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WRC: Monte Carlo


EJ20H-TT

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First ''Warm-Up'' Of The Season The shakedown at the 72nd edition of the Monte Carlo Rally took place this Thursday morning on the roads around Sospel, a lovely village 20 km from the Mediterranean coastline. Citroën Sport intend to keep their Constructors' Championship title and are also the defending champion at the Monte Carlo Rally. Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz are ready to face the new season at the wheel of their Xsara WRC. The Shakedown started at 8:00 this morning and all eyes were admiring the new Peugeot 307 and Mitsubishi Lancer. Gilles Panizzi is realistic. The new Lancer is still in its early development stages and the expectations must be reasonable. Mikko Hirvonen drove his first "official" kilometres at the wheel of the Subaru Impreza. Everything went well for the Finn. "I thought it would be much more difficult to get used to, but it seems very easy to drive, very stable and much smoother through the corners than I was expecting. I didn't expect to develop this good feeling quite so soon, so I'm very happy," said the young Subaru driver. The two Ford Focus drivers, Markko Martin and Francois Duval are confident about their chances of winning this year's edition of the Monte Carlo Rally, even if the two French manufacturers remain the favourite to win. The ceremonial start is scheduled for 18:00 on Thursday at the Casino Square, right after the traditional picture session with the crews taking part in the World Rally Championship and the FIA press conference. Christian Tornatore, Deputy Clerk of the Course, describes the specific elements of this year's edition of the Monte Carlo Rally: "Finally, a rally with a livelier pace, links reduced to a strict minimum and trials renewed either by using those which had not been run for a few years or by inverting their direction. Also, a Monte-Carlo Rally more concentrated as it unfolds in general, with reconnaissance on two days instead of three and the overall length down from seven days to five."
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Rules as used on our FantasyRally on the Cobb WRXForum are as follows: 1) All entries must include: - 2 drivers - 2 co-drivers - 2 vehicles (including the driver along with the vehicle; i.e. Solberg's Impreza and not just Impreza) 2) Points are based on the current WRC point system; 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for 1st through 8th place respectively. 3) All entries must be posted by the date/time specified in each individual rally topic. Normally I'd just say by some time on Thursday before the rally, but I think Argentina is running midweek to avoid an F1 conflict. 4) Bonus points...include 1 choice each for manufacturer and driver champions with your regular event picks in the coming Monte Carlo rally topic. I thought it would be more interesting to do this before the season rather than at the end. Points for each will be 15.
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Loeb Takes Control Frenchman Sebastien Loeb is on course for a second successive victory in the Monte Carlo Rally after grabbing the lead in the season opener in the French Alps on Friday. The 29-year-old Citroen driver seized the advantage on the final stage of a day dominated by Finland's former world champion Marcus Gronholm in the new Peugeot. Gronholm won two of the first four special stages as the 307 car, which has replaced the 206 in which he won the championship in 2000 and 2002, enjoyed an encouraging debut. But Gronholm paid for having the wrong tyres in the final timed test along the tight and twisty alpine roads which were covered in snow and ice and he lost almost 30 seconds. Gronholm dropped to third overall, almost 19 seconds adrift of pre-rally favourite Loeb who leads the Ford Focus of Estonia's Markko Martin by 18.3secs. Loeb, who finished runner-up in the championship last year after being ordered by Citroen to play safe in the title decider in South Wales to ensure they won the manufacturers' crown, also won two of the stages. Officials had to scrap the first special stage of the season for safety reasons because too many spectators has headed into the Alps to watch the cars speed past at around 100mph. Spain's Carlos Sainz is fourth for Citroen - who enjoyed a clean sweep last year when Colin McRae took second place - with Belgium's Francois Duval fifth in the other Focus. Reigning champion Petter Solberg began the defence of his drivers' title by finishing sixth overall. The Norwegian complained that his Subaru was acting as a road cleaner as he ended the day one minute 52 seconds adrift of Loeb. Gronholm had considered quitting at the end of this season but is now poised to agree a new deal with Peugeot. The early pace of the 307 will also have fired up his enthusiasm to carry on. "I am very close to signing with Peugeot for another year, but we will see," said Gronholm. "Right now my focus is on