Cyprus Rally

Rovanperä's second place secured Peugeot's lead in championships

Of the 51 crews starting the Cyprus Rally, only 17 survived to the finish.
Rovanperä's point score of the second place vital for Peugeot, who
remains in lead both in Drivers' and Makes' Championships

Peugeot remains in lead in both championships thanks to
Rovanperä's second place

The toughest and slowest World Championship event is in danger of
losing its Championship status when one of the Mediterranean gravel
events will have to give place to the Mexican rally in the Championship
series. Greece and Turkey probably can keep their rallies, but Cyprus
might have to step aside.

Saturday in Cyprus Rally saw a lot of retirements. Of the original 51 crews
of the opening day, 42 took the start yet on the second day, but only 18 on
the last day, 17 of which made it to the finish. Only 7 of them were works
team drivers, nine had already retired earlier.
The second day in Cyprus Rally was a disaster also for Peugeot. A
cardan shaft changed into Marcus Grönholm's car on Friday night was
broken right at the start of Saturday's opening stage. Richard Burns
suffered tyre problems as well as gearbox trouble and was forced to retire
due to an overheating engine. Also Gilles Panizzi had to retire from the
race after stage 6. The catastrophe was further deepened by Juuso
Pykälistö, behind the wheel of a Bozian Racing customized car, suffering
a technical failure on stage 11 and being forced to retire.

With Rovanperä the only Peugeot driver able to score points on Saturday,
the team bosses wanted to secure the 8 manufacturers' points brought in
by a second place - especially when the following three places were
occupied by Citroens. It was calculated in the team that if the situation
after the second leg would remain unchanged until the finish, Peugeot
would lead over Citroen by points 81-73. If on the other hand Rovanperä
would retire, Peugeot would lose its lead in manufacturers' points and if
the Citroens would finish second and third in Cyprus, they would take the
head of points 76-73. In addition, in case Rovanperä would retire, Carlos
Sainz might be able to take the lead in drivers' championhip.

So the Peugeot team management was relieved when Rovanperä
succeeded in remaining second overall in Cyprus. Corrado Provera was
taken to praising the Finnish crew: - We have been able to rely on Harri
and Risto in our difficult moments also before. We saw it in Safari Rally
and now here again. They have done an excellent job, even if we haven't,
the Peugeot boss summed up the feelings in Cyprus Rally.