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Podium position tastes good
Rovanperä third after an excellent performance in Greece
Harri at top pace straight from the start
Peugeot 307 had already shown its pace in Cyprus, and on the
demanding Greek roads it proved of its reliability.
Round six of this season’s World Championship began with a spectator
super special on Thursday night. On Friday, Rovanperä opened with a
stage win and after the second stage of the morning he was already in
second overall. Peugeot was then having a double lead: Grönholm in
front and Rovanperä second 7,8 seconds behind.
The tyres of Rovanperä ’s car were not working at all on the 24-km-long
stage four, Pavliani, which normally suits Harri well, resulting in his
losing 33 seconds to Subaru’s Petter Solberg who had taken the lead.
After having dropped down to fifth overall momentarily, Rovanperä
posted two second fastest stage times behind Solberg. On the second
run in Pavliani (SS 7), Harri was only 3,3 seconds slower than Solberg
and moved back up to second.
- It was a good day, even if we knocked slightly against some rocks to
begin with in the morning so that the tyres got a little off angle. We also
had to drive with an empty tyre for a while. I didn’t have full confidence
in the car, especially in the afternoon loop. Second place at this point of
the rally is all right. I hope the weather will remain dry and hot, because
that suits better our tyres than muddy conditions, Harri told on Friday
night.
Rally of Greece (WRC 6/16), June 4-6 2004
Leg 1, 9 special stages, 145,45 stage kilometers
(total 22 SS/377,13 km)
Situation after SS 9/22
1. Petter Solberg, Subaru, 1 h 49´ 24,8" (79,8 km/h)
2. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot 307, + 00´55,7"
3. Francois Duval, Ford, + 01´01,6”
4. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot 307, +01´03,2"
5. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01´21,0"
6. Daniel Carlsson, Peugeot 206, + 02´41,1"
7. Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, +02´49,3"
8. Manfred Stohl, Peugeot 206, + 03´10,7"
Solid second all through Saturday
Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen succeeded in maintaining their
second overall over Saturday, even if on the second stage of the day
(SS 11, 26,68 km) the tyre tread of one of the rear tyres peeled off. On
that stage Rovanperä lost 26 seconds to the winner of the stage, Solberg.
Over the four-stage morning loop, Rovanperä clocked one stage win
and one second fastest time. Improvements to the suspension set-up
were made during the midday service, and over the three stages of the
afternoon he was again able to score one fastest and one second
fastest stage time. As Rovanperä’s team mate Marcus Grönholm was
forced to retire on stage 11, Harri was the only one left to defend
Peugeot’s honour in the 51st edition of Rally Acropolis.
- The toughest part of Rally Acropolis is avoiding rocks while still driving
fast enough. I can’t be but satisfied with the day, as the car has given
no trouble and we haven’t made any mistakes. We’ve been trying to
drive carefully, but still our pace has remained competitive. I have to give
all credit to the guys; they are driving fast and their cars also must be in
shape. It has been great fun, and we haven’t got any second for free.
This is what rallying is at its best. But we all among the top have been
running as fast as we possibly can throughout the day. My choice of
tyres wasn’t ideal, but what really annoys me is this morning’s cut tyre.
We lost too much time there. Except for that, it was a troublefree day for
us, a content Rovanperä summed up at the end of the second leg.
Petter Solberg, who had been scorching at the front of the rally from
Friday onwards, got a 30-second penalty at the end of leg 2, so his
advantage over Rovanperä before the final leg was just 28,5 seconds.
- The gap to the front was reduced, but it doesn’t affect our tactiques
for Sunday at all. We’ll have to keep pushing as hard as we can up to
the end, even to score a podium finish, Rovanperä commented on the
situation.
Rally of Greece (WRC 6/16), June 4-6 2004
Leg 2, 7 special stages, 133,18 stage kilometers
(total 22 SS/377,13 km)
Situation after SS 16/22
1. Petter Solberg, Subaru, 3 h 25´ 49,5"
2. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot 307, + 00´28,5"
3. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 00´37,3"
4. Francois Duval, Ford, + 00´46,9”
5. Daniel Carlsson, Peugeot 206, + 04´08,8"
6. Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, +04´43,2"
7. Manfred Stohl, Peugeot 206, + 05´50,3"
8. Janne Tuohino, Ford, + 08´03,3"
An exciting battle over seconds among the top three
A broken anti-roll bar made Rovanperä’s car unstable
Six more special stages were left on Sunday’s leg. Over those stages,
Harri Rovanperä and Sebastien Loeb took turns in beating each other
while fighting over the second place overall. Petter Solberg, going
towards the victory, was the only one who was able to keep up with
Loeb and Rovanperä’s pace on the stages of the final day.
