WRC Rd 6 - Cypress Rally: Loeb wins and sets up title
from Automotive (1675 articles)
Click image to enlarge
Image Gallery ( 20 images )By finishing third in the Cyprus Rally, Markko Martin has brought Peugeot eight points for the manufacturers championship and added six points to his own personal tally. This has allowed the Estonian to climb to second place in the drivers championship, a position he holds jointly with Subaru's Petter Solberg.
After two days that proved to be extremely challenging for man and machine, most crews concentrated on reaching the finish during the final leg of Rally Cyprus. Markko Martin however decided to attack in order to take the final podium place from Ford Focus driver Henning Solberg. The Peugeot 307 WRC started its charge on the first loop of three stages this morning, with Martin taking his third podium place of the year following those gained in Sweden and Mexico. His fast but consistent drive allowed him to climb to second in the drivers championship.
Markko Martin, Peugeot, third place: "I knew that if I wanted to be on the podium I had to push hard today. It was quite difficult, because I did not want to take any risks with the manufacturer points I already had in the bag for Peugeot. Luckily we were able to do it, after what has been a very difficult rally for us. We lost a lot of time on the first day, but I knew that if we stayed out of trouble we would be able to get a good result. The car has been perfect, and with every rally I feel a bit more comfortable with it."
Peugeot Team Boss, Jean-Pierre Nicolas: "This has been an extremely tough rally where the key objective was to bring the cars home, in view of the exceptionally rough surfaces. Markko is still looking for the ideal set-up on his car, but despite that he has driven a remarkably consistent rally and earned us eight more manufacturer points. This means that Peugeot now leads Citroen by nine points, Ford by 18 points and Subaru by 24 points. We are keen to find out the specific cause of the problem that led to the timing belt on Marcus Gronholm's car breaking, and next week we will also be testing to try out different set-ups that might suit Markko Martin."
Harri Rovanpera, Mitsubishi, seventh: "Finally we are at the finish! We weren’t cruising today, but the gaps in front and behind were big enough that there was no sense in pushing hard and risking the car. These were some of the worst roads I have seen in years, maybe only matched by the Acropolis many years ago. We have a test coming up next week where we can focus on issues from this event and hopefully make some more improvements to help us in Turkey and Greece. Overall I’m pleased; I think without problems we could have been fighting with Manfred (Stohl) and had a very good result".
Isao Torii, Head of Mitsubishi Motor Sports: "After three long and very demanding days, our crews did a good job and brought both cars to the finish", said. "To score manufacturer points with both cars on such a severe event was very important and I really appreciate the effort made by the drivers, co-drivers, engineers and mechanics. It was a pity to have some problems, but we have learned a lot which will prove very important for the next two events, in particular. Turkey will be less rough but the temperatures will be higher, but the knowledge we have gained here will help us make good preparations".
Gilles Panizzi, Mitsubishi, 11th: "It was a difficult weekend and it’s nice to finish and get a point for Mitsubishi. It has been the worst event of the season, in terms of the roughness of the roads, and for various reasons it was simply a matter of getting through the stages".
Mitsubishi Technical Director Mario Fornaris: "Looking back to before the start, we said we wanted one car in the top five and both in the points; we have achieved this as far as manufacturer points are concerned. There is a little bit of frustration because we could have been better, but I must say it’s been hard work for the entire team on such a difficult, rough and demanding rally".
Gallery Images
Share this article
