Rovanperä hungry for more wins: 9-12 WRC starts for 2003 season

Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen will start their 2003 season with the Sweden Rally, 6-9 February 2003. The season opener in Monte Carlo and the German ADAC Rally will be left out of their programme this year, as they are putting all their energy into the nine gravel rallies of the season.

However, Harri and Risto may participate in the asphalt events held in late autumn. If he has a chance to fight for the drivers' world championship after the Rally Australia in September, Harri will be provided with a Peugeot works team for the asphalt rounds.

"We could have continued running the asphalt events with a custom-specifications car, but the experiences of the last couple of years weren't very encouraging. We had to take the start in those rallies without testing the cars, and even if we were able to develop them during the events, there were always some problems. And I think that that fumbling even hindered our concentration on the gravel rallies.

"I believe the programme we have agreed on will give us better chances of success. The battle will surely be even tougher than before, but we're going to drive for a victory in every event. Let's hope that our equipment works well enough in this year's rallies that we'll also be starting in the Mediterranean events in October," Harri reflected during the January tests run in Sweden.