ten, there was nothing we could do. We managed to get it to the start of the next stage, but then I felt the strap break not far in. I drove very, very slowly through there after that. The front wheel was moving about a lot. I think our best chance of making up any places now comes with the weather, it would be good for us if it rained tomorrow."
Hyundai
Technical: Armin Schwarz retired with suspension damage on the first stage of the day. Freddy Loix's throttle problems continued this morning and the Belgian suffered a blown turbo on the day's final stage.Sporting: Schwarz's car stopped in the first stage of the day. The rear suspension ball post broke and the wheel jammed back into the arch. Schwarz attempted to continue through the stage, but was forced to stop when a driveshaft broke. Loix said the sticking throttle on his car was getting worse. The team changed numerous parts at the lunchtime service, but to no avail. To make matters worse, turbo failure cost him even more time in the second run through Kumluca. Loix had started the day 11th and then hovered around seventh and eighth place throughout the day, eventually ending Saturday in ninth.
Freddy Loix said: "It is so hard to drive the car with the throttle problem. When you are trying to brake the car just wants to go straight on. Every time I get to the finish of the stage without spinning or going off the road I have to congratulate myself, it is like a victory. The team has changed so many things, but we still don't know what the trouble is."
Skoda
Technical: Toni Gardemeister's Octavia WRC broke a wishbone on the opening stage of the day, but was otherwise reliable. Didier Auriol retired yesterday, on the road section back to final service, with a blown engineSporting: Despite reporting some icy patches on the opening stage, Gardemeister moved into the top ten in stage seven. At service after the following stage, he made changes to stiffen the car's suspension - and immediately felt the car was better suited to the Turkish stages.
Quotes: Toni Gardemeister said: "The car was better this afternoon, but it is still sliding around a little bit too much for me. The traction is still not right, we need more, but this is the best the car has been for the whole rally. There are still so many rocks around, it is terrible trying to drive around them - that was why we broke the wishbone first thing this morning. I enjoyed that last stage, I was faster and there was more grip."
Other entries
Power steering failure on the final stage of the day cost FIA Junior World Rally Championship leader Daniel Carlsson six minutes. The problem for the Suzuki driver started just five kilometres into the test. Carlsson stopped on the stage and attempted to fix the problem, but couldn't do anything. He dropped to third place. Kosti Katajamaki moved to the head of the field despite his own power steering problem earlier in the day. The Volkswagen Polo man now enjoys a 2m 17s lead over Guy Wilks. Wilks was glad to get to the end of the leg following a worsening gearbox problem in his Ford Puma.Gilles Panizzi maintained his impressive pace to keep fifth place overnight. The Frenchman was happy with his efforts on most of the stages, save for SS11 where he went off the road for one minute. Juuso Pykalisto made it two Bozian-run Peugeot 206 WRCs in the top ten. Pykalisto broke a roll bar on the tenth stage and struggled with bad understeer after that. The other problem for Marcus Gronholm's protégé was the rate he was using his Michelin tyres. Running a 2000-specification car, he didn't have the latest transmission which makes more economical use of tyres.
01/03/03 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 40 crews (37 Group A and 3 Group N) started this morning.
RETIREMENTS: Schwarz (D), Rovanpera (FIN) and 10 other drivers
TODAY: Saturday 1 March
The second leg started from Kemer at 06h00 and covered 483.35km, including 158.52km on seven stages.
TOMORROW: Sunday 2 March
Leg 3 starts from Kemer at 07h00 and covers 320,95km, including 84,01km on five stages. The first car is expected to arrive at the finish in Kemer at 15h23.WEATHER FORECAST: Rain expected overnight, possibly continuing into tomorrow.
[WRC] Rally of Turkey - end of leg one
Friday, 28 February 2003
Peugeot endured mixed fortunes on the opening leg of the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Harri Rovanpera led the event by 20.7 seconds, but that was balanced by the persistent power steering problems, which beset reigning World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm's 206 WRC and left him languishing in 19th place, more than ten minutes behind his team-mate.Rovapera's day on the stages to the west of the rally's base in Kemer had been largely trouble-free. The Finn wasn't ready, however, to predict a possible second world championship victory, pointing out that his lead wasn't insurmountable to the crews behind. That chasing pack? was headed by the hugely experienced Carlos Sainz. By his own admission Sainz still has plenty to learn about the Xsara WRC, but he settled on a set-up which was to his liking and stuck to it. Ford's François Duval belied his lack of WRC experience to hold an overnight third place, just 8.8 seconds off Sainz.
