 Int.Adac Rallye Deutschland 2002 review. Story by Andrew Frampton.
Young Frenchman Sebastien Loeb put in a sensational performance to net victory in the inaugural Rally of Germany, with the Citroen protégé holding off the challenges of the Peugeot pairing of Richard Burns and Marcus Gronholm. Chosen over the gravel-based Rally of Portugal that had suffered with adverse weather conditions in the 2001 season, Germany's first round of the World Rally Championship in recent years was deemed by many to be a faceless and uninspiring addition to the increasing number of asphalt events on the calendar. It was always feared that the gravel maestros that had fared so well in Finland would be unable to match the speed of the French machines and the asphalt specialists, and unsurprisingly it was Burns and Gronholm who took the fight to Loeb over his preferred surface. Their podium successes helped the French marque continue their domination in the manufacturer's championship, and they now hold a lead of 34 points from Ford.
There was good news for those more accustomed to the gravel routes, with Gilles Panizzi - Peugeot's tarmac expert who now lies fifth in the championship table - unable to start the event due to an injury. Peugeot and Citroen had been expected to make the running, but with Panizzi's drive given to Peugeot's fourth driver, the loose-surface regular Harri Rovanpera, perhaps the Xsara drivers could set the pace with their menacing three-pronged line-up of Loeb, Philippe Bugalski and Jesus Puras. However, by mid-morning the team was suffering mixed results. Loeb had made a good start and was leading the event after the first four special stages, having set fastest times over three and run Burns and Gronholm close over the opener. Bugalski was also in the reckoning having set three top six times. In contrast, Puras would be going home early after an electrical failure stopped his Xsara on the third stage.
On the three remaining stages of the opening day, Loeb was easily the fastest and ended the day with a lead of close to thirty seconds. With Gronholm suffering hydraulic problems and dropping down the leaderboard, it was left to Burns to keep Loeb honest, taking second fastest times over the final two stages, less than a second slower than Loeb, and holding a comfortable second spot overnight. Bugalski had moved up into third position after proving a consistent threat throughout the afternoon's running, although brake problems had blighted the 2001 victor's progress in the afternoon and as a consequence he was nearly a minute behind Burns.
Colin McRae had been consistent if not outstanding through the opening leg, and thanks to Gronholm's demise, ended the day in fourth position, six seconds ahead of the Peugeot driver. A determined performance from Hyundai's Armin Schwarz had seen the Korean machine move into a top six position. His team-mate Freddy Loix was also performing well, and holding eighth position, although his engine lapsed onto two cylinders and cost him the chance of leading his team-mate overnight.
Splitting the two Accents was the privately entered Peugeot 206 of the Belgian Bruno Thiry, feeling very much at home on local roads. Ford's Carlos Sainz was a disappointing ninth, ahead of Petter Solberg's Subaru, which as usual had suffered a variety of niggling problems over the opening leg. His Finnish team-mate Tommi Makinen was also in trouble, with hydraulic pressure problems limiting him to fifteenth position overnight. Although he may be more at home on gravel, Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera put in a competent performance to hold 11th overnight, ahead of Skoda's Toni Gardemeister, Markko Martin's Ford and the Mitsubishi of Francois Delecour. The second Mitsubishi in the hands of Scot Alister McRae had been forced out on SS5 with turbo problems.
Gronholm was one of several drivers to have prior experience of the Baumholder region, and early on the second leg had started to reap the rewards. The Finn was fastest over the first three stages, closing back in on the lead battle between Loeb and Burns. After those three stages, Loeb's advantage stood at 23.9 seconds, with Gronholm just a further 25 seconds in arrears in third position. However, Loeb was lucky to still be at the head of the leaderboard after clipping a rock and continuing unabated. The young Frenchman then lost over ten seconds to Burns on the day's final stage after overshooting a junction. However, the Citroen driver had escaped with the overnight lead, albeit reduced to just over ten seconds, with the threat of a protest from the Subaru team hanging over him following his missed turning on that final stage.
Gronholm had continued his impressive form into the afternoon and claimed a total of five fastest stage times over the second leg, with Loeb taking two, and Burns one. Gronholm's resurgence in form following his disappointing first leg had seen him move from fifth to third position, and to within fifteen seconds of Burns. Once again proving consistent if unspectacular, Colin McRae retained his fourth position, although he was over two minutes off the lead and only 30 seconds ahead of his recovering team-mate Sainz. Thiry had continued his strong showing from the first leg and was sixth, while Martin was just 1.6 seconds ahead of Delecour in seventh spot.
