04 Юни 2003 - 01:10 Rajd Polski - Campos wins the battle

After a tense and exciting battle in the hills and countryside around  Klodzko, Miguel Campos emerged as the winner of the 60th Rally of Poland which is round 4 of the European Championships. Bruno Thiry was just over 2 seconds behind the Portuguese driver, but then he lost over 40 secs on the penultimate stage when he developed clutch problems and had to concede defeat. He also lost nearly 2 minutes on the final stage so the margin of victory for Campos was 2min. 40.9sec.

So Campos collects 200 European Championship points and is the clear leader in the points table with 600 pts. with Thiry retaining second place with 160. “With 600 points in the European Championship, we are comfortably placed to fight for the title” concluded the Portuguese driver who won his 11th race with the Peugeot 206 WRC, his sixth in a row. The next round of the Championships is in 2 weeks time in Bulgaria.

Evgeny Vasin also had a fine rally, making up an overnight 28.3 sec. deficit and passing local favourite Tomasz Czopik to take 3rd place overall. This also brought with it 120 much needed Championship points. The  Mitsubishi’s of Sebastian Frycz and Michal Bebenek took first and second places in Gr. N., 5th and 6th places overall.

Everyone was hoping that there would be a close battle between Championship leader Campos and Bruno Thiry and they were not disappointed. The lead changed hands twice on the first day, but there was never more than a few seconds between them. Campos had an annoying problem with his in-car intercom and Thiry had air in his brake system but they were just minor inconveniences as they fought tooth and nail to gain precious seconds on the fast and bumpy roads. The Belgian clocked over 208 km/h on Stage 8 with Campos having a top sped of 199 km/h. The fact that Thiry won the 16.95 km long stage by 0.2 sec. will tell you just how close the duel was. At the end of the first day Campos had a lead of 5.6 sec., having won 5 of the stages to Thiry’s 4.

Polish Champion Leszek Kuzaj (Subaru Impreza WRC) retired on the SS-1 after crashing on the third kilometer of the stage. The crew is OK.

There was again a clear blue sky and the promise of another hot day, both in the cars and under the sun, as Campos led the 49 teams remaining in the rally, to the first of the 10 special stages on the second and final day. The stages were wider, faster and less bumpy and most of the teams altered their suspensions accordingly.

Thiry narrowed the gap to 3.9 sec. when he won the opening two stages of the day. Then on stage 12, a chicane which appeared in the road book was not there when the teams drove the stage and this caused a fair amount of confusion. Campos had won the stage by 2 sec. However, after being considered by the FIA Stewards of the Meeting, the stage was cancelled.

Thiry went on to win 5 of the 7 stages which counted when disaster struck on stage 18, and the rest is history.

The 60th Rally of Poland – Rajd Polski
Final Result

1. Miguel Campos, Peugeot 206 WRC, 2hr24min18.9sec
2. Bruno Thiry, Peugeot 206 WRC, +2min40.9sec
3. Evgeny Vasin, Peugeot 206 WRC, +6min53.2sec
4. Tomasz Czopik, Subaru Impreza WRC, +7min44.8sec
5. Sebastian Frycz, Mitsubishi Evo V, +10min52.8sec
6. Michal Bebenek, Mitsubishi Evo V, +11min23.3sec

European Rally Championship
standings after Poland

1  M.Campos (P) 600 Pts
2  B.Thiry (B) 360 Pts
3  P.Andreucci (I) 190 Pts
4  G.Basso (I) 186 Pts
5  S.Yazici (TR) 160 Pts
-  L.Pedersoli (I) 160 Pts
-  M.Fuster (E) 160 Pts
8  P.Longhi (I) 125 Pts
9  A.Ponce (E) 120 Pts
-  E.Vasin (RUS) 120 Pts
11 R. Travaglia (I) 112 Pts