Mon September 27, 2004

 Petter Talks About his Wales Victory 22 September 2004 - Petter Solberg: Wales Rally was the hardest finish I can remember, but one of the best. Sebastien is a very determined guy. We had the most incredible battle, this is a good result for the sport and we put on a great show - but it was not an easy task on Sunda...

Sun September 19, 2004

 Toni denied top 10 result by accident Rally GB again confirmed the continuing progress made by Škoda Motorsport’s Fabia WRC development programme but the team was denied a top 10 overall result by bad luck. Toni Gardemeister slid off the road into a river near the end of day two and the time lost while spectators wre...

 Seb loses battle but wins the war Sebastien Loeb had to be content with second spot once again on the Wales Rally of GB as Norway's Petter Solberg stole a victory from under his nose, but it's not quite a repeat of the horrors of 2003 for the Citroen man. Last year on this event his title hopes were cruell...

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 Makes title battle @ 10:08 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after GB: 1st Citroen 150points // 2nd Ford 112 // 3rd Subaru 91 /cut*/ 4th Peugeot 76 // 5th Mitsubishi 17 - *cut marks the point of mathematical title chance yes/no

 Drivers title battle @ 10:06 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after GB: 1st Loeb 92points // 2nd Solberg 64 // 3rd Märtin 59 // 4th Sainz 55 /cut*/ 5th Grönholm 47 // 6th Duval 43 // 7th Hirvonen 23 // 8th Rovanperä 20 // 9th Tuohino 16 // 10th Loix 7 - *cut marks the point of mathematical title chance yes/no

 GB end results @ 09:47 AM - Unofficial, provisional positions after SS19: 1. Solberg 3:42:39.5 2. Loeb +6.3 3. Märtin +2:53.7 4. Sainz +3:42.1 5. Duval +4:41.3 6. Rovanperä +6:44.9 7. Hirvonen +7:08.3 8. Stohl +10:20.1 9. Vouilloz +15:12.3 10. Warmbold +15:49.3

 Final day battle begins @ 04:37 AM - Loeb opens up his margin after spin from Solberg ... leaderboard after SS16 ... 1. LOEB 3:10:27.6 ... 2. SOLBERG +8.6 ... 3. MÄRTIN +2:28.8 ... 4. SAINZ +2:50.2 ... 5. DUVAL +4:06.1 ... 6. ROVANPERÄ +6:00.8 ... 7. HIRVONEN +6:15.9 ... 8. HIGGINS +9:00.7 ... 9. STOHL +9:15.0 ... 10. WARMBOLD +13:26.2

Sat September 18, 2004

 Toni to fight to the finish The Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team is being led by Toni Gardemeister on the second day of Rally GB. Toni was in tenth position until he slid off the road for 30 minutes on SS14. The team lost Jani Paasonen following a clutch problem that forced him to stop during SS12 today. O...

 Tricky first day for Skoda crews After the first leg of Rally GB, Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team drivers Toni Gardemeister and Jani Paasonen were in 11th and 14th places but Armin Schwarz retired on tonight’s final stage. In the tough conditions the Fabias hit 150kph on some sections and both Armin and Toni s...

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 GB SS14 - last real day2 stage @ 12:04 AM - Loeb's lead shrinks to under 7s. Rovanperä sweeps past Hirvonen by only 0.4s. Tuohino stopped in stage. Gardemeister crashed into a ditch and was stuck for 30min. Sadly this is the last Skoda out of the frame. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS14: 1. Loeb 2:53:11.8 2. Solberg +6.8 3. Märtin +2:13.8 4. Sainz +2:30.7 5. Duval +3:44.4 6. Rovanperä +5:39.1 7. Hirvonen +5:39.5 8. Higgins +8:02.0 9. Stohl +8:32.7 10. Warmbold +12:21.9

 Pro-hunt lobby delays event @ 10:40 AM - Wales Rally GB delayed by peaceful protesters. An offically unnamed group of peaceful protesters has delayed the first 12 rally cars in the village of Llanfinangel Nant Bran, Powys. Llanfinangel Nant Bran is on the road section from Sennybridge (TC10) to the Start of Special Stage 11, Crychan 2. First car on the road, car number 20 (Warmbold) started SS11 at 12.30. (SS 11 was originally scheduled to start at 12.05).

 GB SS13 - Leaderboard @ 09:21 AM - Märtin managed to stay ahead of Sainz and keep 3rd place, by 15.9s. So Märtin lost 1 1/2 minutes with his engine problem. Rovanperä is catching Hirvonen. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS13: 1. Loeb 2:38:01.6 2. Solberg +10.6 3. Märtin +2:07.6 4. Sainz +2:23.5 5. Duval +3:34.8 6. Hirvonen +5:16.5 7. Rovanperä +5:26.8 8. Higgins +7:31.1 9. Stohl +8:02.5 10. Gardemeister +8:31.5

 Märtin with engine problems @ 08:31 AM - Markko Märtin struggles since the first stage of the 2nd loop with engine problems. He should be able to carry on, but he has to complete this loop of 3 stages with this problem and is bound to lose much time. Jani Paasonen retired with clutch failure.

 Leaderboard after SS10 @ 06:46 AM - Loeb opens up a slender advantage after the first run through Halfway (SS10) ... 1. LOEB 2:11:46.0 ... 2. SOLBERG +17.2 ... 3. MÄRTIN +53.0 ... 4. SAINZ +2:09.0 ... 5. DUVAL +3:38.5 ... 6. HIRVONEN +4:48.7 ... 7. ROVANPERÄ +5:16.4 ... 8. HIGGINS +6:46.7 ... 9. GARDEMEISTER +7:20.9 ... 10. STOHL +7:27.3

 Gronholm's annus horribilis @ 06:44 AM - Marcus Gronholm's terrible year continues as he crashes out of the Wales Rally of Great Britain on stage 9, the first run through Epynt.

