Event Bulletin
9 Aug. 2003
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 Rally Finland
7 to 10 Aug. 2003
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Itinerary | |
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| Entry List | |||
| Course Map | |||
| Results | |||
| Pre Release | |||
| Leg1 Report | |||
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Leg2 Report | ||
| Leg3 Report | |||
| Gallery |
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Leg2 Report
Event Bulletin 9 Aug. 2003 |
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Starters59 of the original 71 competitors left Jyvaskyla parc ferme at 0600hrs this morning Route Leg 2 comprised 167.92 competitive kilometres and seven stages (one repeated) run south and west of the Jyvaskyla service park Weather Conditions remained dry and warm all day. Air temperatures started at 12ºC this morning, rising to 26ºC by mid-afternoon, while ground temperatures reached 34ºC. Stages were smooth gravel and largely dry 555 Subaru World Rally Team Summary The Subaru Imprezas of Tommi Mäkinen and Petter Solberg ran without fault again today and allowed the pair to push hard and improve on their overnight positions. Ending the day with a stage win, Petter Solberg holds fourth overall ahead of tomorrow's final 100km. It's extremely tight at the top though, and just 0.5 seconds stands between Solberg and second place. The highest placed local driver, Tommi Mäkinen lies sixth and is well placed for a good points finish. Stage Reports SS11 0804hrs Päijälä (21.95km) Not a great start to Leg 2 for young Finnish hope, Mikko Hirvonen. With his usual team orders of 'steady to the finish' lifted for the event, disaster struck when his Focus caught fire, mid-test due to a turbo problem. Marshals extinguished the flames at the finish, but the twenty-three year old retired on the road section to SS12 after it was deemed unsafe to continue. He had been eleventh overall. Better luck though for his team-mate Martin. The Estonian set the second fastest time to maintain his overnight lead, but with Gronholm clinching the stage win to reduce the overall gap between the duo to less than a second, Markko couldn't afford to relax. Putting yesterday's frustrations behind him, Harri Rovanpera was back on the pace to finish third fastest, while Hyundai's Armin Schwarz had to contest the stage with no front brakes and dropped over a minute as a result. Fastest Time: Gronholm (Peugeot) 11:21.4 
SS12 0839hrs Ouninpohja 1 (33.24km)With its undulating gravel surface, blind crests and massive speeds, the 33km Ouninpohja stage is one of the most difficult and demanding of the championship. Data from Tommi Makinen's Subaru showed a ground speed of 190kph while the car was airborne after a jump. Charging through the fifth and sixth gear test, Gronholm carefully negotiated each jump and adverse camber to take the stage win and regain the overall lead from Martin by 3.7 seconds. Martin was second fastest, while McRae was third in his Citroen Xsara. Harri Rovanpera's miserable rally continued when his Peugeot left the road 2km from the start. He and co-driver Pietilanen were unhurt in the incident, but their car was too badly damaged to continue and they retired from the event. After the finish, crews returned to Jyvaskyla for the second service of the day. Fastest Time: Gronholm (Peugeot) 15:31.0 SS13 1129hrs Urria (10.00km) The shortest stage of the day saw Richard Burns take his second win of the event, by a margin of 2.1 seconds. Not to be outdone, team-mate Gronholm put in another blistering time to finish second fastest and move 4.6 seconds clear at the top of the table. McRae was third and Sainz fourth. Another consistent performance from Subaru's Petter Solberg netted him fifth place, the same position that he maintained overall. No such glory for Skoda and the new Fabia WRC. Following Auriol's retirement before the re-start of Leg 1, remaining works driver Toni Gardemeister stalled his Skoda at the start-line. Unable to re-start it due to engine trouble, the Finn was forced to retire - making this the second consecutive event that Skoda had failed to finish. Fastest Time: Burns (Peugeot) 4:48.4 SS14 1247hrs Ouninpohja 2 (33.24km) 
Just when things looked to be settling down in the top-10, the infamous Ouninpohja bit back and shook things up a bit. Picking up a front-suspension problem, then losing a front wheel altogther 5kms before the finish, rally leader Marcus Gronholm dropped over a minute a half and tumbled down the leaderboard. He completed the stage, but was unable to continue and retired. Gronholm's misfortune was Martin's gain and despite posting only the fifth fastest time thanks to a continuing electronic problem, which meant his Focus had no dash-board display and no active differentials, by the finish the Estonian had regained the overall lead. McRae took the stage win but his celebrations were shortlived, when he collected a one minute penalty for checking into the previous time control one minute early, he dropped to sixth overall. Struggling with a bad tyre-mousse vibration, Petter Solberg was sixth fastest, while Mäkinen, who suffered a similar problem, was seventh.
