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- I would be quick enough on asphalt as well, Rovanperä believes
Peugeot pilots have dominated WRC special stages. Rovanperä fourth in stage victories in 2004.
In World Rally Championship events this year so far, the special stages
have been dominated by Peugeot drivers.
With nine out of sixteen rallies of the season competed, Peugeot can
boast with a bigger score of special stage wins than any other works
team. Drivers’ special stage statistics show Marcus Grönholm in second
place with his 47 stage wins, and Harri Rovanperä in fourth with sixteen
victories in timed events.
Special stage wins 2004 after 9/16 rounds
Driver Nat. Car Nb
Petter Solberg Nor Subaru 51
Marcus Gronholm Fin Peugeot 47
Sébastien Loeb Fra Citroën 34
Harri Rovanpera Fin Peugeot 16
Markko Martin Est Ford 14
Carlos Sainz SP Citroën 9
Troubles of the early season turn into success at the end!?
- I would be quick enough on asphalt as well, Rovanperä believes
Harri Rovanperä won’t be competing in the WRC event in Germany from
August 20 to 22, but he will be back in action in the new round of World
Rally Championship in Japan from September 3 to 9. After that,
Rovanperä’s program will continue with the WRC events of Wales, Italy
and Australia.
- I’m confident my pace would be competitive on asphalt as well,
Rovanperä assures. For the current season, however, I have a contract
only for gravel rallies, so let’s concentrate on them, Rovanperä says. He
is apparently uncomfortable about his getting a stamp of a gravel
specialist, because he has had success also on asphalt. He has driven
a Peugeot works team car in an asphalt rally only once, and even then
he was called up at very short notice. In the German round of WRC in
2002, Harri clocked fourth and fifth fastest stage times in his Peugeot
206 WRC, even if he hadn’t had a single test day before the rally.
Rovanperä is hoping for his program of next year to comprise all the
events, because speed, experience and reliability are good grounds for
success on all surfaces – supposing there are no mechanical problems.
Beginning of the season troublesome for Peugeot 307
Grönholm’s win in Jyväskylä together with Rovanperä’s pace
promise a better continuation for the remaining season
Peugeot works team went into season 2004 with a new 307 WRC. Even
though they had reached three second places and one third place by the
halfway of the season, the result was a disappointment for the team,
especially due to the fact that their only victory of the season (Cyprus,
Grönholm) had been cancelled. Peugeot drivers had posted more stage
wins than any others and had been in the lead of almost every rally, but
in most cases they had lost their positions due to mechanical failures. In
Neste Rally Finland, which opened the latter half of the season, the
victory by Marcus Grönholm took place in the last moment for Peugeot to
have at least theoretical chances of battling for Constructors’
Championship in 2004.
In the six rallies he had driven in the first half of the season, Rovanperä
had been aiming at consistent pace and faultless performances. He had
spun only once, in New Zealand, which cost him one place. Harri had
been very reliable and despite recurring mechanical problems, he had
crossed the finish line five times scoring his team valuable points. His
only retirement of the beginning of the season had happened in Turkey,
where the gears of his car got stuck. Rovanperä going off the road
while leading the race in Jyväskylä can thus be counted as an annoying
statistical loss for a driver who has a reputation of making it to the finish
line.
While the car gives odds to others, the driver is forced to take risks in
order to be able to fight for victories. Marcus Grönholm drove all the
eight rallies of the first half of the season with a Peugeot 307 WRC. In
addition to the mechanical caprices of the car, Grönholm’s early season
was characterized by personal mistakes, for he had to retire from two
events (Greece and Argentina) because of an error of handling.
In all the other events, however, Grönholm was able to score points. In
Monte Carlo, he went off the road slightly, but made it to the finish in
fourth overall, and in New Zealand he rolled his car once, after which he
was yet able to finish in second place. All the disappointments of the
first half of the year were however washed away by a victory on home
ground in the ninth rally of the season.
Marcus Grönholm’s victory in the Finnish round of World Rally
Chapionship, together with the demonstration of speed by other Peugeot
pilots, were hopefully the long expected turning point for the rallying
season of Peugeot works team. The remarkable pace Harri Rovanperä
gave demonstration of also gives reason to hope for a better future.
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