the first round of the championship. "People stopped talking about us and Peugeot towards the end of last year. I hope they will be talking about us again soon." Leading positions at end of first day of the Monte Carlo Rally: 1 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen at One Hour 26 Minutes 38.7 Seconds 2 Markko Martin (Est) Ford at 18.3secs 3 Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Peugeot at 18.7 4 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Citroen at 46.5 5 Francois Duval (Bel) Ford at One Minute 0.6secs 6 Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru at 1:52.4 7 Roman Kresta (Cze) at 2:54.0 8 Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Subaru at 2:54.8 9 Freddy Loix (Bel) Peugeot at 2:59.8 10 Nicolas Vouilloz (Fin) Peugeot at 4:05.7 McRae and former world champion Richard Burns are both missing from the title battle this year meaning British interest in centred on the world junior championship. But there was not a lot of good news there either with two of the four entrants falling by the wayside. Ulsterman Kris Meeke, hoping to impress team bosses and land a top-class drive next season, is the highest place Brit in 25th place in his Opel Corsa. Meeke is almost 16 minutes adrift of Loeb while Oliver Marshall is 33rd, over half-an-hour behind, in a Renault. Darlington's Guy Wilks was forced to abandon on the penultimate stage with mechanical problems in his Suzuki while Natalie Barratt, Britain's top female rally driver, called it a day on the third stage when her MG ZR suffered front axle trouble. Ireland's Eamonn Boland is lying in 22nd spot, just over 12 minutes down in a Subaru.
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Loeb consolidates lead in Monte Carlo Rally MONACO (AFP) - Reigning champion Sebastien Loeb, driving a Citroen, consolidated his bid for back-to-back wins in the Monte Carlo Rally after day two of the first round of the world rally series. Loeb won three of Saturday's five stages, while the remaining two were cancelled due to an accident and spectator problems. The Frenchman, who led Estonia's Markko Martin by 18.3sec overnight, is now 1min 28.7sec ahead of Ford Focus driver Francois Duval of Belgium with Martin 1:41.7 behind the leader. Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm dominated the early stages but the wrong tyre choice allowed Loeb to go top of the leaderboard, with the Finn in fourth at 1min 57.9sec, ahead of defending world titleholder Petter Solberg of Norway who is 3min 31.8sec off the pace. Loeb chances of victory were given a boost as his teammate Carlos Sainz of Spain was forced to retire after going off the road and losing a wheel off his Citroen Xsara during the ninth special. The two men are the only drivers racing this weekend to have won the event. The Spaniard blamed the spectators for his misfortune. "I slid on a piece of dirty snow," explained the Spanish former double world champion. "This was not in my pace-notes and I think the snow was coming from the spectators walking on the road." Two special stages, the first and the tenth, were cancelled because of concerns over spectator safety, with the seventh scratched after an accident which forced French Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz to retire.
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Rally reactions: Rallye Monte Carlo - Leg 2. Sebastien Loeb [Citroen]: "We drove well, without any mistakes. Thanks to the team's work, our tyre choices were correct. Tomorrow, we will undoubtedly encounter a number of potential traps. We have to keep our concentration, and try to do as well as we did today." Francois Duval [Ford]: "Luck was on our side there [when SS7 was cancelled because we were on the wrong tyres]. We were also lucky when we spun near the finish of stage nine. The road was slushy and we spun and stalled the engine. I think we lost about 25 seconds. I enjoy driving in difficult conditions and made no mistakes, apart from that spin. Now it's necessary to do the same tomorrow. The car has been perfect and I've really enjoyed the day." Markko Martin [Ford]: "I hit some ice and we so nearly went off the road [in SS8]. It really jolted me because I didn't know whether the same would happen again later in the stage. I left service with the car set up for dry conditions but when we got into the mountains, it was wet, damp and foggy. I couldn't use the set up I had chosen and the fog was so bad it was hard to pick out the corners. "We also hit a rock face at the same point as Carlos Sainz had done earlier in the day [in SS11]. The car scraped along the cliff but fortunately it didn't pull a wheel off like Carlos. We had a few lucky escapes but we're still here and it's been a good day for Ford. My car has worked well but I need to make sure the driver does the same tomorrow." Marcus Gronholm [Peugeot]: "It was a very slow but very slippery corner [where I went off on SS9 and lost around 40 seconds]. You could have got around it quicker by walking, but we just understeered