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| Championship Standings |
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2002 Championship
After 14 of 14 Rounds |
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| Drivers Points |
| 1 |
 |
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 |
 |
Skoda |
9 |
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Full Details... |
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2002|NEWS
TELSTRA RALLY AUSTRALIA |
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PEUGEOT MAINTAINS AUSSIE ADVANTAGE
Manufacturer: Peugeot
Press Release Type: Leg Two WrapPeugeot 206 WRC driver Marcus Grönholm has consolidated his lead on the 13th round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Rally Australia, which continued today.
The Finn and his navigator Timo Rautiainen started today’s nine special stages with a lead of around half a minute over Petter Solberg, and they adopted a steady, fast pace to prevent the Norwegian from eating into their advantage. Their 206 WRC behaved perfectly as they extended their cushion to arrive back in Perth for this evening’s superspecial at Langley Park nearly 50 seconds clear of their nearest rival.
Marcus said: “It’s been quite a straightforward day. In fact, it’s been a bit boring in a way! When you’ve got a good lead, you have to keep pushing at a certain level to keep your own concentration and also make sure that the guys behind don’t get too close. That’s what we’ve been doing – I have the feeling that I could possibly go a little quicker, but I’m braking early for some corners and trying to stay precise. There are still plenty of kilometres left so we can’t say that victory is ours already, but obviously I’m quite hopeful about tomorrow.”
The real charger today, though, has been Grönholm’s Peugeot team-mate Harri Rovanperä. The former Swedish Rally winner needed just two of this morning’s stages to overhaul Carlos Sainz and ease into third overall, and he swiftly cemented that position with a number of fastest times this afternoon. His only real problem was a bad vibration from the rear of the car in SS16, but swift work from the Peugeot mechanics at the following service restored the 206 to full health. He ended the forest tests just 24 seconds behind Solberg and ready to attack the second-placed man tomorrow in an attempt to earn Peugeot yet another one-two finish.
Harri said: “I’ve been really pleased with today’s performance. We made some changes to the car’s pedals at the pre-event test and I didn’t have total confidence in the brakes yesterday. So we changed back to an earlier set-up and this morning, I felt better straight away. I’m pushing hard, of course, but I’m also making sure I stay neat because even a small mistake here can mean an accident.”
Tomorrow’s final leg is a short one, with only four stages, but it takes in some of the best-known terrain in the entire world championship. Huge crowds will flock to the massive Sotico forest complex – formerly known as Bunnings – to watch the cars tackle the famous jumps and water splash. The venue has seen plenty of drama over the years, though, so the leaders won’t relax until the victory champagne can be sprayed back in Perth town centre. Click here for a printable version of this news Item
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