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A DREAM
come true for the Citroen team! In their first full World
Rally Championship campaign, the French marque have taken
a 1-2-3 victory on one of the world's most renowned events
- the Monte Carlo Rally.
Young
gun Sebastien Loeb, together with co-driver Daniel Elena,
have taken victory among some of the world's top drivers.
The French ace was on the pace from the first stage and looked
set to take the lead of the event from World Champion Marcus
Gronholm during the second leg.
But Gronholm
faltered on stage nine, Les 4 Chemins, when he smacked his
Peugeot into a snow bank, damaging the steering and losing
more than 30 minutes in the process. By the end of the leg,
Loeb was out in front with more than a minute advantage over
team-mates Colin McRae and Derek Ringer while Carlos Sainz
and Marc Marti were third. All looked well for the Citroen
team going into the final leg.
Four stages
remained and it was McRae who woke up the quickest. Fastest
time shaved three seconds off Loeb's advantage but it was
nothing for the Frenchman to worry about. Carlos Sainz remained
in third but Ford's Markko Martin clipped 2.9 seconds off
the Spaniard's advantage on the stage to reduce the gap between
the pair to 28.7 seconds.
Martin
could see a podium position was within his reach and he set
a blistering pace through the following stage, Lantosque,
to set fastest time and take a massive 37 seconds from Sainz
who was suffering with brake problems. Sainz had been displaced
from the final podium position.
With brake
problems sorted, Sainz went into stage 13 like a man possessed.
Fastest time reduced Martin's advantage to 3.4 seconds after
the Estonian put his Focus WRC off the road. Despite his excursion,
he managed to set second fastest time. The battle for the
final podium position would be decided on the final stage,
a second run through the 19.52km Lantosque test.
Spain's
Carlos Sainz set fastest time by 6.7 seconds from Martin to
retake third position by a mere 3.3 seconds and confirm Citroen's
1-2-3 victory with Loeb the victor and McRae second. After
a brave fight, Markko Martin and Michael Park finish in a
comfortable fourth position ahead of Peugeot's Richard Burns
and Robert Reid while privateer Cedric Robert and Gerald Bedon
finish sixth.
Ford's
Francois Duval and Jean-Marc Fortin finished seventh ahead
of the final points position holders, Armin Schwarz and Manfred
Hiemer, in eighth. Top twenty and stage notes below:
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1
|
Sebastien
Loeb / Daniel Elena |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
4hrs
29mins 11.4secs |
|
2
|
Colin
McRae / Derek Ringer |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
4hrs
29mins 49.5secs |
|
3
|
Carlos
Sainz / Luis Moya |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
4hrs
30mins 03.6secs |
|
4
|
Markko
Martin / Michael Park |
Ford
Focus WRC |
4hrs
30mins 06.9secs |
|
5
|
Richard
Burns / Robert Reid |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
4hrs
32mins 27.9secs |
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6
|
Cedric
Robert / Gerald Bedon |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
4hrs
34mins 28.1secs |
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7
|
Francois
Duval / Jean-Marc Fortin |
Ford
Focus WRC |
4hrs
34mins 28.5secs |
|
8
|
Armin
Schwarz / Manfred Hiemer |
Hyundai
Accent WRC |
4hrs
35mins 53.7secs |
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9
|
Didier
Auriol / Denis Giraudet |
Skoda
Octavia WRC |
4hrs
36mins 25.2secs |
|
10
|
Roman
Kresta / Milos Hulka |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
4hrs
37mins 02.3secs |
|
11
|
Antony
Warmbold / Gemma Price |
Ford
Focus WRC |
4hrs
54mins 13.3secs |
|
12
|
Olivier
Burri / Christophe Hofmann |
Toyota
Corolla WRC |
4hrs
55mins 16.6secs |
|
13
|
Marcus
Gronholm / Timo Rautiainen |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
5hrs
02mins 43.2secs |
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14
|
Simon
Jean-Joseph / Jacques Boyere |
Renault
Clio |
5hrs
09mins 19.6secs |
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15
|
Eamonn
Boland / Francis Regan |
Subaru
Impreza WRC |
5hrs
11mins 46.5secs |
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16
|
Philippe
Roux / Paul Corthay |
Ford
Focus WRC |
5hrs
11mins 54.3secs |
|
17
|
Brice
Tirabassi / Jac-Julien Renucci |
Renault
Clio |
5hrs
12mins 36.1secs |
|
18
|
Kosti
Katajamaki / |
Volkswagen
Polo |
5hrs
15mins 57.8secs |
|
19
|
Marco
Ligato / Ruben Garcia |
Fiat
Punto |
5hrs
17mins 52.8secs |
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20
|
Alessandro
Broccoli / Simona Girell |
Citroen
Saxo |
5hrs
20mins 02.9secs |
- Carlos
Sainz lost time with brake trouble on stage 12.
- Markko
Martin lost time with a spin on stage 13.
- Sebastien
Loeb lost time with a bad tyre choice over the final
two stages.
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- Stage
seven was cancelled due to the amount of spectators
in the stage.
- Mikko
Hirvonen retired after rolling his Ford Focus WRC
on stage nine.
- Freddy
Loix retired on stage nine after an off road excursion.
- Marcus
Gronholm lost more than 30 minutes with broken steering
on stage nine.
- Many
competitors were unable to start stages nine and ten
due to a road traffic accident on route to the stages.
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- Gilles
Panizzi was given a one minute penalty before the
start of the event after the GPS system in his Peugeot
malfunctioned during a recce. He didn't inform the
stewards of the problem.
- Gilles
Panizzi lost time on stage one when he hit a rock
hidden beneath the snow.
- Tommi
Makinen stalled at the start of stage one.
- Markko
Martin stalled at a hairpin on stage two after spinning
his Ford.
- Carlos
Sainz lost time with a spin on stage two.
- Skoda's
Toni Gardemeister retired with mechanical problems
on stage two.
- Petter
Solberg hit a bridge on stage four.
- Francois
Duval went off the road and hit a tree on stage four
but managed to reach the service area while limping
on three wheels.
- Petter
Solberg retired on stage five after understeering
off the road.
- Tommi
Makinen retired on stage five after going off the
road.
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