One week later than usual, thanks to an extended winter break, the FIA World Rally Championship arrives in the principality of Monaco on the southern coast of France for the start of another season this week. Norway’s Petter Solberg will carry the number one through this 2004 season, courtesy of his maiden success in the drivers’ series last year. Solberg remains with the Subaru team, and once again has a Finnish team-mate; this time around it’s former Ford pilot Mikko Hirvonen rather than four-times world champion Tommi Makinen. Makinen retired at the end of last season. While Solberg will be defending his drivers’ title, Citroen will be aiming for back-to-back wins in the race for the manufacturers’ crown. The Versailles-based team clinched its first world title for makes in 2003, despite that being Citroen’s first full assault at the series. Thirteen of the 14 rallies which made up last year’s championship remain, with the Italian round now found on the gravel roads on the island of Sardinia rather than in the Ligurian mountains behind Sanremo. Two new rounds come in for this season: the Rally of Mexico in March and the Rally of Japan in September. Both are run on gravel roads, reflecting the FIA World Rally Championship’s bias towards loose-surfaced events. In addition to the new events, there will be two new cars in attendance at round one. Peugeot fields its replacement for the highly-successful 206 WRC, the 307 WRC for the first time, while Mitsubishi returns with it’s Lancer WRC. Skoda has elected to sit out the early part of the year, using the time to work on the development of its Fabia. The Czech Republic team is expected to return to WRC action in the second half of the year.
This week’s season-opener will run to a familiar format in the French Alps north of the event’s Monaco base, with the action starting from Tallard in the mountains tomorrow morning. In addition to the main WRC action, Rallye Monte Carlo is also the opening round of this year’s FIA Junior World Rally Championship.
Citroen Total
Technical: The two Xsara WRCs run in similar specification to last season, with a new car being launched in time for Rally New Zealand in April. Neither driver has a new car for this event.
Sporting: Sebastien Loeb won this event last year, having come within an ace of doing so in 2002. The roads which make up the stages on this event are among those best-known to the Frenchman and his ability to judge both the conditions and the pace at which to drive the rally served him well when he took maximum points 12 months ago. Loeb just missed out on last year’s World Rally Championship Drivers’ title and will be keen to get 2004 under way so he can forget last year and focus on going one better this time around. Loeb’s team-mate Carlos Sainz has won in Monte Carlo previously and arrives in the principality after a relxing break with his family, skiing in Courchevel. Sainz was another driver in with a shot at last season’s drivers’ title, but once again his bad luck on Britain’s round of the series struck and left the Spaniard off the road on the opening leg. Over the closed season, Sainz has admitted that his initial decision to retire from the sport was made too quickly; he will consider his future in the WRC this year and may stay into 2005 and beyond.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: “It is very important on this rally to find a good rhythm, it’s very easy to slip off the road and then that’s the end of your event. When you are driving on ice with slick tyres you have to be very patient. Having said that, driving on snow is quite good fun. The competition is going to be very close here again.”
Carlos Sainz said: “The start of a new season is always an exciting time and this year is no different. There are going to be new challenges for 2004, including three new rallies (Mexico, Japan and Italy) and nobody really knows too much about them. I’m very glad to be with Citroen for another season. I joined the team quite late last year and spent the early part of the season getting to know the team, the engineers, the mechanics and everybody – now I feel much more at home.”
Marlboro Peugeot Total
Technical: This is the first event for the all-new 307 WRC. The new car is radically different to the 206. Among the biggest differences are the 307 being based on the Coupe Cabriolet version of the road car, with a new engine and transmission. For the event both 307 WRCs are expected to start the rally with a four-speed gearbox.
Sporting: Marcus Gronholm remains with Peugeot for his five successive full assault at the FIA World Rally Championship. The Finn is another driver to have re-thought his future plans and is on the verge of signing a new contract to remain with Peugeot for another year. Last year was a difficult one for the double world champion. He took three wins, but missed out on the chance of a third title with a combination of mistakes from him and reliability problems from the 206. Gronholm arrives in Monte Carlo rejuvenated and ready for the challenge of developing a new car which lies ahead. Gronholm’s team-mate this season will be Belgium’s Freddy Loix. The pair worked together on Wales Rally Great Britain last season – when Loix stepped in as a replacement for Richard Burns – and have put in a lot of time testing the 307 WRC together since. After spells with Mitsubishi and Hyundai, Loix regards this as his best chance to make his mark on world rallying, starting with Monte Carlo, an event Loix enjoys.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: “People stopped talking about us and about Peugeot towards the end of last year. I hope they will be talking about us again soon! The new car is very good, there’s not so much that I can say about it really – you will have to see for yourself. As for my future, okay, I am very close to signing to stay with Peugeot for another year, but we will see. Right now my focus is on this first round of the championship.
Freddy Loix said: “I have done so much testing over the closed season, it’s been great – it has given me so much time in the car, which was just what I needed. The car feels fantastic, especially the gearbox. When I came into the 206 late last year it was a little different for me; the Hyundai had six gears, the 206 had five, now sometimes the 307 only has four! I’m really looking forward to this season, there can be no excuses for me in 2004. I am in the right team at the right time.”
