CITROEN WINS ITS FIRST GRAVEL WRC RALLY
Citroen has confounded its critics who said it did not have the experience to win on gravel in its debut season with Carlos Sainz giving the Citroen Xsara WRC its debut gravel win on the very first gravel event of the 2003 WRC season, the Rally of Turkey.
Proving that Sainz’ win was no fluke, Colin McRae achieved a well deserved fourth place proving the big advances that Citroen has made in developing the Xsara for gravel and showing the Citroen are not just tarmac experts.
The result firms Citroen’s lead in the manufacturer’s championship, with an eight point lead over Peugeot.
“This victory is tremendous”, said Team boss Guy Fréquelin at the finish. “It’s even better than our first win in Corsica. This season we are now involved in the full Championship, and we’ve taken a win where nobody was expecting us to win. The Xsara is now performing as well as its rivals on gravel. Combined with its reliability, the Xsara is looking very promising for more wins.”
Citroën continues to lead the Manufacturers’ Championship since it took a “one-two-three” in Monte Carlo. After three events, Colin McRae is second, Carlos Sainz is third and Sébastien Loeb fifth in the Drivers’ Championship.
This 25th World Rally win made Carlos Sainz the joint record holder of victories together with his team-mate Colin McRae : “Colin and myself are inseparable” said the Spaniard having spent most of their careers in thesame teams. “Equalling this record is naturally a big satisfaction, but bringing Citroën its first win on gravel makes me even happier”…
“It’s not bad for an old man like you ! “ joked Colin by radio after the finish.
The Scot also underlined the progress made by Citroën when he returned to the final service in Kemer. “This result has proved the reliability of the car that we witnessed in Kenya last year. My car has run perfectly all weekend. Citroën is still leading the Manufacturers’ Championship just before we head off to the unknown terrain for the team in New Zealand. This is very encouraging…”
Telefónica Movistar, Michelin, Magneti-Marelli, OZ, AIS and Citroën Financementare the partners ofTeam Citroën-Total in the World Rally Championship.
THE RALLY OF TURKEY FIGURES
Stage wins :
Leg 1 : SS1 : M. Grönholm (Peugeot 206) – SS2 : H. Rovanperä (Peugeot 206) and P. Solberg (Subaru Impreza) – SS3 : P. Solberg – SS4 : H. Rovanperä – SS5 : M. Martin (Ford Focus) – SS6 : Harri Rovanperä
Leg 2 : SS7 : H. Rovanperä – SS8 : C. Sainz (Citroën Xsara) – SS9 : M. Grönholm – SS10: C. Sainz – SS11 : R. Burns – SS12 : M. Martin – SS13 : C. Sainz
Leg 3 : SS14 : C. McRae – SS15 : R. Burns – SS16 : F. Duval – SS17,
SS18 : M. Grönholm
Best performers
M. Grönholm and H. Rovanperä : 4 stage wins – C. Sainz : 3 – P. Solberg, M. Martin, R. Burns : 2 – C. McRae, F. Duval : 1.
Leaders
Leg 1 : SS1 : M. Grönholm – SS2 and SS3 : P. Solberg – SS4 to SS6 : H. Rovanperä
Leg 2 : SS7 to SS9 : H. Rovanperä – SS10 to SS13 : C. Sainz
Leg 3 : SS14 to SS18 : C. Sainz
Overall classification – Rally of Turkey
1. C. Sainz / M. Marti (Citroën Xsara) 4 h 32 mn 14,1s
2. R. Burns / R. Reid (Peugeot 206)+ 47,9 s
3. F. Duval / S. Prevot (Ford Focus) + 1 mn 46,5 s
4. C. McRae / D. Ringer (Citroën Xsara)+ 2 mn 09,1 s
5. G. Panizzi / H. Panizzi (Peugeot 206)+ 2 mn 41,6 s
6. M. Märtin / M. Park (Ford Focus) + 3 mn 24,9 s
7. T. Gardemeister / P. Lukander (Skoda Octavia)+ 5 mn 13 s
8. T. Mäkinen / K. Lindström (Subaru Impreza)+ 7 mn 18,6 s
9. M. Grönholm / T. Rautiainen (Peugeot 206 )+ 10 mn 52,2 s
10. F. Loix / S. Smeets (Hyundai Accent) + 11 mn 40,4 s
MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATION
1. Citroën, 39 points – 2. Peugeot, 31 pts – 3. Ford, 25 pts– 4. Subaru, 13 pts –
5. Skoda, 6 pts – 6. Hyundai, 3 pts.
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATION
1st R. Burns, 18 pts - 2nd C. McRae, 17pts – 3rd C. Sainz, 16 pts – 4th M. Märtin, 13 pts – 5th S. Loeb, 12 pts – 6th M. Grönholm, 10 pts – 7th T. Mäkinen, 9 pts – 8th F. Duval, 8 pts – 9th G. Panizzi, 4 pts – 10th P. Solberg, 3 pts – 11th C. Robert, 3 pts – 12th T. Gardemeister, 3 pts – 13th A. Schwarz, 1 pt.
Next round of the 2003 WRC : Rally Propecia of New Zealand (10 – 13 avril 2003)
(ends)
For further information:
Miles Williams
/ Tel: (02) 9558 7111 /Edward Rowe
/ Tel: (02) 9558 7111General Manager / Fax: (02) 9558 7722 / Public Relations Manager / Fax: (02) 9558 7722
Citroën Australia / Mob: 0419 800 520 / Citroën Australia / Mob: 0407 913 244
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EJR/ejr/007
3/3/2003