The Junior World Rally Championship runners, were headed by Suzuki driver Daniel Carlsson. The Swede had eked out an advantage of 1m 20s from his nearest category rival Kosti Katajamaki.
Peugeot
Technical: Marcus Gronholm's Peugeot 206 WRC suffered a hydraulic problem from the third stage onwards today. Richard Burn's 206 WRC developed a gearbox problem in the final stage of the day.Sporting: Harri Rovanpera moved into the lead of the rally after setting fastest time on the fourth stage. The Finn admitted that his position further back on the road was helping him, but he said he wasn't taking any big risks with his pace. His team-mate Richard Burns was sixth at the end of the day, having suffered a puncture on each one of this morning's three stages. Every one of the deflations was on the front-right of his 206. Gronholm didn't get the chance to get into a rhythm for this event, as power steering gremlins hit his Peugeot on the day's second stage. The reigning world champion lost the power steering on his 206. The unit was changed at lunchtime service, but the problem reoccurred on the road section out of service, leaving him to driove the final two stages of the day without power steering. In total the Finn lost ten minutes through the day.
Quotes: Harri Rovanpera said: "The road surface is being swept clean in some places, but on the other hand the drivers are pulling some rocks out on to the road, so it's not all good news. The long stage the first time through wasn't so bad, but the second run at some of the stages is going to be very rough - not so nice. It's going to be hard work tomorrow, there's a long way to go - I'm not going to predict anything."
Richard Burns said: "I'm happy enough with the way things have gone. Okay we had the punctures this morning, but they didn't really cost us much time. The car was jumping out of third gear on the last stage, but the gearbox will be changed tonight.
Marcus Gronholm said: "I'm not really very interested in this rally now. The problem came the first time about five kilometres from the end of SS3. Then doing the long stage without power steering was really hard work, my arms are a little tired now."
Citroen
Technical: Sebastien Loeb retired from the event after running out of fuel on the first loop of stages this morning. The other two Xsara WRCs ran without any problems.Sporting: Carlos Sainz ended leg one in second place after a trouble-free day in his Xsara WRC. The Spaniard reported that he was happy with the way his car was running and added that he wouldn't be making any changes to the car's set-up. Sainz did go off the road on the first loop of stages this morning, inflicting some minor panel damage to his Xsara, but he didn't lose any time. Once Loeb had retired, Colin McRae was faced with the task of running first on the road. The Scot said he was cleaning the stages for the cars behind him, but he was more dismayed at his time through the final stage of the day - which was 28 seconds slower than Sainz. McRae intended to make minor adjustments to his car overnight.
Quotes: Carlos Sainz said: "I'm still not 100 percent confident in the car, but it is getting better with every kilometre. Tomorrow is the longest day of the rally, so we will see where we are then. There's not a lot more for me to say, except that I'm happy now."
Colin McRae said: "The day has been okay, but that last stage wasn't very good for us. I don't know what it was, if you look at Carlos's time it was good, but it just didn't work for us. The stage was a bit dirty on top, but that shouldn't have cost us that much time.
A team spokesperson said: "The crew took the wrong way leading to the refuelling point after SS3. Realising their mistake they turned around and went back. Unfortunately they didn't have enough fuel to cover the extra kilometres they had driven."
Ford
Technical: Markko Martin's Ford Focus RS WRC suffered a broken gearbox on the second stage this morning and Mikko Hirvonen retired with damaged suspension on SS4. François Duval's example ran without any problems.Sporting: Young Belgian driver François Duval is the leading Ford on the event, holding third after leg one. Duval posted two third fastest stage times and enjoyed a trouble-free day. Running further down the order helped him through the morning, but on the day's only repeated stage he still managed to set a highly competitive time. Markko Martin picked himself up from the disappointment of having to do a stage and a half (including all of the 30km Silyon test) with just first and second gears. Martin was fastest on SS5. Hirvonen retired with suspension failure on the first loop of stages this morning.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "It's so difficult to drive the car when you've only got two gears. Obviously you have no top speed, but it makes the corners hard to get into the rhythm when you're used to changing up or down the gearbox. It was a mechanical problem in the gearbox, all of the electronics and everything else was working but we just didn't have any drive."
