Frenchman Sebastien Loeb continues to lead the opening round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship: Rallye Monte Carlo. Through a combination of fastest stage times and misfortune for his rivals, the Citroen Xsara WRC driver has extended his lead from 18.3 seconds last night to 1m 28.7 seconds tonight. Loeb and his Monaco co-driver Daniel Elena have enjoyed a trouble-free day in the mountains north of the rally’s Monte Carlo base. Unfortunately for the crews, the organisers were forced to give notional times to the leaders for the first stage of the day after Peugeot privateer Nicolas Vouilloz crashed near the end of the test, blocking the road and impeding the progress of the drivers coming behind him. The tenth stage was cancelled on instruction from the FIA’s safety delegate Jacek Bartos due to the high number of spectators. At the front of the field, Loeb’s consistency was the only thing which stayed the same as Markko Martin and Marcus Gronholm both slipped back in the fog this morning. Martin’s team-mate Francois Duval moved into second spot and holds that tonight, just ahead of a recovering Martin, who was ill-at-ease in the difficult conditions. Tomorrow’s two loops of two stages will decide the outcome of what has so far been another difficult and challenging Rallye Monte Carlo.
Nicolas Bernardi leads the FIA Junior World Rally Championship standings tonight, with Urmo Aava leading the pursuit of the Renault driver.
Citroen Total
Technical: Sebastien Loeb’s Citroen Xsara WRC ran reliably today, while Carlos Sainz crashed in stage nine and retired.
Sporting: Sebastien Loeb extended his lead throughout the second leg of the event without any major problems, posting more fastest times to head into the final leg with an advantage of almost one and a half minutes. The Frenchman admitted he hadn’t enjoyed the foggy conditions this morning and was at a loss to explain how he was still managed to take time out of his rivals. Sainz closed the gap to fourth place on the first run at the Tourette du Chateau test this morning, ending the eighth stage just 15.4 seconds off the back of Markko Martin’s Ford. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, he was caught out by a patch of melting snow near to the end of the next test. He slid into a rock and broke a wheel. He and co-driver Marc Marti tried to fix the Xsara WRC, but it wasn’t possible and they retired from the event.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: “The fog this morning was quite difficult. I don’t really like those type of conditions, but I seemed to go well – I’m not really sure why that was. There was still some snow around this morning, so the main thing for me was to keep the car on the road and not do anything stupid. I am happy with the way the car is feeling, we haven’t made any changes to the set-up.”
Carlos Sainz said: “My accident was a typical Monte Carlo accident. The snow had started to melt on the top of the Col – it was a difficult place and I didn’t have much in my notes about the corner. We went straight on and into the rock face and damaged the wheel. This kind of thing has happened to me in the past on this rally, it’s just the way it is sometimes – it is a big disappointment.”
Ford Motor Company
Technical: Both Ford Focus RS WRC03s ran without problems through the second leg of the event.
Sporting: Markko Martin dropped back from his overnight runners-up spot on the eighth stage this morning. The Estonian could only manage ninth fastest time in the fog and was further hampered by the wrong set-up and tyre choice. He also spun and damaged the exhaust near the end of SS9. Martin’s loss was his team-mate’s gain, however, as Francois Duval eased his way past and into second position with a second fastest time in SS9. He then pushed hard in the final stage of the day to limit the time loss to Martin to just over one second, ensuring the two Ford men would go into the final day with just 13 second separating them.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: “My car would have suited drier conditions this morning, but it was quite damp. The big problem for me, though, was the fog – I hate the stuff and I can’t drive in it. The harder I tried to get everything right, the more it seemed to be going wrong. We were caught out at the end of one stage in a really slippery hairpin, the back came around and clipped the rock face. The damage to the exhaust cost us a lot of power, but luckily we were only 500 metres from the finish. ”
Francois Duval said: “Everything has gone well for me today – the car has been perfect. I made a very big attack on the ninth stage this morning and it seemed to work. I still want to be at the finish of the event, but the result is looking quite nice now. I think it will be hard work to keep Markko from passing me tomorrow.
Marlboro Peugeot Total
Technical: The gearbox on Marcus Gronholm’s Peugeot 307 WRC was changed at lunchtime today, following the Finn’s difficulty in engaging reverse on the ninth test. Freddy Loix’s car ran without mechanical trouble.
