 Acropolis Rally 2002 review. Story by Andrew Frampton.
Twelve months and fourteen World Rally events since he last topped the finishing order, Colin McRae took his second win in as many years on the tough roads of Greece. Having dominated here during a mid-season trio of wins in 2001, the Scot's victory this year has moved him back into contention for the championship. Despite being outshone by team-mate Markko Martin on the opening leg, McRae battled through to hold the lead at the close of the second day. The retirement of his main rival Richard Burns eased his worries on the final leg, as he cruised to victory from Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm and his Ford team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Young Markko Martin has shown impressive speed in the third works Ford Focus this season, following a troubled year at Subaru in 2001, which undoubtedly improved his racecraft, even if it failed to provide him with the results he deserved. The Estonian's pace has been growing on each event since he first took the wheel of the Focus under competitive conditions in Monte Carlo, and he briefly held the lead on the opening leg of the Cyprus Rally last month. Coming into the Greek event, he held tenth in the championship, giving him the advantage of a clean road on which to run, with the championship leaders running the stages first and having to endure the car breaking rocks.
He made the most of the cleaner roads to set the fastest time over the first stage; 13.8 seconds clear of the championship leader Marcus Gronholm. The Ford star maintained his lead over the next two stages, and at the halfway point in the first leg, held a twelve second advantage. Martin had only been fifth fastest through the second stage, with Thomas Radstrom setting the fastest time in Citroen's first gravel event of the season. Hyundai's Freddy Loix, another to take advantage of a low running order, was second fastest through SS2 and then fastest on the next stage to move into second overall after SS3. A consistent Gronholm was third, while the second Hyundai of Armin Schwarz was holding fourth overall after setting third fastest time on the second stage. The German continued his good form into the fourth stage, setting the second fastest time behind the flying Martin, who then went on to record the fastest time on the penultimate stage of the day. Although he was only third fastest through the day's final stage, the Estonian had emerged with a 50.7 second advantage.
Loix held second despite dropping time through SS6, in which Colin McRae closed to within 2.3 seconds of the Belgian. Despite making a conservative start to the event, second fastest times over the leg's final two stages, had propelled the Scot up to third. The Peugeot of Harri Rovanpera was fourth, only 2.8 seconds behind McRae, while the third Ford of Sainz was fifth. Richard Burns had struggled with differential problems during the morning, and ended the day sixth; just over five seconds ahead of his team-mate Gronholm, who had continued to suffer with the rock-strewn roads. Schwarz ended the day in 8th after dropping time on the final stage, although he was only 0.3 seconds behind Gronholm. The Citroens of Sebastien Loeb and Radstrom were next up, ahead of the two Mitsubishis of Alister McRae and Francois Delecour that were languishing in 11th and 12th positions respectively.
On his first appearance in a works car this season, the Japanese Toshi Arai was 13th in his Subaru, ahead of the Skoda of Toni Gardemeister and the Hyundai of Juha Kankkunen. Tommi Makinen was the major casualty of the first day, after retiring having hit a rock on SS6. The Finn has only completed two of the seven events thus far. His team-mate Petter Solberg completed a dismal day for the Subaru team, finishing the day in seventeenth position after spinning and stalling his car.
The second leg of the Acropolis Rally saw a superb fightback by Solberg, as he blitzed the field during the day. The Norwegian put on a spirited fight back which saw him move into seventh position by the end of the second leg's five special stages. The unlucky Norwegian has made an unfortunate habit of hitting mechanical problems over the opening leg, only to fight back over the next two days. The Greek event was no exception, with Solberg taking two stage wins, two second fastest and one third fastest time over the five stages. Suddenly, points looked to be a real possibility.
Martin's bid to hold his lead started brightly with fourth fastest time on the opening test, and then victory over the next, as he kept the challenge of Loix and Colin McRae at bay. McRae started the second leg well, taking second position off the Hyundai driver on the opening stage, while Rovanpera further demoted Loix, who dropped time after spinning on the day's second stage. The turning point of the rally was on its longest stage (SS9), when Martin damaged a tyre on his Focus, costing him over three and a half minutes while the crew attempted to change it, sending him falling down the leaderboard. This promoted Colin McRae to the lead of the event, and following fourth fastest times through the day's two remaining stages, once SS10 had been cancelled, he held a lead of 32.6 seconds overnight.
