WRC Round 6: Acropolis
Jun 8, 2004, 08:57 AM
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WRC Round 6: Acropolis
Recap:
The sixth round of the 2004 World Rally Championship took place last weekend in Greece.
This marks the 51st running of the Acropolis Rally in Lumia, which is northeast of Athens. This years Acropolis Rally is composed of 235 miles spread out over 22 stages. Renowned as the “car breaker” the terrain of this is made up of mainly large rocky surfaces and some fast clay stages. The deep, hard gravel in this rally causes many suspension problems. Ford and Subaru have dominated this event in past years winning 10 of the last 11 starts combined. Before we get down to business about this particular Rally, there has been a lot of news since we last touched on the WRC.
There was an investigation following Marcus Gronholm’s win for Peugot in the last event (Cyrprus).
It was discovered that the car was running a plastic impeller on the water pump versus the standard metal type. This violation caused the officials to disqualify his win and turn over the points to the then 2nd place finisher Sebastian Loeb of Citroën. Marcus refused to comment letting his team managers press conference the only official statement from the Peugot camp. It was actually kind of dramatic. Peugot team manager holds a conference after he receives the news that last events win was stripped away. He remarked, “a lot of people are asking me if we are depressed, sad or feeling empty right now. The fact is none of that is even close to the truth and we will never give up!’ He again states that the water pump was legal, stands up and storms out.
Also in the news is a wide range of talks concerning the new “Super Rally” rule that will be in full effect for the 2005 season. It was instated partly at Acropolis for the 2004 season but points associated with this new rule do not count till the 2005 season. What has happened previously is that a team that was forced to retire after an accident or failure for Day 1 of a particular rally was forced to retire for the entirety of the rally. Under this new rule, even if you retire for the full day, you can restart with the grid on the next day. Some teams will take advantage of this for test and tune reasons which leads me to my next headline.
Skoda returns! After being absent for the first few WRC events Czech manufacturer Skoda returns to the WRC series in Acropolis. They plan to run the rest of the season testing their car and seeing how far they have come and also how much farther they have to go.
The only other news worthy item is that officials are thinking about revamping the schedule for next season making it more compact. Right now every event seems to have close to 4 weeks off in between venues. They hope to consolidate this down to every 2 weeks and to alternate rotating weekends with the F1 racing schedule. This means there will be a lot of shuffling of events if you still want the Swedish rally to be in February for luscious snow. I’m looking forward to see what they propose.
Ok, now with that all out of the way lets get onto the story of the race broken down stage by stage.
Story of the race:
SS 1 : LILEA – PARNASSOS 1 - 2.25 km
· 72 crews at the start of the 51st edition of the Acropolis Rally.
· Fastest stage time for Marcus Gronholm.
SS 2 : RENGINI 1 - 11.84 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera but Gronholm stays in the lead.
· Dani Sola is having problem with his right front suspension.
· Janne Tuohino has a puncture in his left front tyre.
· Jussi Valimaki breaks his power steering unit and retires.
· Nicolas Vouilloz rolls his car and retires.
SS 3 : ELATIA – ZELI 1 - 32.55 km
· Fastest stage time for Marcus Gronholm.
· Markko Martin goes off the road and retires.
· Dani Sola drives slowly on the course and gets hit from behind by Roman Kresta… both drivers retire.
· Armin Schwarz retires because of a broken suspension on his Fabia.
SS 4 : PAVLIANI 1 - 24.45 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg, who takes the lead of the event.
· Carlos Sainz loses 20 minutes because of a broken shock absorber.
· Mikko Hirvonen loses two minutes because of brake problems.
· Harri Rovanpera loses around thirty seconds while driving in the dust cloud made by Mikko Hirvonen's Subaru.
SS 5 : STROMI 1 - 14.61 km
· Another stage victory for Petter Solberg.
· Marcus Gronholm spins and stalls while trying to restart. He loses around twelve seconds.
· Carlos Sainz is still having suspension problems and loses an additional eleven minutes.
SS 6 : ELEFTHEROHORI - 18.44 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg.
· Carlos Sainz loses six more minutes with his broken suspension.
· Marcus Gronholm spins once again.
