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| Championship Standings |
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2002 Championship
After 14 of 14 Rounds |
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| Drivers Points |
| 1 |
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Marcus Gronholm |
77 |
| 2 |
 |
Petter Solberg |
37 |
| 3 |
 |
Carlos Sainz |
36 |
| 4 |
 |
Colin McRae |
35 |
| 5 |
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Richard Burns |
34 |
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Full Details... |
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| Manufacturers Points |
| 1 |
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Peugeot |
165 |
| 2 |
 |
Ford |
104 |
| 3 |
 |
Subaru |
67 |
| 4 |
 |
Hyundai |
10 |
| 5 |
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Skoda |
9 |
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Full Details... |
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2002|NEWS
ACROPOLIS RALLY |
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SCHWARZ TAKES POINTS ON OUTSTANDING HYUNDAI PERFORMANCE IN GREECE
Manufacturer: Hyundai
Press Release Type: Event WrapHyundai Castrol World Rally Team crew Armin Schwarz/Manfred Hiemer finished the the 49th Acropolis Rally, the seventh round of the World Rally Championship, in a solid ninth position overall after an excellent drive on a challenging event.
Armin’s determined drive captured a vital manufacturer championship point for the team after team-mate Feddy Loix was cruelly sidelined while fighting for third position almost within sight of the finish.
The German crew made an impressive start to the rally setting stage times at the top of the leaderboard, including a second and a third fastest, to grab second place overall by special stage 2, closely followed by team-mate Loix in third. Schwarz continued to set excellent stage times but lost a few places at the end of the first day when the bracket to the engine water pump pipe broke just before leaving service and he incurred a penalty while mechanics delayed him making the necessary change, to end the day in eighth. Schwarz experienced some brake concerns on leg two but fought back on leg three to climb back up the leaderboard to take a manufacturer point for the Korean marque – a well deserved result.
“I am very happy to be able to take a point for Hyundai,” said Schwarz. “Obviously it was a bit disappointing to lose some time on leg 2 but I am happy to finish where we did especially as there weren’t many retirements on this rally. It was an excellent performance - for Freddy as well - and another very big step in the right direction for the team”
Belgian team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets were the stars of the rally, despite retiring, after an impeccable drive ensured they held a top five position for the best part of the event. Loix started the rally as he meant to go on by setting a second fastest time on stage 2 and recording a stage win on the following test – only his second fastest stage time in the Hyundai. A remarkable achievement considering his nearest rival Richard Burns (Peugeot) was a full 6.4 seconds behind him. Justifying his nickname “Fast Freddy”, he flew through the rest of leg one to close the day in second, sandwiched between the two Fords of Markko Martin and Colin McRae and ahead of the ensemble of Peugeot’s who have dominated the championship this year.
Loix found out just how hard he was pushing his Accent WRC³ when he spun in stage 8 and broke a shock absorber in stage 9, losing some time. But the determined 31-year-old responded and continued to set competitive times to return to fifth by the end of the day. The second stage of the final day delivered a cruel blow to the Belgian when he hit a rock on stage 14 causing extensive damage to the engine and chassis, forcing his retirement.
David Whitehead, Team Principal, explained what happened, “Freddy was pushing very hard in stage 14 and the split times were right up there, but close to the end of the stage he had a big impact with a rock which cracked the sump guard, the sump, damaged the sub-frame and literally obliterated the crank sensor which detects engine speed for the engine control unit. Although the engine could still run without the crank sensor, the ECU would not operate. It was impossible to repair so sadly Freddy had to retire.”
The Belgian was upbeat and buoyed by his performance, “I know we drove very well on this rally and the car was excellent. We had a little difficulty on some of the uphill sections but the feeling was absolutely fantastic!” he exuded. “The feeling was unbelievable to be challenging for a podium position when we were just behind Carlos [Sainz] and great to prove we really do have the speed. Everyone has been brilliant and worked very very hard and I am just sorry I wasn’t able to make it to the finish for the team.”
Juha Kankkunen and Juha Repo were never really able to show what they could do as a developing mechanical problem affecting the engine compression and thus turbo pressure continued to niggle throughout leg one. After trying a variety of unsuccessful options to fix the problem it was decided that the Finnish pair should retire.
David Whitehead commented, “Although it was disappointing that Freddy retired, it has highlighted that the Hyundai Accent WRC³ has the speed to be at the top and to be challenging the Peugeot’s and Ford’s for a large part of the rally at the top of the leaderboard.”
News from our rivals
The third leg of the rally saw the highest number of leading retirements with Alister McRae (Mitsubishi) dropping out on the opening stage of the day with broken steering. Richard Burns (Peugeot) finished his rally with a broken suspension and team-mate Gilles Panizzi retired soon after with gearbox failure. But With Richard Burns out of contention, Colin McRae (Ford) could relax to drive to a comfortable win with Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot) in second and Carlos Sainz (Ford) in third.
Next Round
The eighth round of the 2002 FIA World Rally Championship takes crews to the African continent for the team’s first outing to the Safari Rally in Kenya running from 12-14 July. Click here for a printable version of this news Item
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