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29 July 2003 - 09:10
Kaiser Loeb!
Second consecutive win for Sebastien Loeb in WRC Germany
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The battle between the two French teams took place as expected in Germany, the 206 and Xsara showing their dominance on asphalt once again by taking the first four positions in the overall results. Sebastien Loeb finishes first and wins his second consecutive Rallye Deutschland. Peugeot complete the podium with Marcus Gronholm and Richard Burns in second and third place respectively.

Loeb brings another win to Citroen
It was a tough one ! With only a three-second gap between the winner and the second place finisher, the Rallye Deutschland offered a lot of excitement until the end. Sebastien Loeb started the event cautiously but took over the lead in SS 13 and stayed in first place until the end.

This result is the third win for the French driver, who confirms his leadership in the team on asphalt. His teammates were competitive as well. Colin McRae finishes in fourth place and Carlos Sainz fought until the end with Francois Duval to take the sixth position.

Marcus is versatile
We knew that Marcus Gronholm is quick on gravel - his favourite surface - but last year the Finn was also able to equal the best specialists on asphalt. Once again Gronholm fought for the win in Germany and soon the reigning world champion should get his first victory on tarmac.

Gronholm is once again in front of his teammate Richard Burns, who was the leader in the early part of the race. By finishing third, the British driver scores valuable points that enables him to keep the lead in the championship.

We expected the French cars to battle for the win but on the driver's side, Gilles Panizzi was one of the favourite. Despite that, the Frenchman was never able to adapt to the tricky road conditions, especially with his persistent brake problems. Gilles will have to wait for the last three asphalt events of the season to take his revenge.

The new Focus is also competitive on asphalt
The performances of Markko Martin and Francois Duval leave no doubt. The new Focus WRC is a good machine. We knew it was quick on gravel with its win at the Acropolis but now it showed its speed on asphalt by winning most of the stages during the second leg. The Estonian was leading the rally for one stage before having gearbox problems. After that, Markko made a strong charge towards the leaders only to suffer from a differential problem. In the end, Martin finishes in fourth place and is still in the battle for the title.

Francois Duval also achieved very good results but he made a few mistakes as well. The Belgian had a good battle with Carlos Sainz towards the end of the rally but the Spaniard had the last word.

Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala were there mostly to learn and their goal was to finish the event. In both cases they succeeded, Hirvonen taking 13th place and Latvala finishing in 17th position.

Bad luck for Subaru
Petter Solberg was not feeling well because of a cold and Tommi Makinen had to retire early during the first leg. Not a good start for Subaru. Fortunately for the Japanese constructor, Solberg was starting to feel better and his ability was back to normal during the last day. Petter was able to climb back to a respectable 8th place overall, bringing additional points for himself and Subaru.

Solberg had enough time to prove that the Impreza is making progress on asphalt as well, even if it is still behind the French teams on this surface.

Discreet debut for the Fabia
Skoda considered this rally as a development stage for the Fabia WRC. The team did not expect the new car to fight for the win right away but they wanted to know how it compared to its competitors and if it was better than the Octavia.

Small teething problems stopped it from reaching the finish but Skoda was happy with the performance of its new car, which is already as good as the Octavia with a good potential to improve even more.

No good news at Hyundai
We cannot blame the Hyundai drivers. They are doing all they can but the Accent is having a lot of mechanical problems. At least the team has the satisfaction of having all of its four cars at the finish. A small reward for the team, knowing how modest their final positions are. Freddy Loix brings one point for the team by finishing in 11th place.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International

The final results:

1. LOEB-ELENA, Citroen Xsara 3h46'50"400 102.7 km/h
2. GRONHOLM-RAUTIA, Peugeot 206 + 00'03"60
3. BURNS-REID, Peugeot 206 + 00'19"70
4. MCRAE-RINGER, Citroen Xsara + 00'31"40
5. MARTIN-PARK, Ford Focus + 00'57"90
6. SAINZ-MARTI, Citroen Xsara + 01'38"60
7. DUVAL-PREVOT, Ford Focus+ 01'48"10
8. SOLBERG-MILLS, Subaru Impreza + 02'30"20
9. ROBERT-BEDON, Peugeot 206 + 03'12"80
10. PANIZZI-PANIZZI, Peugeot 206 + 03'39"60


 

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Next:
ERC: Rally Matador Tatry – 00 0000 - 00:00
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
Campos consolidates his leadership – 16 September 2003 - 10:30

Previous:
Baja Spain: In the heat – and the dust – 29 July 2003 - 08:32
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

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