· Toni Gardemeister breaks the rear suspension of his Fabia and loses 2 minutes and thirty seconds.
SS 7 : PAVLIANI 2 - 24.45 km
· Fourth consecutive stage victory for Petter Solberg.
· Harri Rovanpera moves ahead of Marcus Grönholm.
SS 8 : STROMI 2 - 14.61 km
· Fifth consecutive stage win for Petter Solberg.
SS 9 : LILEA – PARNASSOS 2 - 2.25 km
· Fastest stage time for Francois Duval, who moves to third position between the two Peugeot drivers.
· Toni Gardemeister stops in the stage because of engine problems.
LEG 2
SS 10 : AMFISSA 1 - 14.59 km
· With the introduction of SupeRally, the drivers that retired yesterday are able to continue today but don't show on the rally standings.
· First stage win for Sebastien Loeb in this rally.
· Marcus Gronholm goes wide and hits a rock. He makes a repair on his car but arrives late at the checkpoint.
· The stage is stopped after the accident of PG Andersson. The crew is not injured.
SS 11 : DROSOHORI 1 - 28.68 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg.
· Marcus Gronholm breaks the rear suspension on his 307 and retires.
· Dani Sola has gearbox problems (stuck in 2nd gear).
SS 12 : RENGINI 1 - 11.84 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera, who moves back to second place.
SS 13 : ELATIA –ZELI 1 - 32.55 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb.
· Brake problems for Petter Solberg, who loses around 25 seconds.
· Gilles Panizzi's Lancer has high oil temperature.
SS 14 : AMFISSA 2 - 14.59 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera.
· Armin Schwarz is having gearbox problems.
SS 15 : DROSOHORI 2 - 28.68 km
· Petter Solberg is the fastest driver once again.
· Mikko Hirvonen damages his car's radiator and loses around 20 minutes.
SS 16 : LILEA – PARNASSOS 3 - 2.25 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg.
· Solberg gets a 30-second penalty.
· Mikko Hirvonen retires at the end of Leg 2.
LEG 3
SS 17 : DIKASTRO 1 - 26.78 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb.
· Marcus Gronholm rolls his car but is able to continue.
SS 18 : AGIOS STEFANOS 1 - 13.47 km
· Another stage win for Petter Solberg.
SS 19 : STYRFAKA 1 - 9.00 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb, who is now only three tenths behind Rovanpera.
SS 20 : DIKASTRO 2 - 26.78 km
· Another stage win for Sebastien Loeb, who moves ahead of Rovanpera in second place.
· Gilles Panizzi is having engine problems. He stops in the stage to make a repair and loses three minutes and thirty seconds.
SS 21 : AGIOS STEFANOS 2 - 13.47 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera.
SS 22 : STYRFAKA 2 - 9.00 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb.
· Petter Solberg wins the 51st edition of the Acropolis Rally.
· Sebastien Loeb and Harri Rovanpera complete the podium.
Finish:
1.) Petter Solberg – Subaru
2.) Sebastien Loeb – Citroën
3.) Harri Rovanpera - Puegot
Pics:
New overall standings:
1. S. Loeb (F)
2. P. Solberg (N)
3. M. Martin (EE)
4. M. Gronholm (FIN)
5. F. Duval (B)
6. C. Sainz (SP)
7. H. Rovanpera (FIN)
8. M. Hirvonen (FIN)
9. J. Tuohino (FIN)
10. D. Carlsson (SW)
Sebastien Loeb leads the drivers' championship with 43 points, followed by Solberg with 38 points and Martin with 34 points. Citroën take the lead in the constructors' championship, 65 points against Ford's 60 points in second position.
Cya next time for coverage of the Turkey rally, June 25th-27th.
If you wanna read my past WRC coverage here ya go:
Round 5 Cyprus
Round 3 Mexico
Round 2 Sweden
Round 1 Monte Carlo
The sixth round of the 2004 World Rally Championship took place last weekend in Greece.
This marks the 51st running of the Acropolis Rally in Lumia, which is northeast of Athens. This years Acropolis Rally is composed of 235 miles spread out over 22 stages. Renowned as the “car breaker” the terrain of this is made up of mainly large rocky surfaces and some fast clay stages. The deep, hard gravel in this rally causes many suspension problems. Ford and Subaru have dominated this event in past years winning 10 of the last 11 starts combined. Before we get down to business about this particular Rally, there has been a lot of news since we last touched on the WRC.