Rovanperä arrived second to the service halt of the day, 31,1 seconds
behind the leading Solberg but just 0,3 seconds ahead of Loeb in third!
- Over the entire morning loop, we suffered from a broken anti-roll bar
and that’s why the car behaved in such an unstable way. - We should
have been able to attack on these morning stages, because Loeb is
going to be hard to beat when the stages are run for a second time,
Rovanperä said.
On the following stage (SS 20, 26,78 km), Rovanperä improved his
morning time by five seconds, but even that wasn’t enough, as Loeb
scored the stage fastest time and moved ahead of Rovanperä into
second overall by a margin of 6,6 seconds. On the last but one stage of
the rally (SS 21, 13,47 km) Rovanperä managed to set the stage win. His
gap to the second fastest, Loeb, was merely 0,4 seconds though, and
1,3 seconds to the third, Solberg, so the overall situation remained
unchanged. On the final stage of the rally (SS 22, 9,0 km), Loeb clocked
a stage win by a difference of 3,7 seconds to Rovanperä, who in return
was 3,7 seconds faster than Solberg. Petter Solberg took the victory by
a margin of 18,4 seconds to Sebastien Loeb. Harri Rovanperä was
eventually left 28,3 seconds behind the front and 9,9 seconds from the
second place.
- Today we weren’t able to challenge the pace well enough. We broke
again a front anti-roll bar on the long stage and the tyres wore out over
the last two stages, just like this morning, Rovanperä told disappointed at
the finish.
13th podium finish for Rovanperä!
For Rovanperä, his 13th podium finish in the World Championship of
rallying tasted good. The previous one was from last June, when
Rovanperä and Pietiläinen were second in Cyprus.
- Nonetheless, I’m pleased with my third place. I wasn’t totally happy
with the suspension of the car because the rear goes its own ways
now and then. Yesterday we changed shock absorbers, but the car
oversteer too much especially on narrow streches. But what is the most
important is that the car proved reliable and fast. We’re in good shape
for the next rally in Turkey, Rovanperä resumed.
Risto Pietiläinen was also happy with the outcome:
- We were able to drive at the front pace all the time, and we made no
mistakes. What feels particularly good is that we had a chance to drive
flat out with a relatively well working car all through the event, Risto
delighted at the finish of the rally.
Rovanperä masters the rocks of Greece
Harri Rovanperä has adjusted himself well to the demanding roads of
Rally Acropolis. In 1998 he took part for the first time in this legendary
car race. Harri took a group win then with a W2L Seat Ibiza. The next
year with a Seat Cordoba he didn’t finish.
During his Peugeot years Rovanperä has made it to the finish every
year.
This year’s third place is his second of the kind, the previous one is from
year 2001. In 2002 he finished fourth and last year his battle over the
victory changed into a battle of survival after gear box trouble,
eventually resulting in sixth overall.
Peugeot 307, too, proved to be competitive on the tricky Greek roads.
The drivers of the team expressed however that they are not entirely
happy with the suspension of the car yet, even if it is going into the right
direction. The car is sure to reach victories over the season, so the team
is far from abandoning the thought of World Championship 2004, as
there are still ten rounds of the Championship left.
Rally of Greece (WRC 6/16), June 4-6 2004
(total of the rally 22 SS/377,13 km)
Inofficial final results
1. Petter Solberg, Subaru, 4 h 39´ 06,2"
2. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 00´18,4"
3. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot 307, + 00´28,3"
4. Francois Duval, Ford, + 02´19,4”
5. Daniel Carlsson, Peugeot 206, + 06´50,1"
6. Manfred Stohl, Peugeot 206, + 10´01,6"
7. Janne Tuohino, Ford, + 11´12,5"
8. Aris Vovos, Ford, + 14´ 07,0"
Harri Rovanperä’s podium finishes in World Championship of
Rallying
(position in the rally, name of the rally, make of the car, codrivers: RP=
Risto Pietiläinen, VS=Voitto Silander)
1999
3. Rally Great Britain, Seat Cordoba, RP
2000
3. Neste Rally Finland, Toyota Corolla, RP
2001
1. Rally of Sweden, Peugeot 206, RP
3. Acropolis Rally, Peugeot 206, RP
2. Safari Rally, Peugeot 206, RP
3. Rally New Zealand, Peugeot 206, RP
2. Rally Great Britain, Peugeot 206, RP
2002
2. Rally of Sweden, Peugeot 206, RP
2. Safari Rally, Peugeot 206, RP
2. Rally New Zealand, Peugeot 206, VS
2. Rally Australia, Peugeot 206, VS
2003
2. Cyprus Rally, Peugeot 206, RP
2004
3. Acropolis Rally, Peugeot 307, RP
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