08 June 2003 - 12:44 Martin confirms Ford's superiority in Greece The French teams no longer dominating

Acropolis : Leg 1 - Summary [06/06/2003]
We could not ask for a more exciting rally ! Since the beginning of the season, we got used to the domination of the two French teams : Peugeot and Citroen. The last two events were proof that the competition was getting ready to fight back and today Ford and Subaru were able to show to their rivals that they are now in a position to win.

Martin just like last year
During the 2002 edition of the Acropolis Rally, Markko Martin surprised everyone by leading the race after the end of the first leg, in front of his teammate Colin McRae. This year, we knew that the Estonian could be competitive in this event, especially now that he have a car with a really good potential.

So it was not a big surprise to see Martin in the lead after SS 2 and to keep that position until the end of the day. More surprising was the short but brilliant performance of his teammate Francois Duval, who got the fastest time in the first stage. After that, the Belgian driver was able to follow directly behind his teammate in second place until a mistake made him got off the road. That was the end of the Acropolis Rally for Duval.

Third Ford driver for this rally, Mikko Hirvonen was not able to reach his target of finishing the event. A broken suspension ended prematurely his day.

Rovanpera takes advantage of his starting position
First and second in the championship, Richard Burns and Marcus Gronholm were expecting to be penalised by their starting positions, cleaning the roads for the others following them. Marcus was patient all day, knowing that tomorrow he will be in a much better situation to battle against the leaders.

Richard Burns had the same hopes but the British driver was slowed down by a spin and gearbox problems.

Harri Rovanpera does not have such a good championship position as his two teammates so his starting position was better. The Finn used this advantage really well, making three consecutive fastest times that allowed him to close the gap to only 4 seconds on Martin for the overall lead at the end of the day.

A special mention to Gilles Panizzi, who is not driving for the official Peugeot team this weekend but instead is behind the wheel of a 206 WRC prepared by Bozian Racing team. Panizzi, who has the reputation of being an expert on asphalt is showing today that he can perform really well on gravel roads also.

Subaru's waiting game
The goal of the Subaru drivers was not necessarily to be in the lead at all cost. Instead, this first leg was taken rather cautiously, the team did not want to repeat the incidents like in the past few events. Petter Solberg and Tommi Makinen were aiming to stay close to the leaders and that is exactly what they did. A perfect scenario to start the second leg tomorrow and to get gradually closer to the leaders as the rally progresses.

Sainz still in the battle
This day was not the exactly best one for Citroen. Two of the three Xsara cars had mechanical problems. Sebastien Loeb was the first one hit and had to retire early in the first stage. Then it was Colin McRae's turn to have a problem with his car. The Scotsman was not able to start his car on time for the time control procedure and got a 50-second penalty and a tremendous drop in the standings. McRae did not give up the fight because of the situation and is still hoping to win for a sixth time at the Acropolis.

Carlos Sainz managed his race very well and is less than 40 seconds behind the leader, which is not that much considering that there are two more days of racing ahead to make up the lost time.

Not a good day for Skoda and Hyundai
The rough roads of the Acropolis did not spare the smaller teams in the championship. Toni Gardemeister had a turbo problem and had to retire. Only Didier Auriol is left for Skoda, the French driver is now in ninth place at the end of the day.

At Hyundai, the day was even more somber, both Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz had to retire early in the event because of mechanical problems. Only Jussi Valimaki is left running at the end of the first leg, the young driver finishing the day in thirteenth position.

Marcus Gronholm retires
Marcus Gronholm was forced to retire on his way back to the service area after completing the last stage. His Peugeot 206 WRC suffered from a fuel pressure problem and the car stopped before its final destination for the day.

The reigning World Champion, who was third in the overall standings, was still in the battle for the win. His retirement leaves Harri Rovanpera alone to defend Peugeot's chances for the victory since Richard Burns seems to be too far behind to hope getting the first place.

Acropolis : Leg 2 - Summary [07/06/2003]
Вeader of the rally after the end of the first leg, Markko Martin was still under the threat of Harri Rovanpera and Petter Solberg. After being freed from the pressure of the two men, who had some problems during this second race day, the Estonian did not spare his efforts. The Ford driver made four fastest times today, helping him increase his lead.

Ford getting close to a fourth win in a row
If the standing order stays the same and Martin wins his first ever WRC event, the Acropolis Rally will definitely become the favourite rally of the Ford Rallye Sport team. Colin McRae won the last three previous editions in a Focus and now Martin is getting close to offer a fourth consecutive win to Malcolm Wilson's team.

After taking the lead in SS 2 from his teammate Francois Duval, Martin managed perfectly his race to stay on top of the event since that time.

The only Ford Rallye Sport driver in the event after the retirements of Duval and Hirvonen, the Estonian did a great job and can now be seen as a serious rival for the Peugeot and Citroen drivers.

Citroen back at the front
It was a difficult rally start for Citroen yesterday. The team lost Sebastien Loeb on the very first stage because of a mechanical problem while Colin McRae got a 50-second penalty at the beginning of stage 2 because of a faulty starter. This second day of racing was much better for Guy Frequelin's team. After a conservative start, Carlos Sainz was able to increase his pace later on to finish the second leg in second position, a smart strategy that could put him back in second place in the world championship if the results stay the same until the end of the rally.

As for the constructor's world championship, Citroen is able to reduce the gap on Peugeot to five points. Colin McRae should be able to bring some precious points to his team since he is currently in fourth position. McRae had a long battle with Solberg but so far the Norwegian is having the upper hand.

Solberg back to third place
Petter Solberg was also very careful at the beginning of the rally, his goal was only to finish in the top 6. With the numerous retirements, the Subaru driver came up to third place, an ideal position to be more aggressive during the second day.

Unfortunately, his Impreza had transmission problems in SS 11, costing him a full minute and five positions in the standings. Nothing too serious according to Petter, who went on the attack mode to make up his lost time. This evening the Norwegian driver is back to third place and will want to do everything possible to keep it this time.

Tommi Makinen inherited third place when his teammate Solberg got transmission problems but soon after it was the Finn's turn to be in trouble. The Impreza of the four-time world champion was having damper problems and lost a position to Colin McRae, who is now around thirty seconds ahead of him. With such a gap between himself and the leader Markko Martin, McRae will probably not be able to score a fourth consecutive win at the Acropolis Rally.
 
Peugeot facing gearbox issues
The reliability of the 206's gearbox was not up to the job for this rally. Harri Rovanpera, who was fighting for the win, had a particularly frustrating day when he lost the use of many gears. First, the Finn lost the use of the second gear during the day's first stage and then it was the third and fifth gears that let go in the next two stages.

Rovanpera was able to reach the service area to change the gearbox unit but he lost a lot of time because of the problem, falling to ninth place more than three minutes from the leader. The Finn was able to come back to seventh position but still have a 3-minute deficit over the leader.

Richard Burns' race was also plagued with gearbox problems. Now that the British driver has used the maximum amount of gearbox units allowed by the FIA, the rest of his race seems to be compromised.

The goal is to finish in the points
There were so many retirements during the rally that only eight works team drivers are still running at the end of leg 2. This means that whatever the position at which these drivers will finish, each official team will score some points. This is the case for Didier Auriol, whose main objective will be to finish the event.

No Hyundai at the finish
Jussi Valimaki was the only Hyundai driver left in the race after the end of the first leg but clutch problems at the start of the second day meant that the car was not able to start the second leg. With this retirement, Hyundai is not able to score any points in Greece and the reliability of the Accent is still wary.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International