 Tour De Corse - Rallye De France 2002 review.
Story by Andrew Frampton.
The Rally of Corsica saw the Peugeot team claim a historic 1-2-3 result on their home event. To cap it all off, the team's French driver, Gilles Panizzi, was victorious, while Britain's Richard Burns took third. There was little else to shout about on the Mediterranean island, for the British fans, with Alister McRae finishing in tenth, as brother Colin's 'Corsican Curse' returned for another season - the Ford star crashing on the penultimate stage and breaking a finger.
With the works Citroen team not selecting Corsica as one of their events this season, most people saw Panizzi as the man who would blitz the field. The Frenchman set the fastest time on the first stage of the opening leg, and repeated that feat on the next three stages, to leave himself 16.3 seconds ahead of Marcus Gronholm, who had been in the top four on each of the day's first four stages. However, fastest time on a wet SS5 saw Gronholm cut Panizzi's overnight lead to just three seconds. Burns had also performed well on the opening leg, and was third by the end of the day, despite losing time on SS5.
The best of the non-Peugeots overnight was Subaru's Tommi Makinen, who found himself fourteen seconds behind Burns. The Finn was fifth fastest through the opening stage, and fourth fastest on the next, but he did not break into the top three on any of the day's stages. For much of the day Makinen had been out-performed by team-mate Petter Solberg, who took a 2nd and two 3rd fastest times during the day. However, a spin which damaged the Subaru's wheel alignment on SS4, and then only sixth fastest time through SS5, saw the Norwegian finish the day in sixth position.
Despite a puncture on SS3, Carlos Sainz's opening day performance netted him fifth overnight. His Ford team-mates Colin McRae and Markko Martin were also going well, ending the day in 7th and 9th positions respectively. Great things were expected of Philippe Bugalski in his privately entered Citroen Xsara (actually a works car borrowed from Citroen), and after a slow start, he set 2nd fastest time of SS3 to end the day in 8th. Mitsubishi struggled on the asphalt in Monte Carlo, and were doing little better in Corsica. Francois Delecour was 11th overnight, while Alister McRae was languishing down in 18th.
Hyundai were debuting their new model Accent WRC3 in Corsica, and a competent start saw Freddy Loix finish the day 14th, and Armin Schwarz, who was fourth fastest through SS5, in 15th. The third Hyundai of Tomasz Kuchar went out on the first stage. The Skoda team were left ruing a lack of development in Corsica as Toni Gardemeister ended the day 17th; Roman Kresta was 19th, and Kenneth Eriksson 20th. Although overshadowed by Bugalski, the privateer machines of Harri Rovanpera and Bruno Thiry ended the day 10th and 13th respectively.
Gronholm's bid for the lead on the first stage on day two was scuppered by Panizzi, who despite only setting the third fastest time, strengthening his lead by eleven seconds. Panizzi was fastest on SS7 and SS8, and faster than Gronholm on SS9. Although the Finn was marginally quicker through SS10, Panizzi set the fastest times on the two remaining stages to set him up with a lead of 41.7 seconds. Gronholm was only in the top three on three of the day's stages, and his margin over third position had reduced from 22.1 seconds to 20.4 seconds. Tommi Makinen was second fastest through SS6, the first of the day, and hauled himself ahead of Burns on the leaderboard. This he held until SS10, when the Briton took the position back. However, on the next stage, Makinen aquaplaned into a wall, damaging the Subaru's suspension and forcing him to retire.
Fastest time on SS9 helped Burns retain third position at the end of the day, while Philippe Bugalski moving up to fourth. Colin McRae moved into fifth, ahead of his team-mate Sainz, who was battling with the remaining Subaru of Solberg. The Norwegian had set fastest time on the day's opening stage, but a puncture on the final stage cost him time. However, only 30 seconds covered 4th - 7th positions. Francois Delecour had progressed up to eighth in his Mitsubishi after setting a couple of top ten times. Armin Schwarz was the first of five drivers separated by less than a minute in ninth position after setting top ten times on five of the stages, including fourth fastest time on SS10. Team-mate Loix also set five top ten times, but the Belgian was back in 13th. Splitting the Hyundais were Duval, Martin and an improving Alister McRae. Gardemeister was 14th, ahead of Rovanpera.
With just four stages remaining and a 41.7 second advantage, Panizzi was content to cruise through the final stages, setting only seventh and sixth fastest times over the opening pair. Burns was hoping to cut into Gronholm's 20.4 second advantage, but the Briton only made up 6.4 seconds over the first half of the day. Colin McRae made a great start to the final leg, moving ahead of Bugalski on the opening stage, demoting the Frenchman to fifth. However, three miles into the penultimate stage, McRae cut a left-hand corner - covering his tyres with mud, which offered no grip for the immediate right-hand bend, and the Scotsman skidded off the road. McRae was briefly trapped in the car, and was airlifted to a local hospital with concussion, a gashed leg and a broken finger. He is, however, expected to be fit for the next round in Spain next week. The rally was stopped while McRae was attended to, but with the Ford driver out of the event, Bugalski could cruise to fourth position.