There was an investigation following Marcus Gronholm’s win for Peugot in the last event (Cyrprus).
It was discovered that the car was running a plastic impeller on the water pump versus the standard metal type. This violation caused the officials to disqualify his win and turn over the points to the then 2nd place finisher Sebastian Loeb of Citroën. Marcus refused to comment letting his team managers press conference the only official statement from the Peugot camp. It was actually kind of dramatic. Peugot team manager holds a conference after he receives the news that last events win was stripped away. He remarked, “a lot of people are asking me if we are depressed, sad or feeling empty right now. The fact is none of that is even close to the truth and we will never give up!’ He again states that the water pump was legal, stands up and storms out.
Also in the news is a wide range of talks concerning the new “Super Rally” rule that will be in full effect for the 2005 season. It was instated partly at Acropolis for the 2004 season but points associated with this new rule do not count till the 2005 season. What has happened previously is that a team that was forced to retire after an accident or failure for Day 1 of a particular rally was forced to retire for the entirety of the rally. Under this new rule, even if you retire for the full day, you can restart with the grid on the next day. Some teams will take advantage of this for test and tune reasons which leads me to my next headline.
Skoda returns! After being absent for the first few WRC events Czech manufacturer Skoda returns to the WRC series in Acropolis. They plan to run the rest of the season testing their car and seeing how far they have come and also how much farther they have to go.
The only other news worthy item is that officials are thinking about revamping the schedule for next season making it more compact. Right now every event seems to have close to 4 weeks off in between venues. They hope to consolidate this down to every 2 weeks and to alternate rotating weekends with the F1 racing schedule. This means there will be a lot of shuffling of events if you still want the Swedish rally to be in February for luscious snow. I’m looking forward to see what they propose.
Ok, now with that all out of the way lets get onto the story of the race broken down stage by stage.
Story of the race:
SS 1 : LILEA – PARNASSOS 1 - 2.25 km
· 72 crews at the start of the 51st edition of the Acropolis Rally.
· Fastest stage time for Marcus Gronholm.
SS 2 : RENGINI 1 - 11.84 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera but Gronholm stays in the lead.
· Dani Sola is having problem with his right front suspension.
· Janne Tuohino has a puncture in his left front tyre.
· Jussi Valimaki breaks his power steering unit and retires.
· Nicolas Vouilloz rolls his car and retires.
SS 3 : ELATIA – ZELI 1 - 32.55 km
· Fastest stage time for Marcus Gronholm.
· Markko Martin goes off the road and retires.
· Dani Sola drives slowly on the course and gets hit from behind by Roman Kresta… both drivers retire.
· Armin Schwarz retires because of a broken suspension on his Fabia.
SS 4 : PAVLIANI 1 - 24.45 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg, who takes the lead of the event.
· Carlos Sainz loses 20 minutes because of a broken shock absorber.
· Mikko Hirvonen loses two minutes because of brake problems.
· Harri Rovanpera loses around thirty seconds while driving in the dust cloud made by Mikko Hirvonen's Subaru.
SS 5 : STROMI 1 - 14.61 km
· Another stage victory for Petter Solberg.
· Marcus Gronholm spins and stalls while trying to restart. He loses around twelve seconds.
· Carlos Sainz is still having suspension problems and loses an additional eleven minutes.
SS 6 : ELEFTHEROHORI - 18.44 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg.
· Carlos Sainz loses six more minutes with his broken suspension.
· Marcus Gronholm spins once again.
· Toni Gardemeister breaks the rear suspension of his Fabia and loses 2 minutes and thirty seconds.
SS 7 : PAVLIANI 2 - 24.45 km
· Fourth consecutive stage victory for Petter Solberg.
· Harri Rovanpera moves ahead of Marcus Grönholm.
SS 8 : STROMI 2 - 14.61 km
· Fifth consecutive stage win for Petter Solberg.
SS 9 : LILEA – PARNASSOS 2 - 2.25 km
· Fastest stage time for Francois Duval, who moves to third position between the two Peugeot drivers.