Fri September 17, 2004

 Solberg holds on tight to Seb It's been a fascinating first day through the six stages of South Wales on the Wales Rally of GB. The opening pair of Brechfa and Trawscoed saw Citroen's star Loeb blast away and actually take advantage of his road-sweeping position, however the muddier stages of the after...

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 GB SS7 - Havoc end of day @ 01:12 PM - Loads of havoc: Grönholm hits a gate post with force but doesn't lose time. Duval losses brakes and near 2m. Hirvonen spins and loses near 1m. Rovanperä: "I hit an extremely large rock on middle of road and the gearbox is gone since", lost 3m. Schwarz crash, retired. Unofficial, provisional positions after day1: 1. Loeb 1:45:56.6 2. Solberg +8.4 3. Grönholm +15.9 4. Märtin +35.0 5. Sainz +1:48.5 6. Hirvonen +3:17.0 7. Duval +3:31.1 8. Rovanperä +4:54.5 9. Higgins +6:05.3 10. H Solberg +6:21.6

 GB SS6 - the gaps close @ 10:04 AM - The gaps at the front are closing, Solberg sweeps past Grönholm, Carlsson has crashed out. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS6: 1. Loeb 1:27:29.0 2. Solberg +12.0 3. Grönholm +16.5 4. Märtin +31.6 5. Sainz +1:33.8 6. Duval +1:44.6 7. Rovanperä +1:56.5 8. Hirvonen +2:30.4 9. Higgins +5:09.4 10. Schwarz +5:13.8

 GB SS5 - long wait now... @ 06:57 AM - ...however they managed this, we have 2 stages left for the day which takes 7 hours! No major drama on this SS5. However we have a flashback to SS3, where rally legend Jimmy McRae retired his Subaru with transmission problems. Also emberrassingly out after only about 5km this morning: both the ex works Hyundais with Craig Middleton and Steve Petch. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS5: 1. Loeb 1:09:09.0 2. Grönholm +14.8 3. Solberg +19.0 4. Märtin +32.9 5. Sainz +1:23.6 6. Duval +1:34.4 7. Rovanperä +1:37.7 8. Hirvonen +2:02.3 9. Carlsson +3:53.4 10. Higgins +3:57.9

 GB SS4 - Repeat stages @ 05:45 AM - The conditions appear muddier than believed. This would have given Loeb an advantage as first car on the road, an advantage well used in the morning loop. Now on the repeat of the first morning stage however the stage win goes to Grönholm. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS4: 1. Loeb 52:19.5 2. Grönholm +16.2 3. Solberg +25.8 4. Märtin +30.6 5. Sainz +1:12.6 6. Duval +1:21.1 7. Rovanperä +1:21.4 8. Hirvonen +1:47.6 9. Schwarz +3:21.3 10. Higgins +3:24.8

 GB SS3 - Loeb well in charge @ 03:52 AM - After only two proper stages, the gaps are already surprisingly huge, especially near the front. Loeb is in command, Solberg already half a minute down! However Grönholm and Märtin already made it further than they did last year. Unofficial, provisional positions after SS3: 1. Loeb 34:58.1 2. Grönholm +19.5 3. Solberg +29.0 4. Märtin +29.7 5. Sainz +57.3 6. Rovanperä +1:07.1 7. Duval +1:08.4 8. Hirvonen +1:28.9 9. Schwarz +2:25.6 10. Higgins +2:37.8

Wed September 15, 2004

 Team Interview - Pre Wales Questions to Guy Fréquelin, Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz....

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 Great Britain Tips @ 10:40 AM - Last chance to get your Rally Great Britain tips in.

Tue September 14, 2004

 Can Loeb Clinch the Crown? Citroen's Sébastien Loeb goes into this weekend's (16-19 September 2004) RAC Rally, the UK round of the World Rally Championship, with a 30 point lead over his nearest rival and a theoretical chance to clinch the drivers' World Championship title, but with the move of th...

 Subaru Wales Preview Two weeks after Subaru claimed its 42nd WRC victory by winning the inaugural Rally Japan, the 2004 FIA World Rally Championship moves back to Europe for round twelve of the 16 event series, Wales Rally GB. Beginning on Thursday 16 September with a visit to the Super Special Stage...

Sat September 11, 2004

 GB starting order

 GB itinerary

Fri September 10, 2004

 Rovis: "Nice to explore new countries"

 Carlsson: "Competing with the big boys!" The up-and-coming Swedish youngster, who has just signed a contract with Peugeot for 2005, talks about the forthcoming Rally GB on which he will drive a factory 307 WRC. Has it always been your dream to be a rally driver? “It would be a lie to say 'yes'. I might...

 Date change in GB brings new challenge After many years as a winter finale to the FIA World Rally Championship, the Wales Rally GB (16 - 19 September) is reborn next week as an end-of-summer event. The fog, mud, snow and ice which were so common during its mid-November date will be replaced by drier and faster condit...

 3 Fabias ready for fast Welsh roads Having missed Rally Japan at the beginning of September, Škoda Motorsport now faces four World Rally Championship events in six weeks, starting with Rally GB (September 16-19). Škoda Motorsport will enter three cars for the British event, driven as usual by Toni Gardemeister and ...