François Duval said: "A good day. Everything is working well. Our tyre choices have been perfect. I have no complaints. Getting to know my new co-driver has been fine today."
Subaru
Technical: Petter Solberg's Impreza WRC2003 retired three kilometres into the fourth stage with a broken track rod end. Tommi Makinen's sister car suffered suspension problems on SS4.Sporting: Tommi Makinen held fourth place overnight, having been passed by Carlos Sainz on the fifth and final stage of the opening leg. The Finn admitted he'd found plenty of big rocks around on the day's stages, and while he'd done his best to avoid most of them, a bent sumpguard after the first loop was testament to some of the rocks making it under the car. Solberg had made a fine start to the rally, joint fastest time on the second stage of the event promoted him to the lead. He was still out front two stages later when he suffered a broken trackrod end and retired.
Quotes: Tommi Makinen said: "The rear dampers went completely in stage four. The car was hard to drive, it was all over the road. Once we'd got that problem sorted, this afternoon was better."
Petter Solberg said: "The car was really good this morning, everything was looking perfect. I came into a third-gear right hand corner with a little bit of oversteer, but I'm not exactly sure what happened - I think the front wheel got caught in a rut and just broke the trackrod end. This is not something which has ever happened before. It's really disappointing, but it was good to see just how well the car was going before the problem."
Hyundai
Technical: Both Accent WRCs suffered suspension trouble through the first loop of stages. Armin Schwarz also suffered an exhaust problem, while Freddy Loix's car was hit with a broken turbo on the final stage of the day and a throttle problem.Sporting: Both Armin Schwarz and Freddy Loix have suffered troubled starts to the event. The carbon underbody protection on Schwarz's car was being burned by an exhaust system which was damaged by the rocky Turkish roads. Despite this trouble, the German was still able to set second fastest time on the stage and move into second place overall. When the car came into service the mechanics worked flat out to solve the problem, which unfortunately meant they didn't have time to replace the suspension or brakes, which slowed Schwarz through the day's final two stages. He slipped back to eighth overnight. The turbo on Loix's car was changed at first service, along with the front dampers, which had leaked all of their fluid. The Belgian was happier with the car through the afternoon, despite the turbo blowing on the final stage - and the throttle sticking open momentarily.
Quotes: Armin Schwarz said: "When I started to smell the smoke coming on the fourth stage I thought straight away that it was the same problem as on Rally GB. I thought it was going to be a fire and we were going to have to stop. In the end it was okay. These stages do suit the car a little better than the ones we've had in the championship before."
Freddy Loix said: "Once the team changed the turbo after first service the car was better, but then the turbo went right near the finish of the final stage. We were lucky this happened near the finish, we didn't lose much time. The suspension wasn't right at all this morning, the fluid went out of the dampers and we were driving the car on the bump stops and sump guard. It wasn't easy to drive like that."
Skoda
Technical: Gardemeister's Octavia WRC ran without any major problems today. Didier Auriol retired on the way into the day's final service engine failure. The team had been concerned about the water temperature after SS4 and the engine problem is believed to be linked to this.Sporting: Toni Gardemeister was the quickest Octavia through the opening day, but the Finn made it quite clear that he was no fan of this rally. He smacked a rock with the back end of the Octavia on the opening loop and knocked the tracking out. From then on he said he was just trying to avoidthe rocks which had been pulled out by the cars ahead. Gardemeister held tenth place overnight, just 8.8 seconds ahead of his team-mate Didier Auriol. Auriol felt that the four days he'd spent testing the car prior to the event hadn't been entirely representative of the conditions he was greeted with in Turkey. The former world champion made changes to the car and pronounced himself happier, but then retired with engine problems.
Quotes: Toni Gardemeister said: "I think it is a bit stupid to be driving here. The roads are very bad, there are rocks all over the place. I must have hit 100 big rocks today, this is knocking the car about quite badly. We didn't have any mechanical problems with the car, but we have had some punctures. Not good."
Didier Auriol said: "Considering that the car's not perfect for me, the times haven't been so bad. I'm going to be making some adjustments to the car; we'll be looking at the ride height and the diff mapping. After not doing so much testing for this event, I can't expect everything to be perfect."
