Friday, 29 March 2024
LINKS
CONTACTS
 WORLD
29 July 2003 - 08:32
Baja Spain: In the heat – and the dust
Sousa maintains lead in Fia World Cross-Country drivers' championship
Send this to a friend Printer friendly version

Mitsubishi's Carlos Sousa maintained his outright lead in the FIA World Drivers' Championship by finishing seventh overall in the Baja Spain, the fifth round of this year's FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, which finished in Zaragoza on Saturday (July 19th).  At the wheel of a Mitsubishi L200 Strakar with support from TMN and Galp, the Portuguese driver overcame a series of brake problems and a flat tyre to add to his championship points' tally and maintain an eight-point lead in the FIA World Cup.

"I was disappointed with the way the race turned out," > said Sousa, who also leads the FIA Trophy for Drivers of Bajas after his recent victory in Greece. "But I am still leading the World Cup. It started to go wrong right from the start. I got caught in the dust behind Gregoire de Mevius when he had a flat tyre and drove slowly in front of me. Then I hit a rock and limped to the first assistance point. One of the other competitors didn't stop at the service and I got held up in the dust again. It was very frustrating. Then I collected a flat tyre myself 20 kms from the next service point and had to stop and change it and dropped around four minutes. When we changed the wheel we noticed there was a problem with the brakes and I arrived at the next service with zero brakes. I had brake trouble right to the end of the race. It was one of those weekends where he had little niggling problems. But I am delighted to still be leading the championship."


 
The one-day, 800 kms Baja was held in searing heat and was won by Frenchman Luc Alphand in the first of three BMW X5 Rally Raids. The winner of the recent Baja Germany led from the Prologue on Friday evening and held off a fierce challenge from Dubai team mate Khalifa Al-Motaiwi, who eventually finished second overall.

Defending World Champion Jean-Louis Schlesser completed the podium places in third overall and managed to shave 17 points off Sousa's World Championship lead. BMW's Gregoire de Mevius was fourth, seven seconds behind Schlesser, and Nissan's Marco Tempestini completed the top five in a Pick-Up.

Germany's Andrea Mayer and her co-driver Andreas Schulz took part in a T2 diesel-engined Pajero* and finished 11th overall, six minutes ahead of Ralliart team mates Jose-Luis Monterde and Rafael Tornabell in their Pajero. Spaniard Luis Climent was 10th in a privately-run Mitsubishi Pajero.

"My number was 399. By the time I started the Prologue the track wasdestroyed," said Mayer. "I finished it in 16th position, but started 25th on the first stage. The dust was crazy. There were no chances to pass any cars and it was very tiring in the heat.

"Several of the top co-drivers were sick. It was much hotter than Morocco. When you drive for nine hours in one day it is exhausting, but I was pleased to finish 11th under the circumstances. It was a tough race. The track was very twisty and I needed to maintain my concentration."

The 20th edition of the Baja Spain was undoubtedly the most difficult of these past two decades. A veritable oven, during which men and machines were subjected to both extremely high temperatures thanks to the heat wave, and to dreadful driving conditions due to the dust. For over three months, not a drop of water has fallen on this area of Spain, and thick layers of dust covered the route. Temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Centigrade on Saturday and in-car temperatures were estimated to be around 70 degrees. An added handicap, which spared nobody.

In these hellish conditions, the Nissan Pickup driven by Marc Blazquez showed all its potential in the early stages of the race. After the first timed sector, having started 5th, the Catalan driver was lying second, just a few seconds behind Magnaldi. Unfortunately, this excellent start was to finish around 70 km from the start of the second timed section. Coming in to a right-handed corner, the Pickup's steering failed …

Mitsubishi Portugal will now enter Sousa in both the Masters Rally in August and the Por Las Pampas Rally in Argentina in September, as he bids to become the first ever Portuguese driver to win the FIA World Cup Drivers' Champion.

Press Release

Baja Spain - Results:

1. ALPHAND, BMW X5 9h06'59"053
2. KHALITA, BMW X5 +11'15"48
3. SCHLESSER, SCHLESSER-FORD +15'07"42
4. DE MEVIUS, BMW X5 +15'14"32
5. TEMPESTINI, NISSAN PICK-UP +22'10"76
6. MAGNALDI, HONDA +28'40"46
7. SOUSA, MITSUBISHI +31'50"34
8. LOUBET, NISSAN PICK-UP +31'51"91
9. CAMPOS, TOYOTA RAV +35'08"09
10. CLIMENT, MITSUBISHI +36'31"70


 

Send this to a friend Printer friendly version

Next:
ERC: Rally Matador Tatry – 00 0000 - 00:00
Kaiser Loeb! – 29 July 2003 - 09:10
Birthday Present for Miguel Campos – 03 August 2003 - 19:13
Martin ends ten years of Finnish supremacy – 16 August 2003 - 10:47
Schlesser's victory for cars, Dabrowski for motorbikes – 24 August 2003 - 12:09

Previous:
First win for Sousa outside Portugal – 01 July 2003 - 22:19
Bruno Thiry is a new leader in European Championship – 30 June 2003 - 12:08
Second WRC win for Solberg – 23 June 2003 - 11:51
Baja Germany – 23 June 2003 - 11:29
Victory at Marrakech for Giniel De Villiers and Cyril Despres – 10 June 2003 - 23:36

Powered by XTdesign, PHP & MySQL

 News
NATIONAL
WORLD
TAG HEUER timing systems
 Last news
Gumball 3000 in Sofia! NATIONAL
Rally Bulgaria 2011 ERCNATIONAL
33 Porsche tackle the long distance classic in the Eifel WORLD
Huff and Muller shared wins in BrnoWORLD
Pirelli makes compound changeWORLD
2011 Acropolis Rally DAY 3 - Photo finish!WORLD

 
© 2002-2011, auto [xt]. All rights reserved. Powered by [xt]. top