· Toni Gardemeister stops in the stage because of engine problems.
LEG 2
SS 10 : AMFISSA 1 - 14.59 km
· With the introduction of SupeRally, the drivers that retired yesterday are able to continue today but don't show on the rally standings.
· First stage win for Sebastien Loeb in this rally.
· Marcus Gronholm goes wide and hits a rock. He makes a repair on his car but arrives late at the checkpoint.
· The stage is stopped after the accident of PG Andersson. The crew is not injured.
SS 11 : DROSOHORI 1 - 28.68 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg.
· Marcus Gronholm breaks the rear suspension on his 307 and retires.
· Dani Sola has gearbox problems (stuck in 2nd gear).
SS 12 : RENGINI 1 - 11.84 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera, who moves back to second place.
SS 13 : ELATIA –ZELI 1 - 32.55 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb.
· Brake problems for Petter Solberg, who loses around 25 seconds.
· Gilles Panizzi's Lancer has high oil temperature.
SS 14 : AMFISSA 2 - 14.59 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera.
· Armin Schwarz is having gearbox problems.
SS 15 : DROSOHORI 2 - 28.68 km
· Petter Solberg is the fastest driver once again.
· Mikko Hirvonen damages his car's radiator and loses around 20 minutes.
SS 16 : LILEA – PARNASSOS 3 - 2.25 km
· Fastest stage time for Petter Solberg.
· Solberg gets a 30-second penalty.
· Mikko Hirvonen retires at the end of Leg 2.
LEG 3
SS 17 : DIKASTRO 1 - 26.78 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb.
· Marcus Gronholm rolls his car but is able to continue.
SS 18 : AGIOS STEFANOS 1 - 13.47 km
· Another stage win for Petter Solberg.
SS 19 : STYRFAKA 1 - 9.00 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb, who is now only three tenths behind Rovanpera.
SS 20 : DIKASTRO 2 - 26.78 km
· Another stage win for Sebastien Loeb, who moves ahead of Rovanpera in second place.
· Gilles Panizzi is having engine problems. He stops in the stage to make a repair and loses three minutes and thirty seconds.
SS 21 : AGIOS STEFANOS 2 - 13.47 km
· Fastest stage time for Harri Rovanpera.
SS 22 : STYRFAKA 2 - 9.00 km
· Fastest stage time for Sebastien Loeb.
· Petter Solberg wins the 51st edition of the Acropolis Rally.
· Sebastien Loeb and Harri Rovanpera complete the podium.
Finish:
1.) Petter Solberg – Subaru
2.) Sebastien Loeb – Citroën
3.) Harri Rovanpera - Puegot
Pics:
New overall standings:
1. S. Loeb (F)
2. P. Solberg (N)
3. M. Martin (EE)
4. M. Gronholm (FIN)
5. F. Duval (B)
6. C. Sainz (SP)
7. H. Rovanpera (FIN)
8. M. Hirvonen (FIN)
9. J. Tuohino (FIN)
10. D. Carlsson (SW)
Sebastien Loeb leads the drivers' championship with 43 points, followed by Solberg with 38 points and Martin with 34 points. Citroën take the lead in the constructors' championship, 65 points against Ford's 60 points in second position.
Cya next time for coverage of the Turkey rally, June 25th-27th.
If you wanna read my past WRC coverage here ya go:
Round 5 Cyprus
Round 3 Mexico
Round 2 Sweden
Round 1 Monte Carlo
Jun 8, 2004, 04:15 PM
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Sunday nights on Speed is where I find rally coverage when it's on. Unless there was a rally that weekend something else is generally scheduled.
Two things caught my attention about this last rally; Mitsubishi actually had a car finish, and The privaters were finishing as high as 5th place in the main event. I'm not picking over-hard on
but they have had quite a few problems with the new car - it was nice to see one make it to the end. I'm guessing the team is under budget presure in addition to all the new car issues.
Two things caught my attention about this last rally; Mitsubishi actually had a car finish, and The privaters were finishing as high as 5th place in the main event. I'm not picking over-hard on
but they have had quite a few problems with the new car - it was nice to see one make it to the end. I'm guessing the team is under budget presure in addition to all the new car issues.
