Sun September 7, 2003

 Sébastien Loeb Shows Title Intentions The Xsaras of Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Colin McRae/Derek Ringer and Carlos Sainz/Marc Marti returned to Perth for the Rally Australia finnish, lying second, fourth and fifth respectively. For its first participation in the antipodean event, Citroën obtained a fantastic team r...

 Loix Grabs More Hyundai Points

 Ford on a Points Streak, Aus Wrap

 Toni grabs Inmarsat award

 Victory for Solberg and Subaru

 Peugeot had to play waiting game

 Petter Does it, Loeb Sensational - Leg 3

 Märtin excluded - more details

NEWS JUST IN

 Petter Dedicates Win to Possum @ 05:38 AM - Fittingly Petter Solberg has dedicated his win in Australia to the late great Possum Bourne. Thank you Petter.

 Wilson on rock saga @ 02:59 AM - "Obviously I'm extremely disappointed for Markko, Michael and the whole team. It's a blow to our world championship hopes but a decision that we have accepted without appeal. Markko and Michael acted on the spur of the moment in an effort to retain the spare wheel which was not properly secured. It's an unfortunate situation but we must all move forward and concentrate on the next round of the championship in Italy next month."

 Makes title battle @ 02:15 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after Australia: 1st Peugeot 110points // 2nd Citroen 110 // 3rd Subaru 74 // 4th Ford 61 // 5th Skoda 20 // 6th Hyundai 12

 Drivers title battle @ 02:10 AM - provisional, unofficial standings after Australia: 1st Burns 55points // 2nd Solberg 48 // 3rd Sainz 48 // 4th Loeb 45 // 5th Grönholm 38 // 6th Märtin 37 // 7th Mc Rae 33 // 8th Mäkinen 21 // 9th Rovanperä 18 // 10th Duval 11

 Central Excitement @ 01:21 AM - SS24, Bannister Central: Solberg seemed to have had a handling problem in the last stage, but Loeb had a bad tyre choice in the last 2 wet stages. So both actually lost time on the last stage. The victory such still goes to Solberg. Unofficial positions end of rally: =1. Solberg 3:32:07.1, 2. Loeb +26.6 3. Burns +1:53.0 4. Mc Rae +2:30.7 5. Sainz +2:37.2 6. Mäkinen +3:01.5 7. Rovanperä +4:03.9 8. Loix +7:00.7 9. Hirvonen +7:10.6 10. Duval +7:46.2

 Excitement to the West @ 01:18 AM - SS23, Bannister West: The lead changes once more, back to Solberg. It is quite a good lead now. the hotter fight for the last stage might indeed be Mc Rae vs Sainz = 2.5s. s well Hirvonen has passed Duval by 2.8s. Unofficial positions after SS23: =1. Solberg 3:13:46.2, 2. Loeb +8.0 3. Burns +1:47.3 4. Mc Rae +2:41.6 5. Sainz +2:44.1 6. Mäkinen +2:58.0 7. Rovanperä +3:41.6 8. Loix +6:48.1 9. Hirvonen +7:07.8 10. Duval +7:10.6

 Final Two Will be Wet @ 00:36 AM - Rain is falling on the final two stages, the surface is slippery in places.

Sat September 6, 2003

 Märtin excluded Markko Märtin's Ford Focus RS 03 has been excluded from the 2003 Rally Australia in bizarre circumstances. ärtin's Ford had been weighed in a routine procedure after the Gloucester Park super special last night. Märtin won the stage on both runs. It appears that his car had...

 Fabia drivers experiment with set up The Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team has been thwarted in its bid to climb the leaderboard by its start position on today’s second leg of Rally Australia. With Toni Gardemeister starting the day second on the road and Didier Auriol just four places further back, the effect of th...

 Loix Looking Good for Points - Leg 2 With an inch perfect drive on a relevantly eventful second leg of Rally Australia, Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets comfortably stayed ahead of their closest rivals and reached overnight parc ferme in ninth place with their Hyundai World Rally Team-mates Armin Schwarz and Manfred Hiem...

 Good Odds on Petter Winning Subaru's Norwegian hotshot Petter Solberg was in the thick of the action today, as he and fellow WRC youngster Sebastien Loeb tussled for the lead of the rally. The pair were inseparable for much of the Leg, each claiming four forest stage wins and pulling clear of the chasing...

 Markko has eye on podium spot Markko Märtin and Michael Park enjoyed a cleaner run through today's second leg of the Rally Australia to climb to fourth position in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car. The Ford BP Rallye Sport duo shrugged aside the frustrations of yesterday's opening leg, during which ...

 Thrilling Battle In Australia - Leg 2 On the second loop of stages, once again no real drama for the leading crews. But leg 2 continues to impress with the number of mini battles down the order. The biggest of course, that between Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg, for the lead of the rally. And undoubtedly they have...

 Peugeot quotes at mid day service

 Midday report from leg2 Rally Australia leg2 consists of two loops of 4 stages and nearly 60km of competition each around the Helena complex before the day is seen off with two runs over the short Perth City spectator super special stage. So after 4 longer stages, we are halfway through the day and the ...