Other entries
Just as he did on round one, Suzuki Ignis driver Daniel Carlsson leads the way after the opening leg's stages. It was round one winner, Brice Tirabassi who stole the march on the superspecial stage last night. The Renault driver crashed out on the third stage, however. Carlsson was already out front by then and would continue to set a blistering pace through the Friday stages to open up a comfortable lead over Kosti Katajamaki's Volkswagen Polo. Marcos Ligato was just 3.5s off the back of the Finn, placing his Fiat Punto in third place at the end of leg one.Among the non-works World Rally Cars, Gilles Panizzi was in fifth place overnight. His 206 WRC had run without any problems through the opening leg and the Frenchman was enjoying his first trip to Turkey. Fellow Peugeot driver Juuso Pykalisto rolled on the third stage, having scored a third fastest time in SS2. He lost four minutes while the car was put back on his wheels and ended the leg 22nd.
28/02/03 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 60 crews (54 Group A and 6 Group N) were allowed to start this morning.
58 crews (53 Group A and 5 Group N) actually started.
RETIREMENTS: Loeb (F), Solberg (N), Hirvonen (FIN), Auriol (F) and 15 other drivers
TODAY: Friday 28 February
The second part of Leg One started from Kemer at 08h00 and covered 344.19km, including 93.80km on five stage.
With one Superspecial Stage of 1.55km run yesterday, after the ceremonial start, the first leg totals are 389.55km, including 93.35 on six stages.
TOMORROW: Saturday 1 March
Leg 2 starts from Kemer at 06h00 and covers 483.35km, including 158.52km on seven stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Kemer at 18h24.
WEATHER FORECAST: Remaining bright and dry.
LEADERS AFTER SS6
1 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 1h 14m 50.5
2 Sainz (E) Citroen +20.7
3 Duval (B) Ford +29.5
4 Makinen (FIN) Subaru +31.4
5 Panizzi (F) Peugeot +37.9
6 Burns (GB) Peugeot +56.5
7 C.McRae (GB) Citroen +1m 03.3
8 Schwarz (D) Hyundai +1m 07.1
9 Loix (B) Hyundai +1m 13.6
10 Gardemeister (FIN) Skoda +1m 20.9
[WRC] Rally of Turkey - preview
Thursday, 27 February 2003
This will be the Rally of Turkey's debut in the FIA World Rally Championship, and of the manufacturer drivers present on this third round, only Citroen's Sebastien Loeb has seen the stages before - albeit at the wheel of a Saxo. Loeb arrives back at the rally's base in Kemer as leader of the championship, following his round one win and a points-scoring finish in Sweden earlier this month.Loeb will have an advantage over his rivals, but what he has in experience of the rally, he gives away in years of experience to the majority of his fellow championship competitors. Few have more experience than Loeb's team-mate and fellow championship leader Colin McRae. This will only be the Scotsman's third outing in a Xsara WRC, but his speed over the first two rallies of the year indicate that he's already feeling comfortable in his new surroundings. Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm and Richard Burns are joint third ahead of this first all-gravel round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The stages run high above the Mediterranean coastline and the central service area in Kemer. The average height of the stages is around 1,200 metres. Recent heavy rain and snow has damaged some of the roads, forcing the organisers to re-grade some of the stages. The rally is expected to offer similar terrain to Cyprus, although the average speed is likely to be higher than the island event.
The Rally of Turkey is also the second round of this year's FIA Junior World Rally Championship. Winner of the opening round Brice Tirabassi will lead the crews away in his Renault Clio.
Citroen Total (1st - 24 points)
Technical: Citroen conducted rough road testing in Portugal and France prior to this event. Colin McRae and Sebastien Loeb have brand new Xsara WRCs, while Sainz has the car which Thomas Radstrom drove in Finland last season.Sporting: Citroen has maintained its grip on both the drivers and manufacturer's championship title races. Sebastien Loeb competed here last season but neither Colin McRae - with whom the Frenchman shares the lead in the driver's championship - or Carlos Sainz sampled these stages before. McRae and Sainz should have the edge on their younger team-mate as they have considerably more experience on this rough style of rally. McRae is an acknowledged master of the rough rally, winning both the Acropolis and Safari rallies last season. All three drivers took part in the testing in the run up to the event.
Quotes: Colin McRae said: "The state of the stages really depends on the weather. If it rains then I could see quite a few rocks being pulled out and the road getting quite cut up. This is my first gravel event in the car, so I'm still learning about it - but I'm feeling more confident all of the time."
