Event Bulletin
22 Oct. 2003
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 Rallye Catalunya - Costa Brava
24 to 26 Oct. 2003
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Itinerary | |
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Pre Release | ||
| Leg1 Report | |||
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Preview
Event Bulletin
22 Oct. 2003 |
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The Event 
Just days after an emphatic victory on the Tour de Corse, the 555 Subaru World Rally Team is already making final preparations ahead of the next round of the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship, Spain's Rallye Catalunya, which begins on Friday.The 13th and penultimate round of the WRC series, Rallye Catalunya is the last of three consecutive Mediterranean asphalt rallies held in the past four weeks. Renowned for its smooth, demanding stages and crowds of fanatical spectators, the high-speed event is also a firm favourite with drivers. Petter Solberg's win on Sunday promoted him to joint second place in the 2003 Drivers' Championship, just three points off the lead, and with the end of the season fast approaching, and six drivers still in contention for the title, Catalunya looks set to be one of the most important rallies of the year. Moved for 2003 from its regular springtime slot to October and the Spanish autumn, the rally is likely to feature more of the unsettled weather and slippery roads that were seen last week in Corsica. Also new for this year is a more compact route, which misses out last year's loop of stages near Tarragona entirely. Instead, all the rally action is based on the mountain roads surrounding a single service area at Vic, 80km north east of the host town, the coastal resort of Lloret de Mar. Leg one starts from Lloret de Mar on Friday 24 October at 0645hrs and with 146 stage kilometres is the longest of the three day event. In total crews will tackle 22 competitive stages, there are 11 different tests and each is repeated. After contesting a total competitive distance of 381 kilometres, the winning car will cross the finish podium back in Lloret de Mar at 1509hrs on Sunday. Entries The 555 Subaru World Rally Team will enter two cars in Rallye Catalunya, one each for regular drivers Tommi Mäkinen and Petter Solberg. Both cars will be eligible to score Manufacturer's points for Subaru in the Manufacturers' Championship. Winner of the rally in 1997, Tommi Mäkinen has finished on the podium four times in total since his first attempt in 1994. This will be his tenth rally Catalunya. In comparison, Petter Solberg is a new boy to the Spanish stages. He finished fifth last year on only his second attempt. Driver Quotes Petter Solberg 
"I'm still feeling so good after the win in Corsica that I can't wait to start this rally. We've made some very good steps recently, with the car and the tyres, and the way it felt last week has given me a lot of confidence in what we can achieve. It's often said that anything's possible, and last week we really showed that! I'm feeling comfortable with my driving style in slippery conditions, and on the repeated runs through the stages in Spain, even in the dry, there's a lot of gravel and dirt on the road, so that should help me I think. Of course I'd like the same wet weather like we had in Corsica - that would just be perfect, but even without the rain I know I've got a good chance. The championship's starting to get quite interesting now, we're nearly at the end, and I'm going to keep doing everything I can."Tommi Mäkinen "We learned a lot in Corsica, and finished with a tyre and suspension set-up that worked very well so I'm feeling quite confident in our ability to go quickly from the start. But a good performance in Spain, like all the tarmac events, depends a little bit on the weather conditions so we'll have to wait until the day to choose the correct strategy. Spain has always been a favourite event for me, but this year will see a big difference as the rally roads have changed a lot from previous years. There will be a lot of new roads for everyone to learn. I'm sure it will level out the playing field so the specialists do not have so much of an advantage." The Car / The Challenge 555 Subaru World Rally Team Principal, David Lapworth "Last week's win has given the whole team a real confidence boost ahead of Catalunya, and that's for a number of reasons. The obvious one is that we proved our performance in damp and wet conditions - we can go into the next two rounds knowing that we've got something up our sleeve. The car, the tyres and the drivers all work perfectly in tough conditions, and it's good to know we've got that as a backstop. The other thing was our encouraging performance in Leg 1, when conditions were dry. Both drivers were happy with the car and the tyres, and we know that we can be competitive now in Spain, whatever the conditions. 
Regarding the set-up of the car, it won't really be changed for Spain. We'll take some things that we learnt from Corsica, but make only a few adjustments. There's been no time for a test between the two rallies, and so it's quite nice to be able to go to the next event without any doubts. We may run the car slightly lower, it depends how many cuts there are through the stages. Generally though, the roads are smoother in Spain than in Corsica, but you have to be careful, as some stages do include a lot of cuts.As far as the rest of the season goes, Corsica reinforced one thing in my mind - that Petter is at his best in difficult conditions. Although the stage conditions in Corsica can't really be compared to those in GB, it's the same kind of challenge, unpredictable conditions, and very slippery. Conditions in which we know that the tyres are good, and the car is strong. So, based on that, if we have a classic wet and muddy Rally of GB, it's going to be right up Petter's street - things are looking good for him." |
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