16 September 2003 - 11:00 Solberg wins the battle against Loeb WRC - Rally Australia

The duel between Petter Solberg and Sebastien Loeb lasted until the very last kilometres of the rally. Even if Solberg eventually won the event, the Citroen driver can be proud of his performance. Sebastien Loeb, in only his second Rally Australia, finishes in second position after leading most of the event. A superb result by the Frenchman. Richard Burns completes the podium in third position. The Briton's consistency paid off. With this result, the Peugeot driver increases his lead in the World Rally Championship.

Ironically, Sebastien Loeb's teammates Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz finished first and second in the last stage of the rally but the winner of the battle for the victory is Petter Solberg. The Norwegian finished the last stage in third place and that was enough for him to stay in front of Sebastien Loeb, who finished a distant eighth in this stage. A fantastic performance by the two men. Solberg for winning of course, but also for Sebastien Loeb, who was so impressive on gravel in an event that he barely knew (only one previous experience).

Richard Burns drove cautiously all day to score as many points as possible for the championship. The Peugeot driver is third overall at the finish. Behind Burns in the overall results are Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Tommi Makinen, Harri Rovanpera and Freddy Loix. Mikko Hirvonen pushed to the limit to finish fourth in SS 24 and wins his battle with teammate Francois Duval. The Finn takes ninth position overall and Duval will have to settle for tenth place.

Subaru at ease on gravel
Petter Solberg's victory is not a surprise. We knew that the Norwegian was quick on this kind of surface. His win in Cyprus last June showed the potential of the Impreza on gravel. Solberg confirms it today with a magnificent win, which brings him up to second place in the championship, a position shared with Carlos Sainz.

Tommi Makinen was once again dominated by his younger teammate and finishes this rally in sixth place, after falling behind Sainz and McRae.

Peugeot still leading thanks to Burns
The way things are going, Richard Burns might leave Peugeot at the end of the season without winning any race with the French team. The British driver is not able to win at the wheel of the 206 but at least he is extremely consistent, finishing on the podium most of the time. Richard was third in Sweden, Argentina, Germany, Finland and now in Australia and also scored two second place finishes in Turkey and New Zealand.

His overall results are good enough to increase his lead in the World Rally Championship, three points in front of a duo made up of Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg.

Peugeot is still leading the Constructors' Championship, thanks to the six points of Burns and the three points of Harri Rovanpera. But now the French team is sharing first place with Citroлn.
 
The Xsaras are reliable and quick
First of all, let's mention the great performance of Sebastien Loeb. The Frenchman was amazing in Australia, leading the event from the second half of the first leg until close to the very last few kilometres of the last day. A real feat, knowing that Sebastien had only one previous participation in Australia and that experience is very important in this event.

Good marks also for the reliability and speed of the Xsara, since all three cars are at the finish and in good finishing positions. Loeb's teammates finish in fourth (McRae) and fifth (Sainz) places. With four rallies left this season, two Citroлn drivers are still in a good position to win the title : Carlos Sainz is second in the championship and Loeb is fourth.

Not a good weekend for Ford
Markko Martin has been competitive ever since the introduction of the new Focus in New Zealand but this time in Australia the Estonian wasn't comfortable. His pace notes were not as precise as he would have liked and for that reason he felt less confident than usual.

Despite that, Martin was able to finish the second leg in fourth place. Unfortunately, the Estonian was disqualified because of a stupid mistake (see preceding article). With Martin out of the race, Ford had nothing left to hope for since Duval and Hirvonen were there to gain experience and nothing more.

Ford lose a lot in this situation since Malcolm Wilson's team drop to fourth place in the Constructors' Championship and their leading driver is now probably too far behind to have a shot at the Drivers' Championship title.

First point for Loix this season
Freddy Loix was more than seven minutes behind the winner at the finish of the event. But the most important for the Belgian was to bring his Accent to eighth place. Freddy succeeded and he scores one point in the championship, his first of the season.

Despite that, the situation at Hyundai wasn't too positive. Armin Schwarz had a lot of problems and finished the rally almost fifteen minutes behind the winner.

At Skoda, the Fabia is continuing its development phase. This time the two cars reach the finish, despite the fact that they were not in the points.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International