Sebastien Loeb said: "I've done five of the stages on the rally, which is a plus - but it was in a Saxo Challenge car, not the same as a World Rally Car. It's great to be still leading the championship, but I'm not sure what this will mean for running first on the road, with the loose gravel around it won't be ideal."
Carlos Sainz said: "I still haven't driven the car enough on gravel. Okay, we did some testing before the rally, but you could always use more time driving."
Marlboro Peugeot Total (2nd - 22 points)
Technical: There are no major changes to the specification of the Peugeot 206 WRCs, which started today's shakedown test in Cyprus Rally specification.Sporting: Marcus Gronholm arrives in Turkey on the back of a commanding win in Sweden - his third victory on the championship's only snow rally. Gronholm and the 206 WRC are likely to be a potent force on this style of event, the Finn showing how comfortable he is on this style of rally by winning in Cyprus last season.
Richard Burns starts Rally of Turkey working with a new engineer in the Peugeot team. The Briton admitted that his relationship with Jean-Charles Odon (his previous engineer) hadn't worked at 100 per cent. Burns is in a confident mood ahead of round three of the FIA World Rally Championship, having enjoyed his best ever start to the championship - he is joint third. Conversely, Harri Rovanpera's start to 2003 hasn't been great. The Finn wasn't competing in Monte Carlo and then crashed out of Sweden.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "This rally is okay, but I don't really understand why we need another round of the world championship like this - with similar conditions to those in Greece and Cyprus, but okay we will see what we can do."
Richard Burns said: "The decision to change the engineer was made by the team - we are all in this together. I know how well the relationship can work, so I knew this one wasn't working 100 per cent smoothly. I am looking forward to this event, it's a bit of an unknown quantity, but I'm happy with the car and everything right now."
Ford Motor Company (3rd - 15 points)
Technical: This will be the final time the Ford team runs three Focus RS WRC02s. From the next round onwards, only Mikko Hirvonen will drive the '02 car, with Markko Martin and Francois Duval moving on to the all-new 2003-specification car. There have been no developments to the Ford for Rally of Turkey, but Ford is the only team among the Michelin runners to have selected the narrow ZE pattern of tyre for this event.Sporting: Markko Martin holds a strong fifth place in the championship, just two points adrift of the leaders, after enjoying his best start to the championship yet. Martin - and his team-mate Duval - go well on this style of events. Both drivers led the Cyprus Rally at some stage last year. Duval has a new co-driver (Stephane Prevot) for this rally, and is in need of a finish to boost his confidence after crashing in both Monte Carlo and Sweden. Hirvonen will be looking for a finish to gain more valuable time behind the wheel of his Focus.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "Shakedown has gone very well for me. I made lots and lots of changes to the car, but I'm happy with it now. The stage we've just used wasn't so much like the stages will be in the rally, but it was good to get an idea of what's coming."
François Duval said: "I prefer loose surface rallies, so this should be good. This could be a good rally for me, being a young driver I don't have the same experience that some of the others in the championship do. As for my new co-driver, we tested together already and I don't see any problems in us settling down together."
Mikko Hirvonen said: "I started at shakedown this morning with the car set up the same as Markko's - which is what I always do. Since then, I've made a couple of changes and made the car better for me. The stage was quite rough in the end, and we lost a little time when we broke something on the steering. It wasn't a big problem, though."
555 Subaru World Rally Team(4th - 11 points)
Technical: This is the first loose-surface event for the new shape Subaru Impreza WRC2003. The team's test driver Pasi Hagstrom has spent seven days in Spain testing the car, although there are no major developments for the car.Sporting: Tommi Makinen enjoyed a strong run on the last round of the championship, eventually finishing second behind Gronholm. His team-mate Petter Solberg was steady through the first two legs, struggling to find a car set-up which he was happy with. On the final day of the rally, Solberg settled down and was much happier with the car, posting fastest time on the final test of the event.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: "I haven't driven on gravel since Rally GB, not even in testing - so this is going to be an interesting event. I like these rough, tight and twisty style of stages, so I'm really looking forward to this event - especially as nobody really knows too much about it."
Tommi Makinen said: "Pasi was happy with the car when he tested it, so I am happy. The shakedown stage this morning wasn't so good at the finish, it was a little too rough - rougher than the stages will be anyway."
