09 June 2003 - 13:38 An impressive first win for Martin WRC: rally Acropolis - finish

A superb first win for Markko Martin at the Acropolis Rally. The young Ford driver showed a lot of maturity and excellent self-control to lead the event almost from the start (he took the lead in SS 2) to the finish. A remarkable accomplishment for himself but also for Ford, who win a fourth consecutive Acropolis Rally with a Focus RS WRC that is still in its infancy.

Petter Solberg took the fastest time in the last stage but it was not enough for the Subaru driver to take over second place overall from Carlos Sainz.

Richard Burns is second in SS 22, which is enough for him to keep his fourth place overall that was under the threat of Tommi Makinen.

Carlos Sainz managed his race to perfection, finishing third in SS 22, just enough to stay second overall in front of Solberg.

Markko Martin, Gilles Panizzi, Harri Rovanpera, Tommi Makinen and Colin McRae complete the top 8 in this final stage.

In the overall final results, Markko Martin is the winner, in front of Carlos Sainz, Petter Solberg, Richard Burns, Tommi Makinen and Harri Rovanpera. Gilles Panizzi and Colin McRae are seventh and eighth respectively.

Markko Martin's pace in the previous rounds of the World Rally Championship was a good indication that his first win was just a matter of time. It is now done today, in a very convincing manner. Martin won the 50th edition of the Acropolis Rally, almost leading from start to finish.

First win for Martin
The consistency of Markko Martin since the beginning of last year was a sure sign that this young driver would one day be part of the restricted group of World Rally Championship winners. Not only Markko never seems to give up, he also has a tremendous amount of natural talent.

Since the introduction of the new Focus during the Rally New Zealand, Martin's driving talent seemed to have reached another level. It became clear that his new car was the weapon he needed to win. It did not take very long since the new Focus won after only three races. A victory in a rally that is becoming associated with Ford, the Focus winning its fourth consecutive race at the Acropolis Rally.

In Martin's hands, the Focus will not just finish races. The domination of the French teams should suffer considerably in the next events. Not only is Ford and its new Focus will be on par with the Peugeot and Citroлn cars, Subaru was also able to show its progress, especially in the hands of Petter Solberg.

Consistency more important than flat-out speed
Even with his three wins out of six events so far this season, Marcus Gronholm is only third in the championship. Richard Burns has been very consistent and even if the British driver has no win this year, he is the one leading the championship thanks to a fourth place finish today and the retirement of his rival - and teammate - Marcus Gronholm.

Carlos Sainz won in Turkey and was able to score points regularly most of the time. This consistency has been the trademark of the Spanish driver, who is always able to finish in the first places in the championship and to score a high number of points for his team.
 
Consistency is also the key to Markko Martin's fourth place in the championship, right behind Marcus Gronholm.

Another disappointment for McRae
It is not the first time that Colin McRae has a difficult season start but in the past it was usually followed by a string of wins. In 2001, he was able to revive his championship hopes by winning three consecutive races : Argentina, Cyprus and Acropolis. This season, Colin has not been able to go back on the podium since Monte-Carlo. The Scotsman admitted to be starting losing his self- confidence and was waiting impatiently for Greece, his most successful rally in the past (he won the last three editions of the event).

Unfortunately, his lack of success this weekend will not help him to get back his self-confidence. First, Colin had a 50-second penalty following a malfunctioning starter during the first leg. He did everything that he could to catch up with the leaders following that incident until another mechanical problem made him lose more than two minutes.

A small but costly problem for Solberg
Petter Solberg understood very well that to achieve a good result in a rally like the Acropolis, you must find the right rhythm. The Norwegian was cautious in the first leg and finished third. Then, he increased his pace to close the gap over Martin and Rovanpera. His strategy seemed to be working but a transmission problem made him lose one minute, ruining all his efforts.

Nevertheless, Solberg did not give up and made a nice come back, fighting with Carlos Sainz during the third stage. A small mistake by Petter in the penultimate stage made the difference in favour of the Spaniard at the end.
 
At least both Subarus scored points, Makinen finishing not too far behind in fifth place.

Looking forward to the Fabia's debut
Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister will have to wait until the Rallye Deutschland to drive the new Fabia in a WRC event. Nobody know if the new car will be competitive but it is clear today that the Octavia is not able to keep up with the other WRC cars in the World Rally Championship.

Auriol was able to reach the finish line in ninth place and brings another point for Skoda in the constructor's championship.

Hyundai will need to improve their car's reliability
None of the three official Accent could reach the finish. Armin Schwarz and Freddy Loix had to retire at the beginning of the event. Jussi Valimaki was the only driver left but the same fate happened to him at the start of the second leg, with a broken clutch. Without a sufficient budget and testing, Hyundai is having a lot trouble to achieve good results.

A great performance
Many works team drivers were not able to reach the finish line but some of the smaller "private" teams did very well. It was the case of Gilles Panizzi, who finished at a respectable seventh place after doing some impressive stage times in the third leg.

It was also the case of 18 year-old Jari-Matti Latvala, who finished the event in the top 10, just in front of Manfred Stohl, driving a Hyundai Accent WRC for the first time. Just behind these two, Dani Solа also did a solid race, driving for the first time a Xsara WRC. These drivers, just like Antony Warmbold who finished 13th, wanted to reach the finish as their main objective and they all succeeded !

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International

Rally Acropolis: Final

1. MARTIN-PARK, FORD Focus, A8, 4h53'40"50
2. SAINZ-MARTI, CITROEN Xsa, A8, +00'46"00
3. SOLBERG-MILLS, SUBARU Impreza, A8, +00'52"70
4. BURNS-REID, PEUGEOT 206, A8, +02'06"60
5. MAKINEN-LINDSTR, SUBARU Impreza, A8, +02'12"30
6. ROVANPERA-PIETI, PEUGEOT 206, A8, +03'44"70
7. PANIZZI-PANIZZI, PEUGEOT 206, A8, +03'54"30
8. McRAE-RINGER, CITROEN Xsa, A8, +04'05"00
9. AURIOL-GIRAUDET, SKODA Octavia, A8, +06'27"20
10. LATVALA-WILLIAM, FORD Focus, A8, +11'33"40