Burns had enjoyed a much more competitive second leg, and fastest time on SS9 was the highlight of the day that saw him move from sixth to second. Gronholm had taken advantage of the cleaner roads to move up to third, ahead of Sainz, who made up one place at the expense of Martin, despite running off the road on the opening stage. Loix dropped to fifth overnight, while Rovanpera fell to sixth after a puncture had cost him time on SS9 - the Finn finishing the leg less than 15 seconds ahead of the charging Solberg. Third fastest time on SS11 and fastest time on SS12 helped Martin to salvage eighth overnight, ahead of the Citroen pair of Loeb and Radstrom, who lost time sweeping the roads of gravel. A series of problems dropped the second Hyundai of Schwarz to eleventh, ahead of the two Mitsubishis and Gilles Panizzi's Peugeot.
Although a lead of 30 seconds in world rally may not be viewed as comfortable, Colin McRae and co-driver Nicky Grist were confident they could remain at the head of the field throughout the final day. Their confidence was given a boost towards the end of the first of the day's four stages, when the duo passed the stricken Peugeot of Burns, which had been forced to a stop after his rear suspension broke. The Englishman's demise left McRae with a 34.1 second advantage over Gronholm, who had taken 8.2 seconds out of the Scot's lead with fastest time on the opening stage. Another fastest time on the next stage meant Gronholm was only 27.6 seconds behind McRae, but with just two stages left, had he left it too late?
The lead duo were now comfortably ahead of Sainz's Ford; the Spaniard seemingly content to take third position. Solberg continued his impressive performances of the second day, taking third and second fastest times over the opening two stages, to close to within 7.2 seconds of Rovanpera's Peugeot. The duo were now battling for fourth position, following the departures of Burns, and Freddy Loix's Hyundai - the Belgian forced out of an impressive fifth position after he holed his sump on SS14.
Out front, Gronholm knew that he would have to close in on McRae through SS15 to have any chance of gaining the position, but his fastest time was 0.4 seconds quicker than McRae's run, and the battle for the lead was decided in favour of the Ford driver. McRae's winning margin was 24.5seconds, with Gronholm finishing nearly a minute and a half ahead of Sainz, whose third position moved him into second position in the driver's championship. The battle between Rovanpera and Solberg raged all the way to the end of the final stage, with Solberg gaining the upper-hand through the penultimate stage, moving into fourth position for the first time, with a margin of 0.6 seconds and one stage to go. However, Rovanpera responded with the fastest time through the final stage, after Solberg had lost time with a spin at the final corner - the position was Rovanpera's, but only by exactly one second.
Martin's superb run on the first day was rewarded with the final championship point, after a solid third day earned him sixth position. The Citroens of Loeb and Radstrom, still tweaking the car's setup on the team's first gravel event, took seventh and eighth positions, ahead of Schwarz's Hyundai, which picked up the final manufacturer's point in ninth. Top ten times on three of the four stages of the third leg promoted Skoda's Toni Gardemeister to tenth, at the expense of Francois Delecour, who had earlier lost the challenge of his team-mate Alister McRae, who was forced out after he damaged his suspension. Bruno Thiry took twelfth position, ahead of Arai, and Kenneth Eriksson's Skoda.
Gronholm's second place extends his championship lead to 14 points, while Sainz, Panizzi, Colin McRae and Richard Burns are separated by just five points as Ford and Subaru complete a top five lockout. With Ford taking first and third positions in Greece, they have closed the gap to Peugeot in the manufacturer's championship to 22 points, while they are 20 points ahead of Subaru. The next round of the championship is the unique Safari Rally on the car breaking Kenyan rocks and sand.
Acropolis Rally Result:
1. Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Ford Focus)
2. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautianen (Peugeot 206) +24.5s
3. Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford Focus) +1m45.6s
4. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (Peugeot 206) +1m57.6s
5. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru Impreza) +1m58.6s
6. Markko Martin/Michael Park (Ford Focus) +2m40.1s
7. Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen Xsara) +3m45.8s
8. Thomas Radstrom/Denis Giraudet (Citroen Xsara) +5m08.7s
9. Armin Schwarz/Manfred Heimer (Hyundai Accent) +5m41.0s
10. Toni Gardemeister/Paavo Lukander (Skoda Octavia) +7m17.4s
Driver's Championship Standings:
1. Marcus Gronholm 37pts
2. Carlos Sainz 23pts
3. Gilles Panizzi 20pts
4. Colin McRae 20pts
5. Richard Burns 19pts
6. Petter Solberg 15pts
Manufacturers' Championship Standings:
1. Peugeot 77pts
2. Ford 55pts
3. Subaru 35pts
4. Mitsubishi 6pts
5. Skoda 5pts
6. Hyundai 4pts
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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