 Cyprus Rally 2002 review.
Story by Andrew Frampton.
A dramatic Rally of Cyprus saw Marcus Gronholm extend his championship lead and continue Peugeot's devastating performance this season, which now sees them with more points in the manufacturer's championship than all the other teams put together. Colin McRae had looked all set for victory at the end of the second day, but he rolled his way down to sixth.
The first proper gravel event of the season, Cyprus was a bit of an unknown, although Ford and Subaru were expected to close the gap to Peugeot, as they would need to. They started in the best possible way - Colin McRae setting the fastest time in his Ford over the opening stage, edging out Subaru's Petter Solberg and the Peugeot of Gronholm. The Ford domination continued into the second stage, only this time Francois Duval emerged with the fastest time, leading the third Ford of Markko Martin, who would set fastest time over the next stage to take the overall lead of the event. Halfway through the first day's stages, McRae was lying second, although only 0.1 seconds ahead of Gronholm, who was second fastest through SS3. However, Martin's 7.4 second advantage was soon wiped out, and he ended the day in third. Cue a battle for the lead between McRae and Gronholm - the Scot the faster of the two on SS4 and fastest outright on SS6. Gronholm returned the compliment on SS5, although he ended the day 6.9 seconds in arrears, yet seven seconds up on Martin.
Top eight times throughout the first day netted Duval an excellent 4th overnight, ahead of Subaru's Tommi Makinen, who had been fastest through SS5. His team-mate Solberg had made a promising start to the event, only for a throttle problem to cost him four minutes on SS3, and drop him down the running order. The Skoda team has struggled this season, but Kenneth Eriksson was relishing his first gravel outing, and he was holding sixth from Hyundai's Freddy Loix. Fellow Hyundai driver Juha Kankkunen set 2nd fastest time on SS3, only to retire on the following stage. After a slow start, Harri Rovanpera battled up to eighth in his Peugeot; just seven seconds ahead of his struggling team-mate Richard Burns. Armin Schwarz (Hyundai) and Toni Gardemiester (Skoda) were tenth and eleventh, ahead of the privately entered Fords of Manfred Stohl, who had set top ten times on three of the day's stages, and Janne Tuohino. The Mitsubishis of Jani Paasonen and Francois Delecour completed the top fifteen.
Carlos Sainz had struggled with a series of mechanical problems over the opening day, which saw him outside the top 20. However, with the problems fixed, the Spaniard was fastest over the opening two stages of the second leg. Meanwhile, on those two stages McRae increased his advantage over Gronholm by 1.5 seconds, only to lose 6.5 seconds on the next. As the weather turned for the worst, Makinen was fastest through SS9, ahead of team-mate Solberg. Solberg then went fastest on the next stage, and repeated that feat on the following three stages, which included an amazing performance through the 'mud-bath' of SS12, over which he was 35 seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
However, not all were so lucky - Duval departed on SS9 with engine failure, while the treacherous SS12 claimed the cars of Freddy Loix, Alister McRae, Bruno Thiry and Roman Kresta. Meanwhile, Colin McRae was flying, and by setting faster times than Gronholm over the last four stages of the day, had moved himself 26.2 seconds clear by the end of the leg. Martin had struggled on day two and had dropped to sixth, as Makinen picked up the pieces with a string of top five times to move himself into third - 1minute 18 seconds behind Gronholm. Another to improve was Burns, who despite not heading the stage times, set top six times over all of the second leg stages to move himself up the leaderboard. Faster times than Makinen on the last four stages meant fourth overnight, just eleven seconds behind the Finn.
Rovanpera, like team-mate Burns, had made steady progress through day two and was fifth, while Martin was only 30 seconds off third-placed Makinen, back in sixth. Eriksson had struggled in the wet and the Skoda had dropped to seventh, with the superb Solberg just 3 seconds behind in eighth. Armin Schwarz was ninth, ahead of Stohl and Tuohino, while Sainz was twelfth despite another day of mechanical problems, only this time he had made the top ten on every stage. The fourth Peugeot in the hands of asphalt specialist Gilles Panizzi was 13th, ahead of Delecour, whose windscreen-wipers broke just as it started to rain, and Hyundai's Tomasz Kuchar.
Harri Rovanpera was fastest through day three's opening stage, while Burns took four seconds out of his battle with Makinen. McRae had been fed false information by his team halfway through the opening stage, and thinking he had plenty of time in hand over Gronholm was dismayed to learn that the Peugeot driver had taken 12.6 seconds out of his lead, which now stood at little more than half what it did the previous night. Things got worse for the Scot on the next stage, after he rolled his Focus losing his lead of the event. Although he had only lost 13 seconds on the stage, there was another one to complete before the car could go into service, and by the time it got there McRae was over 50 seconds behind Gronholm and stuck in a battle for second.
Spurned on by Burns' quicker time on the opening stage, Makinen was fastest through the next two, but with Burns third and then second fastest, the Finn was still under pressure. Makinen lost time, and his second position to Burns on SS18, but was faster than the Peugeot driver through the penultimate stage to give him an advantage of just 1.6 seconds with one stage to run. Another to hit problems on SS18 was McRae, who rolled his Focus for the second time in three stages, this time losing two minutes and dropping to seventh.
Gronholm cruised through the final stage, setting the eighth fastest time to come home victor by 56.8 seconds. A spin cost Makinen several seconds, and despite driving flat-out through the remaining miles, Burns was 3.8 seconds faster, and took the position by just 2.2 seconds. Rovanpera had a quiet final day to take fourth, while Solberg, who briefly lost time with a roll, took an excellent fifth. Virtue of fourth fastest time through the final stage, McRae leapfrogged his battered Focus ahead of Schwarz's Hyundai, who would have to make do with the final manufacturer's point for seventh. Martin took eighth, while Eriksson and Panizzi rounded out the top ten. Carlos Sainz endured another troubled day and came home eleventh, ahead of Tuohino, Delecour, Kuchar and Gardemiester.
Last season Colin McRae took victory in Argentina, and if he is to mount a serious challenge for this season's title, ten points in South America next time out would be very valuable.
Result:
1. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot)
2. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Peugeot) +56.8s
3. Tommi Makinen/Kaj Lindstrom (Subaru) +59.0s
4. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilanien (Peugeot) 1m18.7s
5. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) 2m17.9s
6. Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Ford) 2m45.5s
7. Armin Schwarz/Manfred Heimer (Hyundai) 2m47.4s
8. Markko Martin/Michael Park (Ford) 4m22.6s
9. Kenneth Eriksson/Tino Thorner 7m17.7s
10. Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot) 8m12.2s
Driver's Standings:
1. Marcus Gronholm 31pts
2. Gilles Panizzi 20pts
3. Richard Burns 19pts
4. Tommi Makinen 14pts
5. Harri Rovanpera 9pts
6. Carlos Sainz 9pts
Manufacturer's Standings:
1. Peugeot 68pts
2. Subaru 27pts
3. Ford 27pts
4. Mitsubishi 6pts
5. Hyundai 2pts
6. Skoda 0pts
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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