off. The reason why we lost the time was that it took a while to find reverse gear. I have to say I've not really enjoyed today. There was a lot of fog with conditions changing all the time. It's not the sort of rallying I like, but at least the car has coped very well with the difficult conditions. I don't want to make any predictions about tomorrow because you can never tell in Monte Carlo." Petter Solberg [Subaru]: "Actually, I'm quite happy and have the chance of some good points. There wasn't really much more I could do today, but I'm going to see what I can do tomorrow and hope to make some more places. I do feel sorry for Mikko, it was very unlucky that he went off where he did, he seemed to be going well up until that point." Freddy Loix [Peugeot]: "We found some better differential settings that gave me more confidence in the car on the afternoon stages. I was quite disappointed yesterday but today is an improvement. The car has been very good but for the last stage I chose tyres that were too soft. I was expecting the weather to be colder, but in fact it was warming up and the tyres lost their efficiency." Gilles Panizzi [Mitsubishi]: "I am certainly more comfortable with the car and we are trying to look at different set-ups now. We have changed the shocks absorbers here in service and things are getting better and better. All the time we are learning and every stage is another step to understanding the car." Notable retirements: Gianluigi Galli [Mitsubishi]: [retired in SS5 - went off the road] "We slid and the car ended up half off the road. Then it slipped another couple of metres and it was impossible to get back; there was hardly any damage and mechanically it was fine, which makes it all the more disappointing. We took it steady this morning so I was surprised with our time in stage three, but I felt very confident with the car, even though the conditions were very difficult." Mikko Hirvonen [Subaru]: [retired in SS9 - spun and damaged car] "It's a real mystery. I was going steadily to get experience of the rally, and wasn't pushing hard at all. I can understand slipping off the road when conditions are difficult, but I went off on one of the easiest corners of the rally. It was slow speed, second or third gear, and a totally dry road. Maybe I heard the pace note the wrong way, I'm not sure, it's just unbelievable. Of course I'm disappointed, but I suppose you have to accept that from time to time these things just happen in rallying. I'm going to study the on-board film to see if that provides any answers, then it's a case of moving on and trying for a better result in Sweden." Carlos Sainz [Citroen]: [retired in SS9 - spun and damaged car] "At the start of the climb up to the Bleine Pass, the road was just damp. There was snow on the sides of the road, and I suppose that the spectators had spread it over the road as they went by. I came across a brown patch, half snow, half mud, which was not in my pacenotes. I went straight, and hit the wall. The front right wheel was too badly damaged to allow me to continue." Team Principals: Guy Frequelin [Citroen Sport - team principal]: "Naturally, I am delighted by Sebastien's performance. However, I am also quite disappointed by Carlos' retirement. It's a pity for him, and a pity for the team, but that's the game. We must now concentrate on getting through the last day without any problems." Malcolm Wilson [Ford Rallye Sport - team director]: "Francois has had a superb day in extremely tough conditions. We've seen the rewards of all the hard work that he and Stéphane have done in perfecting their pace note system in recent months. I'm a little disappointed for Markko. He had a big scare and it affected his confidence for the rest of the stage. But second and third is a great position to be in. We are too far behind the leader to win the rally unless he has problems so our tactics tomorrow will be to hold onto what we have." David Lapworth [Subaru World Rally Team - team principal]: "It's been difficult for Petter today to try and control his urge to go flat out and stick to the strategy of driving for points. Losing two stages today hasn't helped our chance of moving up the field, but nevertheless we'll start tomorrow in a good position and on course to pick up some important championship points. Obviously, it's been a disappointing day for Mikko. I've been impressed with the way he's tackled his first event with the team and it's a shame he should retire after such a small error. But, that's the nature of this event. Mikko's a bright guy and I'm sure he'll put this behind him and focus on a better finish in Sweden." Sven Quandt [Mitsubishi - head of motorsport]: "We have made a big step forward compared to yesterday. The car is now running better and better, as you can see from the stage times, and we are closer to our rivals." Mario Fornaris [Mitsubishi - technical director]: "We have had fewer problems than initially anticipated, especially when you consider this is the first time the car has run in these conditions."
