|
|
| |
|
| Championship Standings |
| |
2002 Championship
After 14 of 14 Rounds |
| |
| Drivers Points |
| 1 |
 |
Marcus Gronholm |
77 |
| 2 |
 |
Petter Solberg |
37 |
| 3 |
 |
Carlos Sainz |
36 |
| 4 |
 |
Colin McRae |
35 |
| 5 |
|
Richard Burns |
34 |
|
|
Full Details... |
| |
| Manufacturers Points |
| 1 |
 |
Peugeot |
165 |
| 2 |
 |
Ford |
104 |
| 3 |
 |
Subaru |
67 |
| 4 |
 |
Hyundai |
10 |
| 5 |
 |
Skoda |
9 |
|
|
Full Details... |
|
|
| |
|
2002|NEWS
51ST UDDEHOLM SWEDISH RALLY |
|
PEUGEOT ROMPS TO SWEDISH ONE-TWO
Manufacturer: Peugeot
Press Release Type: Event WrapPeugeot 206 WRC drivers Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera have claimed a dominant one-two on the second round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, the Swedish Rally. The two Finns rattled off today’s closing stages north of host town Karlstad to arrive at the finish well over a minute clear of their nearest rivals and rack up a maximum score for Peugeot in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers. Indeed, the result moves Gronholm and Peugeot to the top of their respective world championships.
Today’s schedule was meant to comprise 130 competitive kilometres in five stages, but the Swedish weather has been getting ever warmer throughout the event and the thawing conditions have resulted in patches of gravel poking through the ice. Event organisers took the brave decision to scrap the day’s second test after concerns were raised about the sheer amount of gravel and the damage that the top cars’ studded tyres might inflict on the surface.
Gronholm and navigator Timo Rautiainen started this morning’s first stage comfortably ahead of Rovanpera and they concentrated on not making mistakes and maintaining their advantage. In fact, they extended it to more than a minute by the finish as they repeated their Swedish Rally success of 2000.
Marcus said: “I’m delighted to win again and take my first victory so early in this season. We had a plan for the rally – to attack a lot yesterday afternoon and try to build up a lead so today could be quite comfortable, because there were some long stages today where it would not have been so nice to have to fight. It worked perfectly. I’ve had no problems with the 206 throughout this rally and the package has worked very, very well here. I’m extremely confident about our performance on loose surfaces now and I’m already looking forward to the next event.”
Rovanpera and his co-driver Risto Pietilainen consolidated their overnight second place today, ceding time to Gronholm while keeping a watchful eye over the battling Carlos Sainz to make sure the Spaniard didn’t close in on their position. In the end, they were over a minute clear.
Harri said: “It’s been a great rally for Peugeot. Of course I would have liked to have been closer to Marcus and fought for a second Swedish Rally victory but we didn’t have such a good feeling in yesterday’s conditions and he pushed hard and built up a big lead. Today was just about keeping the car on the road and making sure that we didn’t lose concentration. The conditions were very difficult, with a lot of gravel coming through the ice, and the grip level was always changing, so it would have been easy to make a mistake. We’ve got lots of points for Peugeot and I’ve also scored my first points of the year so it’s a good result.”
While Gronholm and Rovanpera consolidated their one-two formation at the head of the field, reigning world champion Richard Burns started this morning’s first stage determined to move up from his overnight fifth position. Fastest time in SS12 took the Briton past Freddy Loix into fourth and despite SS13’s cancellation, another scratch time in SS14 moved him ever closer to third-placed Carlos Sainz. By the time the pair entered the final 39km test, they were separated by just 12.5 seconds
Richard pushed harder than ever in the deteriorating conditions but Sainz just held on to deny him a podium place. Burns did have the satisfaction, though, of setting his first fastest times with the 206 WRC.
Richard said: “We tried hard today to catch up to Carlos but it just wasn’t possible. Losing a stage because of the conditions didn’t help, but we started too far behind this morning. I can take a lot of positive feelings from this event. I’m more comfortable with the 206 WRC now and I’ve set my first fastest times with the car as well.”
Two other Peugeot 206 WRCs made it into the top 20 – Finnish driver Sebastian Lindholm brought his example home in ninth, while Gilles Panizzi finished 16th as the Frenchman built up further experience of the car on loose surfaces.
Total Peugeot Sport team director Corrado Provera said: “This is the third Swedish Rally win in a row for the Peugeot 206 WRC, the first one-two for us here and it moves both Peugeot and Marcus into the lead of our championships. I want to underline the fantastic performance from everyone in the team, Marcus and Harri, and also Richard. This is only his second rally with the team and he has already scored points. It doesn’t get much better than this!”
The World Rally Championship takes a break for the rest of February, before returning to the twisty asphalt and daunting drops of Corsica for the Tour de Corse on March 8-10. Click here for a printable version of this news Item
|
|
|
|
)
