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GILLES
PANIZZI and Herve Panizzi have taken a last gasp victory
at the Catalunya Rally!
The predicted
rain materialised during the final leg of the event and caused
major headaches for the leaders. Loeb, who had been leading
the event from the second stage, entered the final test with
a 31 second advantage over Panizzi but the 35km stage had
a sting in the tail for Loeb. Panizzi had chosen a soft compound
wet pattern tyre for the stage - a tyre which Loeb didn't
know existed! It was the advantage that Panizzi needed to
take the fight to Loeb and he set fastest time on the stage,
44 seconds faster than the Citroen. Loeb was eighth fastest
and managed to cling on to second position by 0.6 seconds
with Markko Martin in third. Martin had set second fastest
time despite having to switch to manual gear change during
the stage.
Francois
Duval, Petter Solberg and Marcus Gronholm were fourth, fifth
and sixth respectively. All three drivers inheritied a position
on the final stage after Carlos Sainz lost 40 seconds and
dropped to seventh when his Citroen ground to a halt. Tommi
Makinen and Kaj Lindstrom take the final Championship point.
With one
round remaining, four drivers have a chance to take the WRC
crown. Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz are tied with a total
of 63 points, Petter Solberg has 62 points and Richard Burns
has 58 points. Solberg took his first World Championship victory
in Wales just one year ago, can he do it again? Come the end
of the event, will Sainz be kicking his Citroen for grinding
to a halt in Spain? Or will Loeb take his first win in Wales?
Or can Burns repeat his 2001 performance when he took his
first World Championship title? These questions will be answered
in two weeks time when the finale kicks off in Cardiff on
November 7!
| 1 |
Gilles
Panizzi / Herve Panizzi |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
3hrs
55mins 09.4secs |
| 2 |
Sebastien
Loeb / Daniel Elena |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
3hrs
55mins 22.4secs |
| 3 |
Markko
Martin / Michael Park |
Ford
Focus WRC |
3hrs
55mins 23.0secs |
| 4 |
Francois
Duval / Stephane Prevot |
Ford
Focus WRC |
3hrs
56mins 04.8secs |
| 5 |
Petter
Solberg / Phil Mills |
Subaru
Impreza WRC |
3hrs
56mins 20.2secs |
| 6 |
Marcus
Gronholm / Timo Rautiainen |
Peugeot
206 WRC |
3hrs
56mins 38.5secs |
| 7 |
Carlos
Sainz / Marc Marti |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
3hrs
56mins 42.4secs |
| 8 |
Tommi
Makinen / Kaj Lindstrom |
Subaru
Impreza WRC |
3hrs
57mins 04.5secs |
| 9 |
Colin
McRae / Derek Ringer |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
3hrs
58mins 24.6secs |
| 10 |
Philippe
Bugalski / Jean-Paul Chiaroni |
Citroen
Xsara WRC |
4hrs
00mins 23.0secs |
- Richard
Burns retired after going off the road on stage 19.
- Tommi
Makinen was forced to use the manual gearbox in his
Subaru.
- Markko
Martin was forced to use his manual gearbox during
the final stage.
- Carlos
Sainz lost 40 seconds when his Citroen ground to a
halt during the final stage.
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- Didier
Auriol retired on stage nine with clutch problems.
- Colin
McRae lost time with brake problems.
- Francois
Duval was given a ten second penalty for being late
out of service - the team were changing the pedal
box.
- Colin
McRae lost time with brake problems.
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- Petter
Solberg lost time with a slow puncture on stage two.
- Francois
Duval stalled on at startline of stage two.
- Petter
Solberg was given a 50 second penalty for being late
out of service - a front bearing in the alternator
had collapsed..
- Colin
McRae lost time with a spin on stage four.
- Richard
Burns went off the road on stage seven and had trouble
restarting the car.
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