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Loeb wins second successive Monte Carlo Rally MONACO (AFP) - Frenchman Sebastien Loeb won the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the world rally championship, for a second successive victory in the race. The Citroen-Xsara driver held off the Ford Focus duo of Estonia's Markko Martin who finished 1min 12.6sec off the pace following a late battle for second place with Francois Duval of Belgium at 1:19.6. "It's great to start the season with a win," said the Frenchman, who won the fifth world Rally title of his career. "It's good for the morale when you get off on the right foot. It's very motivating for the whole team. "My strategy was to start cautiously because of the difficult conditions and knowing that (Marcus) Gronholm goes very fast in such conditions. Then to build up rhythm when the roads were in better condition, and then to control. We really had a super race." Loeb played a cautious game on Sunday just ensuring that he would finish and wrap up the win while Martin moved up one place as he edged out Duval for second - two time champion Marcus Gronholm was fourth. "It was an incredibly tough rally," said Martin. "We had snow, ice, fog. Finishing second is more than I expected. I wasn't far off taking the lead Friday but on Saturday morning I lost too much ground in the fog. Maybe I should eat more carrots! But it's a great start for Ford." Reigning champion Petter Solberg was the big loser on the final day dropping down two places after suffering transmission problems as Freddy Loix and Gilles Panizzi moved above the Norwegian. Citroen sporting director Guy Frequelin said afterwards: "Sebastien was calm before the start of the event which he began cautiously on Friday but upped the tempo to take the lead before once more being cautious towards the end of the race. It's was a sporting director's dream."
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A Few Points For Petter Solberg Current World Champion Petter Solberg continued to demonstrate the performance of the Subaru Impreza on a range of difficult asphalt conditions today, and scored a stage win on SS13. Unfortunately, a small error on the penultimate test cost the Norwegian two places on the leaderboard, but he still ended the event in a points-scoring position. Petter Solberg "What can I say? I just hit a patch of snow, braked a little too late and slid into a wall. It's a shame as I wasn't really driving to risk anything, but these things just happen sometimes. Perhaps I was a little unlucky, but at least we didn't drop out of the points altogether. Luckily, we're taking two points away this year, which is two more than last year! Overall, it's not such a bad result especially when you consider that there are fifteen more rallies still to go." David Lapworth, Subaru World Rally Team Principal "Monte Carlo has certainly lived up to its difficult and specialist reputation. It's a shame that after such a well-paced performance on Friday and Saturday Petter was caught out this afternoon. But, these things happen and we can take some consolation from the fact that he's got some points in the bag. Mechanically, both cars were trouble free all rally, and the pace that Petter showed with his stage win on SS13 highlighted the tarmac developments that have been made in conjunction with Pirelli." Teams move to Sweden for the second round of the 2004 FIA World Rally Championship. Beginning on Thursday 5 February with a ceremonial start in the host town of Karlstad, the Rally of Sweden is the true winter rally of the series, and can sometimes see temperatures fall as low as - 30 degrees. Over three days, drivers will contest 394.80 competitive kilometres based around a single service point in the town of Hagfors, 80km north of Karlstad's rally headquarters. The first stage will start at 0822hrs on Friday 6 February.
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Yeah, the U.S. is hard to take on a world sport like Rally. Hope it catches on sooner than later. Will ultimately help SOA a bit at the same time. Hope more mfgs will get into the SCCA ProRally series. SOA pulled this year because nobody to race against in the mfg level, but they are supporting the grass roots efforts even more. :) As for the Mitsu, looking forward to see one in motion, but my takes so far are rather negative. Guess they have something to the design, spending a couple of weeks in the wind tunnel at Lola IIRC. My favs were the EVO 4, 5, 6.
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Yes, thanks for the updates. I haven't been keeping up with the rally much as I haven't been on the computer much this weekend. Looks like it's relatively dead around here actually. Two points is a better start than last year. How does the 307 look in the video footage? I think that one looks a bit ugly myself.
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[quote name='EJ20H-TT']I could not understand WRC going to Mexico but not the US - strange[/quote] The environmentalists are going to keep rallying out of the US for a while longer. Canada has a much better chance to get a WRC event. Actually, rally racing is quite popular in Latin America since there are very few road courses. I know it was HUGE in Costa Rica, but I never got a chance to attend one.
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