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Win in Sardinia didn’t much relieve the disappointments of the WRC rallies
Season summary, part 2: 1.7.–9.11.2003: Rovanperä disappointed with season 2003
When evaluating Harri Rovanperä’s performance in the rallies of the latter
half of this season, it is good to keep in mind that Peugeot allowed him to
compete in only three of the seven rallies. The German rally in July was
not included in Rovanperä’s programme from the beginning, but the
Italian, French and Spanish rallies in October were left out of his calendar
because of the pressure of testing the new 307 and because of the rally
of Sardinia. Rovanperä took the win in Rally Costa-Smeralda, which was
in a way the final rehearsal for the Italian round of world championship
2004. The win wasn’t much of a consolation, as none of the three WRC
rallies of the end of the year went too well. A part of the failures, however,
can be explained by technical problems.
Bad luck in home event a bitter disappointment
In the Finnish round of world championship in August, Rovanperä’s sole
goal was to win. On the second stage of the rally, he had indeed taken the
lead, according to the timekeepers of his team, when suddenly the right
wheel of his Peugeot failed when going over an innocent looking stone.
Eventually, he had to retire on stage Ouninpohja early on Sunday, when
the left front wheel failed and the car went off.
Out of the top speed in Australia, due to brake problems
In Rally Australia in September, Rovanperä was left behind the others
right from the start because of brake problems. Towards the end of the
rally, he was able to keep up with all the others except Loeb and Solberg,
and brought his car surely to the finish in seventh place.
Gear trouble in Wales completed the season of bad luck
The third WRC event for Rovanperä in the second half of the season was
the Rally of Wales. The battle over the drivers’ championship went on
between Subaru’s Petter Solberg and Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb, while
Subaru’s Tommi Mäkinen, in his farewell race, and Citroen’s Colin
McRae had their own tight competition over the third podium place. To his
great disappointment, Rovanperä was no longer able to challenge the
“old champions” like he had done at the beginning of the season. Up to
the morning of the last day, however, Harri was in fifth overall, and the
fastest of Peugeot drivers, by a couple of minutes. But he was never to
make it to the finish, for the transmission of the car failed. Had he been
able to finish, Rovanperä might have been fourth, as Colin McRae in front
of him suffered a flat tyre on the last stage of the rally of Wales. It can only
be guessed what the potential of the Peugeot 206 WRC really was on the
Welsh roads, because Marcus Grönholm hit the front of his car on a log
while trying to keep up with the rest at the beginning of the rally.
In all, the rallying season 2003 for Harri Rovanperä was unsuccessful,
even if he was at the level of the other top drivers in the first moments of
the season. The season’s final results show him down to 11th place in
drivers’ world championship.
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