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Rally of Turkey , June 24 to 27
Good pace in Turkey
Strong performance in Turkey - yet a score of zero points
- Just one kilometre into the opening stage, the rear differential failed and
began to overheat. Soon the pressure at the rear was totally gone and
the locks stopped working. And, of course, with our luck, there were
two very long stages ahead before the service park and we lost a
terrible lot of time there, said Rovanperä in agony after having dropped
down to ninth in the overall standings.
Arriving to the service after stage three, he was 1’44,3” behind the leading
Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb. After his car had been fixed, Harri set a
brilliant fastest time on the following 29-km stage, being ten seconds
quicker than the next. He kept on the good pace for the rest of the day and,
at the closest, he was 1’29,6” behind the front. Coming to the night halt,
the gap was 1’40,2”.
- I’m naturally very pleased with the stage win. We have been able to
keep up with the pace of the two fastest cars and narrowed the gap to
the others, Rovanpera said.
Chase of podium finish ended with seized gearbox
On Saturday’s leg, Harri Rovanperä managed to maintain the same pace
as the leading drivers. When the morning’s stages were run again in the
afternoon, Rovanperä scored the second fastest time on the 35,1-km-
long stage 11. He was a mere 0,1 seconds slower than the winning
Loeb and climbed up to fourth overall.
- In the morning I suffered from brake trouble and the tyre wear is a
problem on long stages. On the rerun of the long stage (SS 11) we were
almost even with Loeb, even if we already had some trouble with the
gearbox. We had to drive long straight sections in second gear, which
completely put us out of driving rhythm.
In the final stage of Saturday, a retirement was inevitable:
- A few kilometers before the finish line of stage 13, the first gear got
stuck. We managed to release it but weren’t able to change into any
other gear and the car was left standing on the stage. We had just
succeeded in getting ahead of Sainz and believed we could make it onto
the podium, but nothing could be done. The pace of the front with a fit
car, yet a score of zero points.
Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb took a valuable gravel win in Turkey. Peugeot’s
Marcus Grönholm struggled with a stomach disease that took away all
his strength, and his codriver Timo Rautiainen was in pain after having
been hit by a bar through the bottom of the car and his seat on stage 11
on Saturday. Grönholm had to bury his dreams of victory for good on the
penultimate stage of the rally when his car, too, suffered gearbox
problems.
Turkish world championship rally (round 7/16), June 24-27 2004
(total of the rally 17 stages / 383,33 stage km)
Final results
1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, 4 h 48´26.8" (79,8 km/h)
2. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot 307, + 00´ 26,2”
3. Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 00´ 36,7"
4. Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 02´49,3”
5. Francois Duval, Ford, + 04´26,8”
6. Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 06´ 01,1”
7. Janne Tuohino, Ford, + 11´44,9”
8. Antony Warmbold, Ford, + 21´15,3”
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