There was continued disappointment for Subaru, with Makinen down in ninth position after a spin. By this point, the Subaru team was down to a solitary car as first Solberg, and then debutant Achim Mortl crashed out of proceedings. They weren't the only ones to hit trouble, with the tricky route catching out even the most experienced competitors, notably Bugalski and Schwarz who misjudged roads they arguably knew better than most. It wasn't a good day for Hyundai with Loix also making an early exit - his car losing its oil overnight and not making the start of the day's first stage. Gardemeister's good run on the opening leg came to nothing when he rolled out on the fourteenth stage, while team-mate Kenneth Eriksson was still running, albeit down in 12th position after a propshaft failure.
Perhaps his exceptional performance over the second leg had gone to his head, but Gronholm made a poor start to the second leg, sliding off the road twice on the opening two stages, and losing 25 seconds to the leading duo. His chances of victory were now too slim to drive at 100%, and the Finn had to be content to cruise to third position, hoping at least one of the leaders made a mistake. Loeb had taken first blood on the final leg, extending his lead by nearly two seconds over the opening stage, but Burns retaliated on the next, going 3.9 seconds faster than the Frenchman through the stage. With his lead reduced to just eight seconds a do-or-die effort through the day's third stage saw the Citroen driver extend his lead by over five seconds, as Burns' challenge dwindled.
Although the Peugeot driver was fastest over the next two stages, 0.1 seconds on each was not quick enough to make any real impact on Loeb's advantage, with the leader reeling off fastest time on the penultimate stage of the event to wrap up his first victory. After starring in a one-off showing in 2001, Citroen had rewarded the former champion gymnast with several drives in the 2002 campaign. Deutschland was the last of his nominated events, and like his opening round performance in Monte Carlo, where he was robbed of victory by a technical issue, he looked very much a star for the future. Burns had never given up hope, but finished 14.3 seconds in arrears. Gronholm, settling for third position, eased off and ended the event over a minute behind his team-mate, though extending his championship lead over Colin McRae to 18 points. The Scot claimed fourth position, the fastest Pirelli runner and the first of the non-French cars. McRae could be content with a job well done, while Thiry was a real star, consistently running at the front and finishing the event in fifth position. Ford's Markko Martin took sixth position at the expense of team-mate Sainz, who dropped to eighth after being heavily penalised after leaving service late.
Makinen's recent poor form continued, with seventh position a disappointing result for the former multiple champion. His victory in the opening round in Monte Carlo in January must now seem a very long time ago. Delecour took ninth position in the ill-handling Mitsubishi Lancer, with the latest model arguably performing worse than the previous machine used up until Finland. Eriksson rounded out the top ten for Skoda after Rovanpera crashed his Peugeot.
The scene is set for Peugeot and Citroen to lead the way in the San Remo Rally of Italy - the next round of the 2002 championship - yet another asphalt round. As Marcus Gronholm's charge towards another title continues, Colin McRae and Richard Burns will know that San Remo is make or break in this year's championship, while Citroen's representatives Bugalski and Puras will also be aiming for glory.
Rally Result:
1. Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen Xsara)
2. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Peugeot 206) +14.3s
3. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Peugeot 206) +1m19.1s
4. Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Ford Focus) +3m45.3s
5. Bruno Thiry/Stephane Prevot (Peugeot 206) +5m18.8s
6. Markko Martin/Michael Park (Ford Focus) +5m33.0s
7. Tommi Makinen/Kaj Lindstrom (Subaru Impreza) +5m39.2s
8. Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya (Ford Focus) +6m17.0s
9. Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Mitsubishi) +6m35.9s
10. Kenneth Eriksson/Tina Thorner (Skoda Octavia) +13m34.2s
Driver's Championship Standings:
1. Marcus Gronholm 51pts
2. Colin McRae 33pts
3. Richard Burns 31pts
4. Carlos Sainz 26pts
5. Gilles Panizzi 21pts
6. Petter Solberg 19pts
Manufacturer's Championship Standings:
1. Peugeot 115pts
2. Ford 81pts
3. Subaru 42pts
4. Skoda 8pts
5. Mitsubishi 8pts
6. Hyundai 6pts
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 España
- 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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