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Harri scores points for Peugeot
Harri finishes in fifth place
Argentina : Peugeot Sport - Finish (18/07/04)
Harri Rovanpera has finished the Rally of Argentina in fifth place,
scoring valuable points for himself and Peugeot Sport.
The Finn was hampered by the failure of his power steering pump
throughout four stages of the rally's opening leg. He dropped several
minutes, and despite many high-profile retirements, Harri was never able
to recover from the time lost. A fighting drive on the second day saw
Harri climb back to fifth position, but the gap to the cars in front was too
big to enable him to make up more places on the final day.
Risto Pietiläinen and team manager Nick Cullino
“It was just a question of getting to the finish today,” said Harri. “After the
problem on the opening day our car gave us no trouble at all for the rest of
the rally, so I am very frustrated by the thought of what we might have
achieved here. We were conscious that we had to get to the finish, so
there was no point in taking any risks and we tried to drive as cleanly as
possible. But I'm looking forward to the next rally in Finland, which is my
home event. We've done quite a lot of testing, and the car has definitely
improved a lot.”
Unfortunately, Harri's team mate Marcus Gronholm was forced to
retire from the lead on the second leg after hitting a rock on SS19. The
impact ripped a front- right wheel off, which eventually damaged the
car's timing belt and ended Marcus's chances of victory. In total, he set
nine fastest stage times before his retirement: more than any other driver.
Peugeot Sport team principal Corrado Provera commented: “It's
been a very disappointing rally for us – although we have to thank Harri
and Risto for the superbly professional job they have done for us as
always. But we cannot help but look upon the Rally of Argentina as
another opportunity to win that vanished with the retirement of Marcus
and Timo. It is clear that our objective of winning the manufacturers'
championship becomes impossible. Our target now is to make the 307
WRC a winner by the end of the season – and we will work tirelessly to
achieve that goal.”
The next round of the World Championship is the Rally Finland, from
August 6-8. Marcus has won the event three times, and both he and
Harri will be pushing hard to give the 307 WRC a debut victory on their
local event.
(Press release - Peugeot Sport)
Rally Argentina (WRC 8/16), July 15 -18 2004
(total of the rally 26 SS / 382,63 km)
Positions after SS 26/26
1. Carlos Sainz, Citroen, 4 h 23´ 11,0" (87,2 km/h)
2. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01´ 32,5"
3. Francois Duval, Ford, + 04´ 23,5"
4. Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 08´ 27,7"
5. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot 307, + 09´ 59,9”
6. L. Perez-Companc, Peugeot 206, + 16´ 24,7"
7. Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, + 17´ 39,0"
8. Gabriel Bozzo, Subaru, (1./ N), + 20´ 38,6"
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