Sporting: Gronholm moved into the runners-up spot on the second stage this morning, only to drop back on the very next test when he went off the road near the end of Sigale-Col De Bleine. He ends today’s action in fourth place, 16.2 seconds off the final podium position, but comfortably ahead of fifth-placed Petter Solberg. Loix was happier still with his Peugeot’s handling today, an overnight gearbox change and further adjustment of the transmission settings had further improved the handling of the 307 WRC for the Belgian. Third fastest time on SS9 moved him closer to the Subaru of Petter Solberg ahead, but Loix admitted he wouldn’t be taking any big risks to try and catch the reigning world champion.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: “It was a very slow speed that I went off at, really slow. We didn’t hit anything or damage the car in anyway, but we needed to reverse the car back onto the road and I couldn’t get the car to engage reverse gear; it took me such a long time, I would say we dropped 40 seconds. It has been quite a difficult day today – the conditions are still very changeable.”
Freddy Loix said: “The car wasn’t understeering as much today, which has helped my confidence. I have also been happier with my choice of tyres, but at the same time it is always going to be difficult because this is Monte Carlo and anything can happen on this event. I want to be at the finish with more experience of the car – that’s most important for me.”
555 Subaru World Rally Team
Technical: Petter Solberg’s Subaru Impreza WRC2003 ran without any problems today, while Mikko Hirvonen retired on SS9 after damaging the suspension on his car when he went off 14km into the test.
Sporting: Solberg took advantage of Sainz’s retirement to move one place up the leaderboard, but there haven’t been any big changes in the Norwegian’s game plan: he still wants points and he still wants to make the podium. He remains almost equidistant between Gronholm and Loix and accepts that he is going to require his rivals to hit problems if he is to make further headway up the top ten. Solberg’s younger team-mate Hirvonen had continued to level his learning curve of both the car and the rally on the eighth stage this morning, before being caught out on the very next test. Like last year on the Monte Carlo Rally, Hirvonen has finished his event earlier than he wanted to.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: “In stage nine this morning the fog was absolutely terrible, you could hardly see in front of the bonnet. In conditions like these, the co-driver really does a great job and you have to have complete faith in them and what they are telling you. Our tyre choice for the third stage this morning wasn’t great, we lost a little bit of grip – but the road surface was changing all of the time. To get a tyre which worked for all of those would have been very difficult. The car is running very well, we’re only making very small, minor set-up changes to it today.”
Mikko Hirvonen said: “I can’t believe you could crash at such a slow speed – it was such a strange thing. I came out of a hairpin then through a slow right and left. In the left corner the car started to understeer, so I took the handbrake to try and get the car turned in. Unfortunately we went straight into a rock and broke a front lower arm on the left-hand side. We weren’t taking any risks or driving too quickly, it was just one of those things. I am really disappointed to end my first event with Subaru like this.”
Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sport
Technical: Gilles Panizzi’s Mitsubishi Lancer WRC04 ran without mechanical fault today, while team-mate Gigi Galli retired after crashing off the road yesterday.
Sporting: Panizzi’s overall result looked considerably better at the end of today’s leg, as the Frenchman climbed the leaderboard from an overnight 11th and moved into a points-scoring seventh place. The Mitsubishi team continued to make alterations to the set-up of Panizzi’s Lancer and his times continued to improve through the rally.
Quotes: Gilles Panizzi said: “The team changed all of the shock absorbers after the two stages this morning and that helped the car again. I am feeling much more comfortable driving today than I did yesterday, but we are still learning. This is what we have to remember, everything is new with this car and we are all still finding out what differences the changes will make.”
Other entries
Just as a Frenchman leads the overall standings, there’s another Frenchman at the top of the Junior World Rally Championship times as Nicolas Bernardi moved past Suzuki drivers Urmo Aava and Kosti Katajamaki to lead the category by 24.2 seconds at the end of leg two. Alessandro Broccoli (Fiat Punto) holds third place after Katajamaki hit a rock and retired. Antony Warmbold is the top non-official driver, in eighth overall, following the retirement of Roman Kresta on SS9 this morning