Friday, 29 March 2024
LINKS
CONTACTS
 WORLD
16 November 2003 - 21:54
Solberg and Citroеn share the titles
Rally Great Britain - last round of WRC 2003
Send this to a friend Printer friendly version

The domination of Peugeot and Citroën at the beginning of the season lead most people to believe that one of their drivers was going to win the championship. Almost nobody would have thought that a driver from another team could beat the French teams' drivers.

However, Petter Solberg's second half of the season was exceptional and the championship battle turned out to be extremely interesting. Four drivers still had a chance to win before the last rally of the season. Hard to imagine a more exciting finale !

Solberg in control
Richard Burns withdrawn from the race and Carlos Sainz out of the event in the third stage of the rally, Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg were left alone to fight for the title.

However the two men had many parameters to consider and this influenced the outcome of the duel. Solberg had no alternative: he needed to finish in front of Loeb. One mistake by the Subaru driver and the title would go to Loeb. Solberg had to attack to stay ahead of Loeb but needed to avoid making a mistake at the same time.

Loeb knew that if the Norwegian managed to stay in front of him by being first or second, he was going to win the World Championship. While Solberg could concentrate 100% on his goal, Sebastien Loeb had the double task of trying to catch Solberg while being careful to bring enough points for his team to win the Constructors' Championship, which was Citroën's main goal. Sebastien Loeb could not afford to push too hard and retire.

According to the British bookmakers, Petter Solberg was the favourite to win. The Norwegian won here last year and the Subaru with its Pirelli tyres were known to be competitive on this kind of surface.

Solberg was able to use his car's potential to the fullest. The Norwegian got thirteen fastest stage times out of a total of eighteen. The 29-year-old driver becomes World Champion, winning four races this season.

Citroеn World Champion
Sebastien Loeb must be disappointed. The Frenchman came so close of winning the title in his first full WRC season. This is a real feat and Sebastien confirmed to be one of fastest driver on asphalt and showed to be just as competitive on gravel.

Loeb won three races this year: Monte-Carlo, Deutschland and Sanremo. These good results helped his team win its first ever Constructors' Championship, with the support of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.

The fact that his team won the title is a small but appreciated reward for Loeb, who will probably have many more opportunities to take his revenge for the Drivers' Championship.

Carlos Sainz was not lucky in Great Britain this year, like it happened to him in the past. This time the on-board camera started a small fire inside the cockpit of his Xsara and Sainz lost his concentration and made a mistake that took him out of the rally. A regretful situation for the Spaniard, who had achieved a incredible season, finishing 12 out of 14 races in the points.

Two drivers leaving
Four-time World Champion Tommi Makinen took part in his last WRC event. Colin McRae will not be back next season as well but in his case, a return in the future is a possibility.

Colin McRae achieved a good result in his home event, finishing in fourth place. His season, however, was not as good. The team expected Colin to be fighting for victories but the Scotsman was never able to do so. His second place finish at the Monte-Carlo was his only podium finish this season.

Tommi Makinen had a difficult season as well. The Finn was dominated by his teammate and only finished twice on the podium this year. Even if this season was not his most successful, Tommi will remain the reference for the end of the last decade. An outstanding driver leaves the sport today.

Difficult end of season for Peugeot
Peugeot won three consecutive Constructors' Championship and wanted to get a fourth victory this season. The team was dominated by Citroën at the Monte-Carlo and after that the Peugeot drivers had many good results to stay at the front of the championship. But the end of the season was not as successful. Gronholm had many retirements, which were often caused by his own mistakes, and Burns was never able to win a single victory with the French team.

Peugeot drivers felt the first disillusionment when the French team started testing the 307 WRC, which is the team's next weapon. Coincidence ? By putting most of its efforts on the new car, the team probably had less time and/or resources to work on this year's 206. The performance of the drivers suffered accordingly.

They complete the top 10
Gronholm and Rovanpera retired, leaving Freddy Loix all alone to defend the team's chances. The Belgian drove a solid race and gradually improved his rhythm throughout the event, finishing at a well-deserved sixth position, just behind his countryman Francois Duval.

The top 10 is completed by "private" 206's, with Manfred Stohl and Roman Kresta scoring their first points of the season and Juuso Pykalisto finishing in tenth position.

Hugo GIGUERE
CAPSIS International, 9.11.2003


 

Send this to a friend Printer friendly version

Next:
ERC: Rally Matador Tatry – 00 0000 - 00:00
Middle East maestro to be crowned in Dubai – 30 November 2003 - 17:27
Volkswagen in the 2004 Dakar Rally – 12 January 2004 - 23:08
Dubai International Rally – 12 January 2004 - 23:11
The Dakar 2004 is finally underway ! – 12 January 2004 - 23:15

Previous:
Miguel Barbosa wins Baja Anta da Serra and becomes Portuguese Off Road Champion – 08 November 2003 - 21:56
UAE Desert Challenge - Double Victory for Mitsubishi – 08 November 2003 - 21:53
Panizzi win in Catalunya, Citroen sink – 27 October 2003 - 00:44
Thiry takes victory in Rally d'Antibes – 27 October 2003 - 00:27
Solberg wins against all odds in Tour de Corse – 21 October 2003 - 13:14

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