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Sixth place finish for Rovanpera
Points for Marcus and Harri in Japan
(Press release - Peugeot Sport - Japan 05/09/04)
The Japanese stages consisted of fast and narrow gravel roads, with
some tight corners and slower technical sections. Weather conditions
remained dry and warm throughout all three days of the event. Today's
action consisted of seven mountainous stages to the north west of rally
headquarters in Obihiro.
Sixth place finish for Rovanpera
Harri was held back by gear selection problems on the opening day,
which meant that he dropped more time by running as first factory car on
the road during leg two. He struggled through the loose gravel, sweeping
the road clean for the cars behind. On the final day he had the same
handicap and also suffered from fading brakes. Nonetheless, he steered
clear of trouble to score some well- deserved points.
Harri said: "We were unlucky here, as myself and the car were good
enough to get a top result. We've not really had a perfect run over any
of the stages, but sometimes our sport is like that! I've enjoyed the event
and the stages, but we were constantly fighting problems. Let's hope
for better luck next time!"
Fourth place finish for Gronholm
Marcus started the day fifth, after dropping time with a gearbox problem
and a tyre choice that was too hard yesterday. Today went much
better, with the Finn enjoying the challenging flat-out stages and moving
up to fourth. His 307 WRC was entirely reliable throughout the final leg.
Marcus said: "It's been a difficult rally, where we just had to take as
many points as possible. On the first day we were on the same pace as
the leaders, but unfortunately we dropped back with a few problems on
day two. The final leg was quite exciting for me as we had a big battle
for fourth place. Under the circumstances, we did the best we could."
Peugeot Sport team principal Corrado Provera commented: "It's been a
disappointing rally for us where we did not capitalise on the car's
winning capabilities that were shown in Finland. There have been too
many technical problems for both Marcus and Harri and it's clear that we
still have a lot of work to do."
Rally Japan (WRC 11/16), September 03 - 05 2004
(total of the rally 27 SS / 387,5 km)
Final results
1. Petter Solberg, Subaru, 3 h 43´ 50,6" (103,6 km/h)
2. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01´13,3"
3. Markko Märtin, Ford, + 01´43,3"
4. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, +02´17,9"
5. Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 02´ 31,0"
6. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 07´26,2"
7. Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 09´06,5"
8. Antony Warmold, Ford, + 18´ 14,7"
9. Toshihiro Arai, Subaru (N), 18´15,4"
The next round of the World Rally Championship is the
Rally Great Britain which takes place in Cardiff
from September 17-19.
This classic gravel rally, which has been won by Marcus
Gronholm in 2001 (when Harri Rovanperä was 2nd!)
is moving from its traditional end of season slot in November.
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