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Peugeot 307 going to the right direction
Rally Mexico turned into a test run in competitive circumstances
Harri moved up to fourth during the first half of the second day, but dropped back to 22nd after a steering arm broke. Even if the rest of the rally served more as a test for him, Harri managed to climb up to tenth overall and into one manufacturers’ championship point! 
Beginning at the pace of the front
- overheating brakes, inadequate differentials
- through the last road section stuck in fourth gear
The common rallying career of Harri Rovanperä, Risto Pietiläinen and the Peugeot 307 had a promising start. Even if Rally Mexico was the gravel debut of the 307 and the first WRC event for Harri in four months, the beginning of the rally looked very promising. Halfway through the first stage, Rovanperä was third, but due to the brakes overheating, he finished the stage in fifth.
- Six, seven kilometers before the end of stage one, the brake pedal went soft going almost to the floor. At the start of stage two, we noticed a rear tyre had punctured, but we didn’t have time for changing it. Luckily, the mousse worked well. On the faster sections, our differentials proved inadequate and we were in the rev limiter a bit too much, Rovanperä recalled.
Towards the end of stage three, Rovanperä’s car lost its brakes altogether. At the beginning of the following stage, Rovanperä was again going at the pace of the top three, but was eventually slowed down by gearbox trouble as well as the beginning rain that made the roads very slippery. At the service of Friday night, Rovanperä’s car was reported to have a gearbox problem persisting since stage four with the fourth gear stuck in. Harri had managed to make it through the last road section on speed four only. Regardless of having a few problems, Rovanperä cleared the first day in Rally Mexico in a stylish manner and proved that, without technical failures, he is just as quick as the front.
Mexico Rally WRC (3/16), March 12 – 14, 2004
Leg 1, 4 special stages, 108,03 stage km
(total of the rally 15 SS / 394,43 km)
Positions after SS 4/15
1.Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, 1 h 02’58,9”
2.Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, + 00’08,4”
3.Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 00’29,2”
4.Markko Märtin, Ford, + 00’43,3”
5.Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 00’49,1”
6.Francois Duval, Ford, + 00’58,7”
7.Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 01’26,6”
8.Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, + 01,57,3”
Among top four after consistent performance
- New gearbox and new brakes for Saturday
Rovanperä was hopeful again when going into the second leg, as his car had got a new gearbox as well as brake pads of a different type at Friday night’s service.
Going into stage seven, Harri was fourth overall 34,6 seconds behind the leading Ford-driver Markko Märtin. Citroen’s Carlos Sainz was lying second, 7,3 seconds behind the leader. The third-placed driver, Francois Duval from Ford, was 14,1 seconds ahead of Rovanperä.
Steering arm failed, Harri down to 22nd
- under police escort to the service area
Stage seven was to change the nature of the rally for Harri, from competing into testing. Up until the final kilometers of the stage, Harri was heading for the fourth fastest stage time, but suddenly in a right-hand corner a steering arm broke making the car impossible to control. Attempts of fixing the problem, and then limping to the finish with only three wheels, resulted in 16 extra minutes to their stage time.
- The steering arm broke without any warning. In the previous left corner the car obeyed, but immediately after when turning right, the steering disappeared and off we went over the bank in the following left corner, but ended up back on the road. We tried to fix the problem, but were forced to take apart the entire structure to make the steering work – without the right front wheel, though. So, we decided to just throw the wheel in the boot and drive on without it, as we were lucky enough to have a service after that stage. The police almost didn’t let us continue when we arrived on a bigger road, but fortunately they are not that petty in Mexico when it comes to the condition of the vehicles moving on the roads. Finally, we reached an agreement with the authorities, and were allowed to continue, and even got a police escort for our journey to the service area. We will continue the rally, of course. Every further kilometer is going to be useful both for the car and for the crew. We already have in mind a couple of things we are going to test on the final day. When everything works, the car feels pretty good already. I do believe we have proved that we are on the right track in making the car quick enough for top battles, Rovanperä commented at the service of Saturday afternoon.
Rovanperä dropped down to 22nd. After the second leg of Rally Mexico, Rovanperä was lying 16th overall, 17 minutes 28,4 seconds slower than the leader.
Team leaders pleased with Harri’s performance;
The team sorry for having failed technically
The leaders of the Peugeot team confirmed that the steering arm broke because it had been carelessly assembled when constructing the car. The team was especially sorry for making an unforgivable mistake like that at the moment when Harri was driving just as well he was expected to in Rally Mexico. They also assured that the recurring power steering problems the car has suffered are going to be carefully examined.
Rally Mexico WRC (3/16), March 12-14, 2004
Leg 2, 5 special stages, 154,34 stage km
(total of the rally 15 SS / 394,43 km)
Positions after SS 10/15
1.Markko Märtin, Ford, 2 h 48’09,4” (93,6 km/h)
2.Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 00’14,5”
3.Francois Duval, Ford, + 00’18,1”
4.Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 02’40,8”
5.Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 03’41,7”
6.Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, + 04’24,5”
7.Jussi Välimäki, Hyundai, + 06’52,9”
8.Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, + 09’15,1”
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16. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 17’28,4”
Rovanperä cruised in tenth overall and into one manufacturers’ point in Mexico
Harri Rovanperä was eventually able to finish the rally in tenth overall. Among the drivers eligible for manufacturers’ points he was eighth and thus ended up scoring one championship point. The Peugeot drivers brought a total of four manufacturers’ points in Mexico (Grönholm 3 and Rovanperä 1).
The car improved during the rally
According to the drivers, the Peugeot 307 got better to drive during the rally, but there is still a lot to do before it is quick enough and also reliable. A five-speed gearbox is going to be in use in New Zealand. Also the chassis and power transmission solutions that could be tested in competitive circumstances in Mexico proved that development is going into the right direction . Peugeot remained in third position in manufacturers’ world championship.
Rally Mexico WRC (3/16), March 12-14, 2004
Final results (15 SS / 394,43 km)
1.Markko Märtin, Ford, 4 h 06’46,2”
2.Francois Duval, Ford, + 00’42,5”
3.Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 01’20,9”
4.Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 03’14,7”
5.Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 03’36,2”
6.Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, + 03’58,4”
7.Jussi Välimäki, Hyundai, + 11’06,9”
8.Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, + 11’30,6”
9.Anthony Warmbold, Ford, + 14’00,4”
10.Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 19’20,3”
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