|
Season summary, part 1: 1.1. – 30.6.2003
With better luck, Harri could have been battling for drivers’ title
Harri Rovanperä started the season with one goal in his mind: to battle for
the drivers’ world championship. With seven rounds of fourteen
completed at the end of June, Harri was down to seventh on the
championship charts, having scored only 16 points.
Technical problems and retirements ended battles among the top
Rovanperä took part in six of the seven WRC rallies in the first half of the
season. Already in the original plans, the Monte Carlo rally was not
included in Rovanperä’s calendar.
For Rovanperä, the rallying season 2003 didn’t start as well as expected.
In the Swedish rally, Rovanperä’s race was over already on stage five,
where he hit the previous driver’s car which was standing on the stage. Its
drivers, after tipping their car and having got back onto the road, had failed
to warn the competitors coming after them.
Prior to his retirement, Rovanperä had posted a fastest stage time and
was fourth overall, but with a difference of mere 6,6 seconds to the
second place. If he had made it till the finish, he might have been one of
the two best drivers.
Next came the Turkish event, in which Rovanperä was leading halfway
through the rally by around 20 seconds, when a wheel suspension failed
on the rocky stage 10. The wanted victory thus slipped away.
In New Zealand, Rovanperä’s goal was to improve his second place of
the previous year, but he was forced to retire on the second half after
going off. Harri retired from the fourth place overall while he was seriously
chasing a podium finish.
In Rally Argentina, Harri was second overall at his best, but with all the flat
tyres and steering trouble he met during the rally, he had to settle for
securing his fourth overall.
In Rally Acropolis in Greece, Rovanperä was second overall after the first
day, just 4,8 seconds behind Markko Märtin. His battle for a victory was
however to end with gear box trouble, and eventually he had to content
himself with the sixth place and three championship points.
In the Cyprus
Rally, Harri Rovanperä started by clocking several stage wins and was
leading the rally, but once again, gear box problems dropped him off the
pace. At the end of the rally, even his second place was threatened, as the
drive shaft of his car was broken and he had to limp through the last three
stages with a three-wheel-drive car that was extremely difficult to handle.
Eventually, Rovanperä managed to remain second overall by a difference
of 2,8 seconds, and brought to his team invaluable 8 constructors’ points.
Peugeot was thus able to remain in the lead in constructors’
championship.
By mid-season, Harri fourth in number of stage wins
During the first half of the season, Harri Rovanperä was fourth when it
comes to the number of fastest stage times, even if he had been forced to
retire from too many rallies before the midway.
Stage wins 1.1.-22.6.2003:
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.
Could it all have been different?
If all Rovanperä’s ”possible” points of the zero score rallies of the
beginning of the season were added to his existing championship points,
according to his overall position at the time of retirement, he would have
scored 5 points in Sweden and 10 in Turkey. If, in addition, his third place
of Argentina would have been the second place of the first moments of
the rally (+3 p), and also his original second place in Cyprus rally would
have remained unchanged (+5 p), he would have had 23 points more. 16
+ 23 = 39 points. With that score, Harri would yet have been very much
into the championship battle, leading by 2 points! This kind of speculation
doesn’t have any real meaning, of course, but it does show that without
technical problems and with even slightly better luck, Harri Rovanperä
could have been fighting for the drivers’ title halfway through the season.
|
