13 May 2003 - 14:37 Everyone's turn! WRC: rally Argentina - Summary

The 2003 edition of the Rally Argentina was exciting at many levels. The battle for the win was captivating and the action did not stop until the very end. We will mostly remember that the roads were hard on the cars and that Marcus Gronholm got his 15th win. We will also remember that luck was not on Carlos Sainz' side. Without his one- minute penalty, the Citroen driver would have won today. Last year Sainz won the Rally Argentina because of Peugeot's disqualification, now Gronholm gets the win mainly because of Sainz' penalty. Everyone's turn!

Great come-back by Gronholm

After the first stages of the rally, Marcus Gronholm took control of the event and seemed to be on his way to a dominating victory. However, the Finn made a mistake and hit a rock on stage 9, losing a lot of time and many positions in the process. Marcus Gronholm did not give up and made an impressive charge through the field to take a well-deserved victory.

It is impossible to know if the World Champion would have been able to catch Markko Martin without the Ford driver's retirement. Nonetheless, Gronholm's come back was remarkable and his win is a nice payback for last year's disappointing disqualification.

Richard Burns and Harri Rovanpera confirmed Peugeot's strength in this rally by finishing third and fourth respectively. However, both of them were overshadowed by their winning teammate Marcus Gronholm. In the championship, Richard Burns remains the leader in front of Gronholm, the two men preceding the three Citroen drivers.
 
A costly penalty for Sainz

Marcus Gronholm's mistake in SS 9 was enough for Carlos Sainz to take the lead in the event. The Spanish driver seemed to control the situation, keeping a steady gap between himself and Markko Martin in second place. Unfortunately for him, a one-minute penalty was given to him because he arrived too soon at the service area. Sainz was now down to fourth place but a strong finish made him climb up to second at the end of the rally.

His two teammates were less fortunate. Colin McRae had to retire after a fire started in his car and Sebastien Loeb had to stop after going off the road in SS 20.

In search of reliability

The new Focus WRC showed in Argentina what it was made of. Markko Martin was able to match the pace of the Peugeot cars, even getting in the lead at the end of the second leg. Unfortunately for the young Estonian, his Focus suffered from an oil pressure problem that caused his retirement while he was still leading the rally.

The two other Ford drivers, Francois Duval and Mikko Hirvonen gained more experience by reaching the finish, which was their main goal. The Belgian driver managed to do a little better than Hirvonen, even if a puncture early in the first leg was enough to put him far away from the leading cars. At least the two young drivers were patient and with all the retirements, they were both able to score some championship points.

 
Makinen in a hurry to leave Argentina

It is true that Tommi Makinen did not have much to gain in this Rally Argentina. The Finn suffered from gearbox problems in the first leg and ended up far behind the leaders. However, Subaru probably made a mistake by letting Makinen retire from the event.

With all the retirements, Makinen would have probably ended his race in eighth place in front of Mikko Hirvonen, taking one point in the championship. This single point would have been enough for Subaru to be in front of Ford in the constructor's championship, which is not the case now. The only consolation for Subaru is Petter Solberg's fifth position, right behind the two French teams.

Reliable Octavia, fragile Accent

The Octavia WRC is taking part in its last rallies before being replaced by the Fabia. Skoda's new weapon should be faster but let's hope it will be just as reliable as the Octavia. Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister were able to avoid every difficulties of the Argentine event to bring home their cars in sixth and seventh place. More points for Skoda, while its rival Hyundai is still struggling.

Armin Schwarz was happy to be in front of the two Skoda cars but like his teammate Freddy Loix, the German will not reach the finish, his Accent having mechanical problems. Another bad weekend for Hyundai.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International, 11.05.2003