After the finish and scheduled refuel, crews travelled the 29.21km road section to the start of SS15Fastest Time: McRae (Citroen) 15:25.1 SS15 1350hrs Ehikki (14.91km) Now up to second place overall, and hungry for a win on his hundredth WRC event, Richard Burns really started to apply the pressure through the short 14km Ehikki test. Flying over the test's multiple jumps, the Brit took advantage of rally leader Martin's continuing electrical problems, (which cost him approximately 6 seconds) and finished fastest to reduce the gap between the pair to just 13.1 seconds. In a similar battle for overall third, Sainz was second fastest to snatch the potential podium position from Solberg, who was hampered by his continuing tyre-mousse vibration problems. Tommi Mäkinen was now seventh overall - the leading Finnish driver. After completing the stage, crews travelled back to Jyvaskyla for service. Fastest Time: Burns (Peugeot) 6:52.6 SS16 1618hrs Moksi-Leustu (40.96km) Drama for Colin McRae on the longest stage of the event, the epic Moksi-Leustu. Rolling his Citroen mid-test, the Scot left the road, sustaining significant damage to his Xsara. Both he and co-driver Ringer were uninjured in the incident, but retirement was immediate. Better luck for Subaru's Petter Solberg. Running on a fresh set of Pirelli's, the Norwegian was back on the pace and flew through the stage's long crests, blind corners and big jumps to set the second fastest time, and end the test four seconds behind Sainz, who was third overall. His electrical problems rectified, Martin took the stage win to defend his lead, while Burns was third and Sainz fourth, 4.3 seconds behind the fastest time. At the finish crews moved directly to the start of SS17 for the final test of the day. Fastest Time: Martin (Ford) 20:39.2 
SS17 1730hrs Himos (13.62km)Continuing his impressive performance, Petter Solberg was fastest through the final test, to take his first win of the event and move to just 0.2 seconds off Sainz in overall third. No such luck for Burns. Suffering with a wheel-bearing problem, the Brit dropped almost a minute and held on to overall second by the slimmest of margins. At the finish just 0.5 seconds separated him from Solberg who held overall fourth. Tommi Mäkinen was fourth fastest, while Martin was second quickest, to end the Leg with a comfortable lead of 1 minute 13 seconds before tomorrow's final tests. Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 7:30.1 Team Quotes David Lapworth, 555 Subaru World Rally Team Principal "It's been a great day for Petter, he's put in some excellent times and is now only half a second off second place overall. Tommi has gone quicker and quicker as the day has gone on, all he needs to do now is maintain his speed to collect more points for Subaru and himself. We've been impressed with the performance of the new Pirelli tyre constructions in these conditions, but it's a shame that vibrations from the mousse have been so frequent today. We will be working closely with the engineers at Pirelli to get to the root of the problem." 
Petter Solberg"I must say I'm very happy to be third! The car has been very good, and tomorrow looks like it will be an exciting day. I'm getting used to battles here, last year it was with Carlos, now it'll be Carlos and Richard. I've been pushing at 120 percent today, there's nothing more I can give, and so I'll just carry on driving as hard as I can, keep the same speed, flat out, and see how we do." Tommi Mäkinen "It's okay, and we're better placed now than yesterday. I pushed as hard as possible, but we've had to back off sometimes and that cost us. For tomorrow though the plan is still to go flat out and we'll try our best to catch Loeb." |
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Tomorrow's Leg The third and final leg of Rally Finland starts tomorrow at 0800hrs, when the remaining cars will leave Jyvaskyla parc ferme. The final day will see crews travel north and east of Jyvaskyla to contest six further smooth gravel stages (two repeated), and a final 100.90 competitive kilometres. The winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp at 1545hrs. |
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