Citroën Takes the Double Lead in the World Rally Championship

CITROËN TAKES THE DOUBLE LEAD IN THE WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Citroën now leads both the drivers’ and the manufacturers’ World Rally Championship title chases after another fine performance at weekend (4-6 June 2004) in the Acropolis Rally, the Greek round of the WRC, with Citroënthe only manufacturer to bring all its team across the finish line.

Sébastien Loeb finished second overall to strengthen his hold on the drivers’ title race and that result enabled Citroën to regain the lead in the manufacturers’ championship aided by three points from Carlos Sainz also bringing his Citroën Xsara home.

Loeb took second place after an acclaimed hard charge on the final day. In third at the start of the final day, Sébastien had announced that he intended to do everything in order to move up another place. He knew, however, that it would not be easy. Following his retirement early in last year’s event he had never seen two of the day’s three special stages, "Dikastro" and "Agios Stefanos", in race conditions. This did not prevent him from setting the fastest time in the “Dikastro”. Harri Rovanperä’s lead therefore went down from 8.8 to 3.5 seconds. At the same time, François Duval fell back, letting his two rivals continue their fight without him. Harri’s reply came in SS18, when he increased his margin to 4.4 seconds. The third SS of the loop, "Styrfaka", was new for everyone.

"This special stage is very difficult,” Sébastien explained. “It is barely wider than the car, with peaks where you can only see the sky beyond the end of the bonnet, followed by corners which get tighter. That was there I took my chances, pushing as hard as I could.”

Returning to Lamia, Rovanperä was only 0.3 of a second ahead. Two more fastest times for the CitroënXsara (SS20 and 22) got the better of the stubborn resistance shown from the Finnish driver.

"It was a fine and exciting race,” a smiling Sébastien said at thefinish line. “We were able to climb back up because the car was perfect.”

It was obvious that Friday’s leg was the most difficult. While Sébastien was opening the road, Carlos lost all hopes of a good finish with a broken shock absorber on SS4.

"My own race stopped at that point,” the Spanish Champion noted. “But that of Citroën carried on. I am happy to have claimed three points, and to have been able to help Sébastien.”

"I was delighted with Carlos,” Guy Fréquelin explained. “A driver with his sort of career record, finding himself forty minutes back, could easily have decided to stop. This did not even occur to him. Thanks to the points that he was ensuring, Sébastien was able to push without worries. The second place he won also belongs, to some extent, to Carlos. We have stored up some precious points. And I was very satisfied to see, that in terms of pure performance, we are, as I had hoped, in the leading group.”

Final Positions in the 2004 Acropolis Rally*

1. P. Solberg/Ph. Mills (Subaru Impreza)4 h 39 min 06,2 s
2. S. Loeb/D. Elena (Citroën Xsara)+ 18,4 s
3. H. Rovanperä/R.Pietilainen (Peugeot 307)+ 28,3 s
4. F. Duval/S.Prevot (Ford Focus)+ 2 min 19,4 s
5. D. Carlsson/M. Andersson (Peugeot 206)+ 6 min 50,1 s
6. M. Stohl/I. Minor (Peugeot 206)+ 10 min 01,6 s
7. J. Tuohino/J. Aho (Ford Focus)+ 11 min 12,5 s
8. A. Vovos/"El Em" (Ford Focus)+ 14 min 07 s

…

19. C. Sainz/M. Marti (Citroën Xsara)+ 42 min 45,4 s

FIA World Manufacturers’ Rally Championship *

1.Citroën, 65 pts – 2. Ford, 60 pts - 3. Subaru, 50 pts – 4. Peugeot, 39 pts - 5. Mitsubishi, 9 pts.

FIA World Drivers’ Rally Championship*

1.S. Loeb, 43 points – 2. P. Solberg, 38 pts - 3. M. Märtin, 34 pts - 4.M. Grönholm, 24 pts - 5. F. Duval, 19 pts - 6. C. Sainz, 19 pts – 7. H. Rovanperä, 10 pts – 8. J. Tuohino, 10 pts – 9. M. Hirvonen, 10 pts - 10. D. Carlsson, 6 pts - 11. F. Loix, 4 pts – 12. G. Panizzi, 4 pts - 13. M. Stohl, 3 pts – 14. H. Solberg, 3 pts - 15. J. Välimäki, 2 pts - 16. A. Ginley, 2 pts – 17. M. Campos, 1 pt – 18. O. Burri et A. Vovos, 1 pt.

(ends)

For further information:

Citroën Australia Media Web Site:

Miles Williams

Edward Rowe

Web site:

EJR/ejr/007

6/7/2004