Hyundai World Rally Team (5th - 3 points)
Technical: The Accent's engine and suspension have received some attention since the last round of the championship in Sweden, although the drivers still haven't conducted a full pre-event test. The misfire which slowed Armin Schwarz's car in Sweden, has been traced to a faulty spark plug.Sporting: The Hyundai Accent WRCs of Armin Schwarz and Freddy Loix will continue to run in their interim colour scheme - as the team still awaits the announcement of its title sponsor. Both drivers are more upbeat about this rally then either of the previous two rounds, as both point out that the slightly twistier rallies seem to suit the car better than the faster events such as Sweden.
Quotes: Armin Schwarz said: "As Turkey is classes as a long-haul rally, nobody is allowed to test on the event, which is not going to make things easy. This being a new rally does even the chances out for everybody a little bit more, but it would have been nice to have tested for the event."
Freddy Loix said: "This will be a good rally for us. I like new stages, if you look at the times from the Acropolis Rally last season, then you can see that it was on the new ones where we went quickest. "
Skoda Motorsport (6th - 2 points)
Technical: The Skoda team spent four days testing in Spain prior to this event, but there are no major changes to the Octavia ahead of the Rally of Turkey.Sporting: This will be Didier Auriol's first event in an Octavia WRC on gravel. While he made a good start to 2003 in Monte Carlo, Sweden was not so good for the Frenchman. He admitted he wasn't happy with the car and struggled to match the times set by team-mate Toni Gardemeister. Gardemeister finished round two in eighth place, but had run in the top six overall earlier in the rally.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "I like the challenge of this type of rally, with the narrow roads. If I have the feeling in the car, then I can attack from the start and making the points at the finish is possible. It would be very difficult for us to talk about the win or the podium."
Toni Gardemeister said: "We want points here. The first group of stages should be best for us, but over the last couple of seasons we have seen that the rougher rallies like Acropolis or Safari - and now Turkey do suit the Octavia quite well."
Other entries
Brice Tirabassi leads the competitors in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship away in his Renault Clio, following his win on the opening round. The second-placed driver in Monte Carlo, Kosti Katajamaki, was excluded from the results following a technical problem with the rear brakes on his Volkswagen Polo. Fiat Punto driver Marcos Ligato is now second in the standings. Official Peugeot driver Gilles Panizzi starts the event in a factory-specification 206 WRC, run by Bozian Racing.
27/02/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
EVENT: The Rally of Turkey is the 3rd of 14 events in the FIA World Rally Championship.
ENTRIES: 70 (62 Group A, 8 Group N)
DRIVERS: Austria 1, Argentina 1, Belgium 2, Bulgaria 2, Croatia 1, Czech Republic 2, Estonia 2, Finland 8, France 6, Georgia 1, Germany 4, Great Britain 5, Hungary 2, Italy 3, Lebanon 1, Lithuania 1, Norway 2, Poland 1, San Marino 2, Spain 3, Sweden 2, Turkey 18.
MANUFACTURER TEAMS: Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Peugeot, Skoda, Subaru
CARS: (including the manufacturer cars): Citroen 9, Fiat 8, Ford 12, Hyundai 2, Mitsubishi 7, Opel 4, Peugeot 8, Renault 5, Skoda 3, Subaru 3, Suzuki 4, Toyota 2 Volkswagen 3.
TIMETABLE:
Thursday 27 February
Ceremonial start at 18h00, Antalya. One Superspecial Stage.Friday 28 February
Leg 1 restarts from Kemer at 08h00 and covers 344.19km, including 93.80km on five stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Kemer at 17h33.Saturday 1 March
Leg 2 starts from Kemer at 06h00 and covers 483.35km, including 158.52km on seven stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Kemer at 18h24.Sunday 2 March
Leg 3 starts from Kemer at 07h00 and covers 320.95km, including 84.01km on five stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Kemer at 15h23.Total
The rally covers 1193.85km, including 337.88km on 18 special stages (including eight run twice). All stages are on gravel roads closed to other traffic.
TOMORROW:
Friday 7 February
Leg 1 restarts from Kemer at 08h00 and covers 344.19km, including 93.80km on five stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Kemer at 17h33.
WEATHER FORECAST: Clear skies with temperature rising through the day.
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