2002 FIA World Rally Season commences

Sebastien Loeb wins amid controversy

The stage is Monte Carlo and, as per the last few years, specialist drivers have dominated. The rally was won by bitumen specialist Sebastien Loeb, driving his Citroën Xsara WRC rally car. There were a number of other surprises too, such as Richard Burns sluggish start in his new ride, the Peugeot 206 WRC. Meanwhile, Alister McRae moves to the Mitsubishi Ralliart team to come in at outright 14th - not the result the team was after.

Peugeot 206 WRC drivers Marcus Gronholm and Gilles Panizzi have secured the Peugeot's first points of the 2002 FIA World Rally Championship in the first round of the series. Fellow teammate Richard Burns began his 2002 campaigns with what is known as a "solid performances", giving Peugeot three of the top ten finishers.

The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crews of Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup and Alister McRae/David Senior finished the 70th Rallye Monte-Carlo in ninth and 14th positions respectively in their debut competitive outings in the Lancer Evolution WRC.

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Derek Dauncey added: “Basically we expected typical Monte Carlo conditions, which is what we had when we tested and had set the car up for. However it was a very mild event with hardly any snow and so the set-up didn't really suit the rally conditions. We're carrying out more intensive testing prior to Corsica using some new parts that have been in production. We've got a lot of good information from this event, the weight reduction has obviously helped us and we know from the data that the engine is performing very competitively.”

Francois Delecour's new 2002 ride

Marcus Gronholm did remarkably well in his trusty 206 WRC - his nearest rival throughout the final day was Colin McRae, and the pair were separated by just a handful of seconds entering the final couple of stages. Marcus chose a safe option of tyres for the two tests, but the roads dried more than he’d expected and he dropped behind the Scot as a result. He still finished fifth overall, though.

Marcus said: “I’m glad to get to the finish for Peugeot and score some points for the team. Monte has not been such a good event for the 206 in the past but this year we’ve been able to set some good times. I’ve concentrated on keeping a steady, fast speed throughout the rally and that’s worked very well. Hopefully we can be fighting for the podium places in Sweden next time out.”

Reigning world champion Richard Burns started this morning’s stages in seventh overall, but the Englishman was less than happy with his tyre choice and he was unable to prevent team-mate Gilles Panizzi from inching past. The pair eventually finished in seventh and eighth.

Richard had this to say: “I’m glad to have finally got plenty of kilometres in the 206 under my belt, but clearly we haven’t been able to really challenge here. I’m still not totally comfortable with the 206 mid-corner – I haven’t really got enough confidence to commit the throttle as early as I should. But that should come in time, and we’ll be working very hard in the coming weeks to find some settings that suit me better. I already know the car’s good enough, though - that’s not an issue. It would be nice to have points but it’s not a disaster – a disaster would have been retirement on the opening day without the chance to learn anything.”

Peugeot's venerable 206 WRC

On the surface of it, Citroen's Sebastien Loeb has taken outright honours, although an appeal against a two minute penalty imposed this morning leaves some doubt over the Frenchman's maiden victory. In the FIA World Rally Championship, the provisional standings see Sebastien Loeb heading the leaderboard with a maximum 10 points, with Tommi Makinen and Carlos Sainz finishing second and third respectively.

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen), the sensation of the rally, led the crews across the finish ramp for the first time in his World Rally Championship career, however the results remain in doubt.

Late last night a two minute penalty was imposed on the French driver for illegally changing tyres and, while Automobiles Citroen has lodged an appeal, the penalty was not taken into account and it's possible a final decision at the FIA's Court of Appeal could take up to 40 days.

Provisionally Tommi Makinen (Subaru) then finishes second, a potentially historic four consecutive Rallye Monte-Carlo victories and the unprecedented 24th World Championship rally win hanging in the balance until the FIA's decision has been made.

Carlos Sainz (Ford) takes the third podium position while team-mate Colin McRae powered into a last-minute fourth in the second Focus. Surprisingly Peugeot's highest finisher was Marcus Gronholm in fifth, while young Norwegian Petter Solberg (Subaru) clinched the last point with a great drive. In general it was a trouble-free run for most of the crews, the deficits too great to overhaul in most instances.

The Impreza driven by Tommi Makinen

Whoever is the outright victor of the rally, Subaru takes the maximum 10 points in the Manufacturers' Championship with Tommi Makinen, being that Citroen is not eligible for points due to its limited 2002 programme. Ford and Peugeot were the only other manufacturers to score points and lie second and third respectively.

The FIA World Rally Championship’s second round takes place in less than a fortnight. Crews move from the icy mountain passes to snowy forests for the Swedish Rally on February 1-3. The Scandinavian event has been good to Peugeot in recent years – Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera have tasted the victory champagne there over the last two years, and the team will go to host town Karlstad aiming to score a Swedish hat-trick.

Classifications:

1. LOEB, Sebastien Citroën Xsara WRC 3h58.44.8
2. MAKINEN, Tommi Subaru Impreza 3h59.30.7
3. SAINZ, Carlos Ford Focus WRC 4h00.46.4
4. McRAE, Colin Ford Focus WRC 4h01.28.7
5. GRÖNHOLM, Marcus Peugeot 206 WRC 4h01.38.1
6. SOLBERG, Petter Subaru Impreza 4h02.00.3
7. PANIZZI, Gilles Peugeot 206 WRC 4h02.50.8
8. BURNS, Richard Peugeot 206 WRC 4h03.47.1
9. DELECOUR, François Mitsubishi Lancer ev. 4h05.06.4
10. GARDEMEISTER, Toni Skoda Octavia 4h06.13.1