Citroën Takes Control: Leading Both the Drivers and Manufacturers Wrc Title Chases

CITROËN TAKES CONTROL: LEADING BOTH THE DRIVERS’ AND MANUFACTURERS’ WRC TITLE CHASES

Citroën has taken control of the 2003 World Rally Championship with the French car maker leading the manufacturers’ title chase and, after the weekend’s (17-19 October 2003) Rally of Corsica, Carlos Sainz leads the Drivers’ Championship in his Citroën Xsara WRC.

Colin McRae finished fifth, delivering more valuable manufacturers title points, pushing Citroën’s lead in the title chase to eight points, with just two rounds to go, one of which is Carlos Sainz’ home event, the Rally of Catalonia.

Citroën had hoped to take over the lead in the drivers’ championship in Corsica, but expected it to be their young gun, Sébastien Loeb. But he lost his chance with a spin costing him ten minutes, the lead and any chance of winning the event. But Loeb was still a man on a mission: Four fastest stage times on the last day made gave him more stage wins than any other driver on the event and he still has the ability to snatch the title.

With Citroën leading manufacturers' championship and two of its drivers fighting for the driver’s title, its easy to forget that this is still Citroën’s debut year in the WRC and that they entered it with the target of winning just three events and being on the podium for three others!

For Sainz, the most successful rally driver of all time, past success has not dimmed the excitement of, once again, being at the head of the points table.

“It’s fantastic,” the Spaniard said at the finish.“Nothing better could happen. I will start in Catalonia, my home rally, in the leading position and with the team also in the top slot.”

Citroën also played a role in almost stopping the previous drivers championship leader, Peugeot’s Richard Burns scoring any points withPhilippe Bugalski and his Xsara WRC keeping the Englishman busy further down the field

Team boss Guy Fréquelin was extremely pleased with the result: “We were very disappointed for Sébastien, but Carlos and Colin performed well. They had a good rally especially considering the tyre choices which were very tricky. With Carlos and Citroën leading both Championships we couldn’t be more motivated for what’s coming next."

Telefónica Movistar, Michelin, Magneti-Marelli, Kinetic, OZ, AIS and Citroën Financement are the partners of Team Citroën Total in the World Rally Championship

THE “TOUR DE CORSE”IN FIGURES

Best times

Leg 1. SS1: Carlos Sainz (Xsara WRC) - SS2: Sébastien Loeb (Xsara WRC) - SS3: Markko Märtin (Ford Focus) - SS4: François Duval (Ford Focus) - SS5 and 6: M. Märtin./ Leg 2.SS7: M.Märtin - SS8: Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus) - SS9: Gilles Panizzi (Peugeot 206) - SS10, 11 and 12: Petter Solberg (Subaru Impreza). / Leg 3. SS13, 14, 15 and 16: S. Loeb.

Best performers

S. Loeb, 5 fastest times - M. Märtin, 4 - P. Solberg, 3 - C. Sainz, 1 - F. Duval, 1 - M. Hirvonen, 1 - G. Panizzi, 1.

Successive leaders

SS1: C. Sainz - SS2 and 3: M.Märtin - SS4 to 7: S. Loeb - SS8 to 11: F. Duval - SS12 to 16: P. Solberg.

Overall classification Tour de Corse - Rallye de France

1. P. Solberg/Ph. Mills (Subaru Impreza)4 h 20 min 15,3 s
2. C. Sainz/M. Marti (Citroën Xsara)+ 36,6 s
3. F. Duval/S. Prevot (Ford Focus)+ 41,7 s
4. M. Grönholm/T. Rautiainen (Peugeot 206)+ 1 min 09,2 s
5. C. McRae/D. Ringer (Citroën Xsara)+ 1 min 26 s
6. G. Panizzi/H. Panizzi (Peugeot 206)+ 1 min 58,7 s
7. T. Mäkinen/K. Lindström (Subaru Impreza)+ 2 min 25,8 s
8. R. Burns/R. Reid (Peugeot 206)+ 2 min 36,7 s
9. Ph. Bugalski/J-P. Chiaroni (Citroën Xsara)+ 2 min 46,8 s
10. M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen (Ford Focus)+ 3 min 55,4 s

…

13. S. Loeb/D. Elena (Citroën Xsara)+ 9 min 34 s

Manufacturers’ Championship

1. Citroën,137 points - 2.Peugeot, 129 points - 3. Subaru, 88 - 4. Ford, 78 - 5. Skoda, 21 - 6. Hyundai, 12.

Drivers’ Championship

1. C. Sainz, 61 points - 2.P. Solberg, 58 - 3. R. Burns, 58 - 4. S. Loeb, 55 - 5. M. Grönholm, 43 - 6. M. Märtin, 43 - 7. C. McRae, 40 - 8. T. Mäkinen, 23 - 9. F. Duval, 21 - 10. H. Rovanperä, 18 - 11. G. Panizzi, 17 - 12. T. Gardemeister, 9 - 13. D. Auriol, 4 - 14. C. Robert - 15. M. Hirvonen, 3 - 16. A. McRae, 3 - 17. A. Schwarz, 3 - 18. J. Tuohino, 2 - 19. Ph. Bugalski, 1 - 20. F. Loix, 1 - 21. A. Ginley, 1 - 22. S. Lindholm, 1.

(ends)

For further information:

Citroën Australia Media Web Site:

Miles Williams

Edward Rowe

Web site:

EJR/ejr/007

10/20/2003