|
Rovanperä wonders the fuss over third drivers
Rovanpera is one of the fastest and the most reliable drivers.
The new rule set by the FIA is going to have an impact on most crews of
the World Championship series as they make plans about their future
teams. The teams participating in Manufacturers’ World Championship
can only have two experienced drivers at a time driving for makes’ points,
and the third driver eligible for scoring points must be a driver who hasn’t
placed among top three in World Championship rallies since the
beginning of year 2001. 
- The rule does affect several drivers when it comes to planning their next
year. I think the driver transfer market will really get underway only after the
summer. But I’m confident that my manager Timo Jouhki, who does all
the negotiations on my behalf, will be able to get me a good contract also
for the seasons to come, Harri says with confidence.
When the regulation took effect on June 26th, only four top line drivers had
their names on the contract papers of year 2004. Marcus Grönholm,
Petter Solberg, Markko Märtin and François Duval can peacefully look on
the recruiting going on. The most sensational headlines in Finnish media
have already suggested Rovanperä having to take a year off, but actually
he is just one driver among many who still don’t have a signed contract
for season 2004. Just like Rovanperä, his team mates Richard Burns and
Gilles Panizzi and Citroen’s Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, like many
others, have to face a new situation. Not that any of them, Rovanperä
included, has ever had a third driver’s place in mind for year 2004.
Rovanperä fourth in podium positions since January 1st, 2001
- 15 stage wins during the beginning of season 2003
Harri Rovanperä has all the reason to remain calm in the middle of all the
speculations about teams, because even in the light of statistics, he is
one of the fastest and the most reliable drivers.
There will be seven works teams competing in the WRC series next
season. Peugeot, Citroen, Ford, Subaru, Skoda and Hyundai will
continue. Mitsubishi will return in the WRC series with new backing,
bringing extra colour to rallying on the world championship level. In these
teams there is a total of 14 places for experienced drivers, places aspired
to also by the 17 drivers who have scored podium positions since the
beginning of 2001. These “unrecruitable” as third drivers are
(in brackets the number of podium positions since January 1st, 2001):
1.Marcus Grönholm (16), 2. Richard Burns (15), 3. Carlos Sainz (14),
4. Harri Rovanperä (10), 5. Petter Solberg (9), 6. Colin McRae (9),
7. Tommi Mäkinen (8), 8. Gilles Panizzi (6), 9. Sebastien Loeb (5),
10. Didier Auriol (4), 11. Markko Märtin (2), 12. Thomas Rådström (2).
In addition, François Duval, Armin Schwarz, Philippe Bugalski, François
Delecour and Jesus Puras have each been on the podium once during
that period. Presumably not all of these drivers will continue in season
2004, as some of them didn’t have a contract for year 2003 either.
During the beginning of this season (after the Cyprus Rally) Harri
Rovanperä has set the fourth highest number of stage fastest times, even
if too many of the rallies have eventually been over for him already by the
halfway. The number of stage wins from January 1st to June 22nd 2003:
1. Marcus Grönholm 38, 2. Petter Solberg 18, 3. Carlos Sainz 17,
4. Harri Rovanperä 15, 5. Markko Märtin 14, 6. Richard Burns 11,
7. Tommi Mäkinen 9, 8. Sebastien Loeb 6, 9. Colin McRae 4,
10. François Duval 3.
|