Burns was slower than Gronholm on SS15, and despite clawing back three seconds on the final stage, the Englishman found himself 12 seconds adrift at the end of the event. Panizzi was given joint fastest time on SS15, despite not running the stage due to McRae's crash, and took second fastest time on the final stage, to claim a victory margin of 40.5 seconds. Solberg's inconsistent event ended well, as the Norwegian set top six times on all of the day's final stages to end the event in fifth. Sainz was only 4.6 seconds behind in sixth. Delecour pedalled the poor Mitsubishi to an excellent seventh position, ahead of the third Ford of Markko Martin, who made it to the finish despite suffering a nasty cold. His team-mate Duval was not so lucky, as a puncture on SS15 forced him into a ditch and out of the event. Freddy Loix took ninth in the Hyundai, ahead of Alister McRae and Harri Rovanpera. Toni Gardemeister, Armin Schwarz, Roman Kresta and Benoit Rousselot completed the top fifteen finishers.
The next round of the WRC is in just two weeks time, when the returning Citroen team will be looking to oust Peugeot from another asphalt podium in Catalunya, Spain.
CORSICAN RALLY RESULT:
1. Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot 206)
2. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot 206) +40.5s
3. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Peugeot 206) +52.4s
4. Philippe Bugalski/Jean Paul Chiaroni (Citroen Xsara) +2m02.2s
5. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru Impreza) +2m28.2s
6. Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford Focus) +2m32.8s
7. Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Mitsubishi Lancer) +5m07.8s
8. Markko Martin/Michael Park (Ford Focus) +5m20.0s
9. Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets (Hyundai Accent) +6m13.8s
10. Alister McRae/David Senior (Mitsubishi Lancer) +6m 32.5s
DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Marcus Gronholm 18pts
2. Tommi Makinen 10pts
2. Gilles Panizzi 10pts
4. Carlos Sainz 9pts
5. Richard Burns 7pts
6. Sebastien Loeb 6pts
6. Harri Rovanpera 6pts
8. Colin McRae 4pts
9. Philippe Bugalski 3pts
10. Alister McRae 2pts
MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Peugeot 36pts
2. Ford 20pts
3. Subaru 16pts
4. Mitsubishi 5pts
5. Hyundai 1pt
2002 WRC season calendar
17/01 - 20/01 - 70E Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo
- Monte Carlo stage map by JR
- Monte Carlo preview by AF
- Monte Carlo review by AF
- Monte Carlo stage-by-stage times by JR
31/01 - 03/02 - Uddeholm Swedish Rally
- Sweden stage map by JR
- Sweden preview by AF
- Sweden review by AF
- Sweden stage-by-stage times by JR
- Audio downloads from Sweden by Ralliart
07/03 - 10/03 - Tour De Corse - Rallye De France
- Corsica stage map by JR
- Corsica preview by AF
- Corsica review by AF
- Corsica stage-by-stage times by JR
- Audio downloads from Corsica by Ralliart
21/03 - 24/03 - Rallye Catalunya - Rallye De Espaņa
- Catalunya stage map by JR
- Catalunya preview by AF
- Catalunya review by AF
- Catalunya stage-by-stage times by JR
- Audio downloads from Catalunya by Ralliart
18/04 - 21/04 - Cyprus Rally
- Cyprus stage map by JR
- Cyprus preview by AF
- Cyprus review by AF
- Cyprus stage-by-stage times by JR
16/05 - 19/05 - Rally Argentina
- Argentina stage map by JR
- Argentina preview by AF
- Argentina review by AF
- Argentina stage-by-stage times by JR
13/06 - 16/06 - Acropolis Rally
- Acropolis stage map by JR
- Acropolis preview by AF
- Acropolis review by AF
- Acropolis stage-by-stage times by JR
11/07 - 14/07 - Safari Rally Kenya
- Safari stage map by JR
- Safari preview by AF
- Safari review by AF
- Safari stage-by-stage times by JR
08/08 - 11/08 - Neste Rally Finland
- Finland stage map by JR
- Finland review by SS
- Finland stage-by-stage times by JR
22/08 - 25/08 - Int.Adac Rallye Deutschland
- Deutschland stage map by JR
- Deutschland review by AF
- Deutschland stage-by-stage times by JR
19/09 - 22/09 - Rallye Sanremo - Rallye D'Italia
- Sanremo stage map by JR
- Sanremo review by SS
- Sanremo stage-by-stage times by JR
03/10 - 06/10 - Propecia Rally Of New Zealand
- New Zealand stage map by JR
- New Zealand review by SS
- New Zealand stage-by-stage times by JR
31/10 - 03/11 - Telstra Rally Australia
14/11 - 17/11 - Network Q Rally Of Great Britain
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