NEWS JUST IN

 Excitement to the South @ 10:42 PM - SS22, Bannister South: Loeb re-takes lead, only 1.2s. Sainz now closing in on Mc Rae, only 2s. Remember yesterday Mc Rae took Sainz, then Mäkinen, now Sainz took Mäkinen and is targeting Mc Rae.... Unofficial positions after SS22: =1. Loeb 3:01:22.3, 2. Solberg +1.2 3. Burns +1:38.5 4. Mc Rae +2:37.5 5. Sainz +2:39.5 6. Mäkinen +2:53.1 7. Rovanperä +3:18.6 8. Loix +6:24.1 9. Duval +6:50.8 10. Hirvonen +6:52.5

 Excitement to the North @ 09:58 PM - SS21 Bannister North: Solberg takes lead, but only just. Sainz passes Mäkinen. Unofficial positions after SS21: =1. Solberg 2:45:21.6, 2. Loeb +0.7 3. Burns +1:30.2 4. Mc Rae +2:25.5 5. Sainz +2:28.4 6. Mäkinen +2:30.5 7. Rovanperä +3:03.0 8. Loix +5:44.7 9. Duval +6:11.5 10. Hirvonen +6:18.9

 Final Day - Its Not Wet @ 09:15 PM - There are threatening clouds above which may open later today. At this stage conditions are only damp after some overnight rain for the 4 stages today.

 Märtin excluded!!!! @ 08:00 PM - We are just receiving news that leg3 will start minus Markko Märtin. His Ford Focus has been found underweight in a routine check during leg2. Märtin was 4th.

 Overall After Leg 2 @ 09:55 AM - Unofficial positions after SS20: =1. Loeb 2:32:04.6, 2. Solberg +5.0 3. Burns +1:25.8 4. Märtin +1:53.1 5. Mc Rae +2:19.5 6. Mäkinen +2:20.9 7. Sainz +2:26.8 8. Rovanperä +2:54.2 9. Loix +5:17.8 10. Duval +5:55.1

 With only show stages left @ 04:11 AM - Loeb extends his lead to 5.2s. Mc Rae passes Mäkinen for 4th by only 1.4s with Sainz a further 5.1s behind. Unofficial positions after SS18: =1. Loeb 2:28:59.1, =1. Solberg +5.2 3. Burns +1:24.6 4. Märtin +1:55.1 5. Mc Rae +2:19.5 6. Mäkinen +2:20.9 7. Sainz +2:26.0 8. Rovanperä +2:51.7 9. Loix +5:14.4 10. Duval +5:53.7

 After SS17 @ 03:48 AM - Battles keep going on between Loeb & Solberg and McRae and Sainz. Märtin however is pulling clear of Mäkinen now. Unofficial positions after SS17: =1. Loeb 2:13:01.9, =1. Solberg +2.8 3. Burns +1:18.4 4. Märtin +1:50.4 5. Mäkinen +2:08.5 6. Mc Rae +2:16.8 7. Sainz +2:20.4 8. Rovanperä +2:46.5 9. Loix +4:54.6 10. Duval +5:33.6

 Longest stage done @ 03:24 AM - Longest stage of the day and still no major dramas for leading crews. Battles stay exciting, Sainz loses 4th to McRae after an overshoot. Unofficial positions after SS16: =1. Loeb 2:13:01.9, =1. Solberg +2.5 3. Burns +1:08.7 4. Märtin +1:44.1 5. Mäkinen +1:54.1 6. Mc Rae +2:08.1 7. Sainz +2:13.3 8. Rovanperä +2:39.9 9. Loix +4:37.6 10. Duval +5:31.3

 SS15, gaps tighten further @ 02:51 AM - Loeb's lead reduced to 1.1s. märtin takes Mäkinen for 4th, but gap is as little as 0.2s. Unofficial positions after SS15: =1. Loeb 2:01:38.1, =1. Solberg +0.9 3. Burns +59.8 4. Märtin +1:37.2 5. Mäkinen +1:37.4 6. Sainz +1:52.2 7. Mc Rae +1:58.1 8. Rovanperä +2:32.4 9. Loix +4:14.1 10. Duval +4:42.6

Fri September 5, 2003

 Petter Chasing Seconds For Lead After last night's sprint around the Perth City Super Special, all 122 of the original starters left parc ferme this morning. At the end of Leg 1, Petter Solberg holds second place overnight. The Norwegian has been locked in a thrilling battle for the lead with another young s...

 Leg 1 - A Clean Run for Hyundai The Hyundai World Rally Team crews made a good start to Rally Australia, the tenth round of the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship, with Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets and Armin Schwarz/Manfred Hiemer bringing their Hyundai Accent WRC³s to overnight parc ferme in ninth and 13th positions...

 Skoda Loud and Strong - Leg 1 The Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team has completed all of todays stagea of the opening day of Rally Australia. Faced with a battle against their recent injuries, both Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister have shown gritty determination and have each been rewarded with times insid...