The Tour de Course, France's round of the World Rally Championship, held on the island of Corsica, provided the venue for the twelfth round of the 2001 series. It was another torrid rally for the four championship hopefuls: Carlos Sainz and Tommi Makinen both retired from the event, the latter in a huge accident that forced stage 5 to be abandoned. Colin McRae could not manage a points finish, so only Richard Burns improved his points score. Consequently, as with the San Remo Rally earlier this month, the Peugeot and Citroen teams were to the fore.

The Corsica Rally has a reputation for claiming early victims on its tricky narrow roads, and this year was no exception. Citroen's Philippe Bugalski was out after just 500 metres. One of the event favourites, Bugalski ran wide and hit a rock on the side of the road, forcing the car out of the event. The accident has been put down to problems with the Citroen's tyres. Also out early was Subaru's Toshi Arai, who rolled his car halfway through the first stage.

Fastest through the first stage was Peugeot's Gilles Panizzi, and with team-mate and reigning champion Marcus Gronholm second and the third Peugeot of Didier Auriol fifth, the French team looked to be formidable opposition. The Peugeots were second, third and fourth quickest on SS2, beaten only by the Citroen Xsara of asphalt-specialist Jesus Puras. Championship contender Carlos Sainz was running just outside the top six in his Focus early on, but his sump was damaged after hitting a rock on SS2 - ending his rally. Puras and Panizzi shared fastest times over the next two stages, and at the end of SS4, Puras held a lead of 10.5 seconds. However, the Spaniard would not get a chance to extend his advantage, with the fifth stage of the day abandoned after Mitsubishi's championship challenger Tommi Makinen misjudged a bend in the road, and rolled his car.

The new Mitsubishi Lancer WRC slid along on its roof before coming to rest inches from a 300 foot deep ravine. Although Makinen climbed from the stricken Lancer, his co-driver Risto Mannisenmäki had to be airlifted to hospital with back and neck injuries. Due to the enormity of the accident, the organisers had no choice but to cancel the stage, leaving Puras out front overnight. Panizzi was second and hopeful he could reduce the 10 second deficit on day two.

The other Peugeots of Auriol and Gronholm were next up in third and fourth. Norwegian Petter Solberg was fifth for Subaru, in an improved performance from the previous year, when he crashed out at the first corner. Ford's Francois Delecour was sixth, ahead of the second Subaru of Estonian Markko Martin. Team leader Burns was an unimpressive 13th, and already over two minutes behind leader Puras. Championship rival Colin McRae finished the day 11th, behind Achim Mortl's private Subaru, and his younger brother Alister, in the top Hyundai.

Although Puras claimed he was taking the first stage of the second day easily, a time 2.9 seconds faster than anyone else would point otherwise. Although he was second to Panizzi on the day's second, the stage would only favour the top two, with heavy rain delaying the remaining cars. The fastest of these, Colin McRae was over 25 seconds slower. Following his third fastest time on SS7, the Scot was the surprise on the next stage, setting the fastest time in his Pirelli-shod Focus, which was obviously revelling in the wet conditions. The fact that he was over ten seconds ahead of second-placed man Didier Auriol proves what a strong run it was.

Although Panizzi gained just over three seconds on that stage, Puras was able to ease out an overnight lead by setting the fastest time on each of the last four stages. Although Panizzi was second on each of these, the Frenchman had a deficit of 23.5 seconds to attempt to make up on the final day. The rain had cost Auriol any chance of challenging for the rally lead, but consecutive third fastest times at the end of the day assured his third spot overnight - 50 seconds off Puras's lead time.

At this point Peugeot had only two 206s remaining, after Marcus Gronholm clouted a rock on SS7 and was forced out of the event. This allowed Solberg to enter the overnight service halt in an impressive fourth overall. He headed Francois Delecour, whose Ford was struggling with tyre problems, and Markko Martin. Behind Martin was team-mate Richard Burns, who had moved to seventh on the tightly packed leaderboard. Privateer Peugeot driver Harri Rovanpera held eighth, and was ahead of the Hyundai team-mates Piero Liatti and Alister McRae.

Despite his fastest time on SS8, brother Colin was languishing down in twelfth position, and furious with his Ford team, who he felt had not done enough to protect his sump, which was damaged by a rock on SS11, thus dropping him down the leaderboard. Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix was the last surviving works car, running down in 14th position following a myriad of problems on his new car.

Panizzi knew he would have his work cut out on day three, to reduce Puras' overnight advantage of 23.5 seconds, but the variable conditions threatened to play into the Frenchman's hands. 5.8 seconds faster through the day's first stage, Panizzi had a glimmer of hope. However, this was dashed on the next stage - Puras mastering the tricky conditions perfectly, and setting a time 16 seconds faster. Although the heavens opened on the final two stages, Panizzi was suffering brake problems and this allowed Puras to ease to a 17.5 second victory. Auriol had a lonely run to third position, but this secured Peugeot a maximum 16-point haul in the manufacturer's championship, with Citroen not eligible to score points.

The surprise of the rally was that Subaru's three cars were in the top six, with none of the drivers in the team renowned asphalt specialists. Solberg's impressive performance bagged him fourth, with a final day charge handing fifth to Burns. Fifth would become fourth for Burns, as Solberg took a two minute time penalty to allow the Briton an extra point in the championship hunt. Martin took sixth position, ahead of Rovanpera and Liatti. The second Hyundai of Alister McRae finished ninth, beating brother Colin, in what was an unimpressive run - Delecour split the pair. Loix took twelfth for Mitsubishi, ahead of SS1600 class winner Sebastien Loeb.

News since the rally
Risto Mannisenmäki, the co-driver to Tommi Makinen, who was injured on the Corsica Rally, has undergone back surgery in France. The Finn is expected to make a full recovery, but is unlikely to co-drive again until 2002. Timo Hantunen will take his place alongside Makinen on the Rally Australia and Rally Great Britain.

Mitsubishi have confirmed their 2002 World Rally line up as Scotland's Alister McRae (currently with Hyundai), and France's Francois Delecour (Ford). The team has signed the drivers to fill the void left by Tommi Makinen's departure to Subaru. This move has ruled out the possibility of Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm moving to the team in 2002, and will instead partner Richard Burns at Peugeot.

Result
1. Jesus Puras/Marc Marti (Citroen)
2. Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi (Peugeot) +17.5s
3. Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet (Peugeot) +1m 11.9s
4. Richard Burns/Robert Reid (Subaru) +4m 53.1s
5. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru) +4m 53.9s
6. Markko Martin/Michael Park (Subaru) +5m 21.6s
7. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilanien (Peugeot) +7m 26.9s
8. Piero Liatti/Carlo Cassina (Hyundai) +8m 09.2s
9. Alister McRae/David Senior (Hyundai) +8m 52.7s
10. Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup (Ford) +10m 06.1s

Drivers' Standings: 1. Tommi Makinen 40pts; =1. Colin McRae 40pts; 3. Richard Burns 34pts; 4. Carlos Sainz 33pts; 5. Harri Rovanpera 27pts; 6. Gilles Panizzi 22pts.