WRC Rd 4: Loeb wins, Solberg leads title, Peugeot extends lead

With a near perfect performance in New Zealand, Citroen and Sebastien Loeb dominated the fourth round of the World Rally championship at the weekend (8-10 April 2005) leading the event from stage three to the finish in his Citroen Xsara WRC and again taking outright favouritism for the drivers championship. Loeb’s team-mate Francois Duval took fourth place, giving Citroen a bumper points haul and taking the team into second place in the manufacturers title, but with Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm taking second and Markko Martin in fifth, Peugeot scooted further ahead in the quest for the constructors crown.

"It's wonderful to win here in New Zealand after our frustrating outings in Sweden and Mexico," said Sébastien Loeb at the finish in Auckland. "It shows that we were simply down on luck on those two rallies. I am particularly pleased with this weekend's result because we won in a straight fight with Marcus Grönholm and Petter Solberg. Also, winning on this terrain - which tended to be a little difficult for us in previous years - is a positive sign on two accounts. First of all, it proves that the Citroën Xsara continues to progress and, secondly, the fact that we are now competitive on fast gravel means we can hope for a top result in Finland."

The Citroën Xsara's winning form was compounded by the decisive contribution made by its longstanding partner Michelin, whose new Z 'BTO' tyre and hard compound performed marvels during the second passes through the stages which were run twice - and therefore cleared of their traditional loose gravel top-coating - despite the high ground temperatures in the hot sunshine.

The combination of the Xsara's excellent balance and its Michelin tyres allowed the defending World Champion to adopt an aggressive driving style which saw him emerge in front on Friday before pulling out a practically unassailable advantage of around a minute over his closest chasers on Saturday.

The question remains whether François Duval could have finished on the podium had he not been slowed by a fall-off in the performance of his brakes - the only problem to trouble the team's weekend - just as it looked as though he could challenge for a place on the podium. François is a driver who asks a lot of his brakes and the pads fitted to his car are the most effective possible but the price to pay for that is that they tend to wear more quickly and the second run through the long 'Bull' stage proved a little too much for them.

Sebastien Loeb, Citroen Sport, winner, now just one point from championship lead: "It's very nice to win here in New Zealand after our frustrating outings in Sweden and Mexico," said Seb. "It shows that we were simply down on luck on those two rallies. I am particularly pleased with this weekend's result because we won in a straight fight with Marcus [Gronholm] and Petter [Solberg]. Also, winning on this terrain – which tended to be a little difficult for us in previous years – is a positive sign on two accounts. First of all, it proves that the Xsara continues to progress and, secondly, the fact that we are now competitive on fast gravel means we can hope for a top result in Finland…"

Guy Frequelin, Citroen Sport team boss: "It was absolutely essential that we finished in the big points here. The fact that we won after only two previous visits to this event speaks volumes for the team's capacity to adapt and progress. Everyone was intent on finding the secret to winning in New Zealand and they have succeeded! The Xsara was involved in the fight at the sharp end from the start which shows its set-up was a perfect match for the Kiwi stages…"

Marcus Gronholm, Total Peugeot WRC, second: "Before the rally started I thought I could win, but this turned out not to be possible: the combination of Sebastien and Citroen was too fast to catch. In any case, I am reasonably happy to finish second. I had a big fight with Petter, but I was quite confident I could keep him behind me. I am happy with the reliability of the car; we have had two good finishes in a row and that gives me a lot of confidence. I am a little bit disappointed not to take the win, but generally speaking I am satisfied with our performance."

Jean-Pierre Nicolas, Team Principal, Total Peugeot WRC: "Firstly, this rally was perfect from a mechanical point of view: we did not have the slightest problem with either of the cars. Marcus drove a fantastic rally, attacking Petter Solberg with everything he knew, behind Sebastien Loeb who was just uncatchable here. As for Markko, it seems that he made a breakthrough on the final stage, and that he found a new way of driving that will put him at ease with our 307 WRC. Our goal of bringing both cars home in the points has been achieved: we keep the lead of the championship with 12 points in hand over Citroen and 15 over Subaru. There is still a long way to go, and we have to maintain this reliability but that alone is not enough. We are aware that we have to work closely with our tyre partner Pirelli in order to maximise the potential of the rubber and better understand the tyre range."

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