555 Subaru World Rally Team
Technical: Subaru retains its Impreza WRC2003, with Petter Solberg’s car fitted with a new lightweight ECU. The team’s 2004 car will come on line in time for the third round of the series – the Rally of Mexico – in March.
Sporting: Petter Solberg was one of the pace-setters early on this event last year, before sliding off the road twice – the second time for good. Despite its tricky reputation, Solberg is a fan of the rally and will be aiming to get his FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ title defence off to the best possible start with a maximum ten points. The Norwegian took his first asphalt win in Corsica last October, on Alpine roads not dissimilar to those which will feature this weekend. One big difference within the team this year, however, is the loss of Tommi Makinen, who has retired. Makinen played a big part in Solberg’s development and subsequent world championship success last year. Mikko Hirvonen is the man who replaces Makinen. Last year – when he drove an official Ford Focus RS WRC02 – was Hirvonen’s first full season in the WRC. His 2003 season was all about experience, but this time around he will be under greater pressure as his results will be counting towards Subaru’s effort in the manufacturers’ championship.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: “Now it’s time for all of the talking to stop. I’ve been living and dreaming rallying for weeks now and am really ready to get back in the car and go again. It’s going to be a long and tough season, but coming in as world champions is a big thrill. I’m really excited about 2004 and about the Monte Carlo Rally. It’s an event which has never been very kind to me, but maybe that will change this season. I hope we get a real mixture in the weather. I hope we get some of the snow and ice which has made these events classics in the past.”
Mikko Hirvonen said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me. I have driven the car quite a lot since I signed the deal and now feel at home in the Impreza. The team has been very good, not putting any pressure on me for results. In my own mind this year I am looking for a podium finish somewhere, maybe somewhere like my home event in Finland – but probably not this weekend in Monte Carlo. This is a difficult event, where experience really counts – and it’s experience that I’ll be looking for this time around.”
BP Ford Rallye Sport
Technical: Two official Focus RS WRC03s will be competing. Both cars feature slightly different specifications from last season, but like Citroen, Ford will wait until April to launch it’s 2004 World Rally Car.
Sporting: Ford spent the early part of the winter season awaiting a decision from its head office about whether it would be competing in the FIA World Rally Championship this year. The green light came in December and since then the team has been preparing for the year ahead. Both Markko Martin and Francois Duval tested the Focus ahead of this week’s season opener extensively, covering 1,100km, and without any mechanical problems, raising hopes that Ford might have ironed out the glitches which cost the team its previously enviable reliability record with the Focus. Martin is the more experienced of the two Ford men, having won two rounds of last year’s series and set more fastest times than any other driver in the championship. A change of co-driver early last season helped Duval, and the Belgian turned in some impressive performances towards the end of last year – particularly on the asphalt rounds of the championship.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: “Last year I was quite unlucky not to get third place, after a spin on the final morning. This is a very difficult rally whatever the conditions are like, but if it’s the usual mixture of ice, then wet and dry asphalt, then tyre choice will be very, very difficult. ”
Francois Duval said: “I had quite a good event here, finishing seventh after I crashed. I think I could make the top five this time, this is a rally which I enjoy. The changeable conditions make it really interesting, never knowing whether you will get snow, ice or dry asphalt. The car has run very well in the test and things are looking good. I am happy.”
Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports
Technical: After a season away from the sport, Mitsubishi returns with its all-new and radical-looking Lancer WRC. This is a complete break with the Lancers which went before it. The car starts the season with mechanical differentials, but the team is looking to revise the transmission as the season progresses.
Sporting: Mitsubishi has four drivers in its squad for this season. Frenchman and former Peugeot pilot Gilles Panizzi will tackle all of the rounds with the team, while Gianluigi Galli, Kristian Sohlberg and Daniel Sola will share a second and third car as the year unfolds. Galli starts as Panizzi’s team-mate this week.
Quotes: Gilles Panizzi said: “For me, the important thing is experience – that’s what I need from this rally. I need to get some miles done in the car so that I can give the team some feedback and let them know how she is feeling. It’s a big challenge for me leaving Peugeot for a new team, but in my heart I knew that I had to do all of the rallies – and this was the way to go. I am very excited about my new season, the first time I have started a season without Peugeot.”
Gianluigi Galli said: “I really don’t know what to expect from this season. I haven’t tested the new car very much, so Monte Carlo is going to be an adventure for me.”
Other entries
In the absence of defending FIA Junior World Rally Champion Brice Tirabassi, San Marino driver Mirco Baldacci leads the 1600cc runners away in the first of five Suzukis on the first round of the 2004 Junior series. The Suzuki team has switched all four of its drivers for this season, with Guy Wilks, Kosti Katajamaki and Per-Gunnar Andersson joining Baldacci in the quartet of 2004-specification, five-door Ignis Super 1600s. Estonian Urmo Aava is present in one of the ’03 machines and will use that car all season. Alessandro Broccoli is top non-Suzuki in his Fiat Punto. This will be the last event for the Ford Puma and Citroen Saxo, they will be replaced by the Fiesta and the C2 respectively in time for the second round of the FIA JWRC.