Sat August 30, 2003

 Exclusive interview: Ari Vatanen During Rally Finland I bumped into Ari Vatanen several times. Ari had a fun event. He was charged for breaking the speed limit in recce no less than 12 times, which according to Juha Repo was to catch up from all the time they spent in pubs meeting people during recce. What is mo...

NEWS JUST IN

 McRae worries over 2004 @ 08:33 AM - In the UK's press this morning Colin McRae has admitted that the rule changes may bring about a premature end to his world rallying career. The Scot says that Hyundai appear to be the only relistic team with a vacant berth at the present time, however his comments suggest that he does not wish to explore that option at this point in his career.

 Australia Tips @ 01:55 AM - Only a few days to get your top 8 tips in for Australia!

Fri August 29, 2003

 Peugeot's 2004 drivers Peugeot Sport announce their driver line up for 2004! Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen in a full program was clear. But the rest had been covered in mystery lately and caused a lot of speculation and mind games. The announcement is not disappointing and certainly still further...

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 Breaking news: Peugeot drivers 04 @ 10:01 AM - Peugeot announce their 2004 drivers to be: In 307, all events Marcus Grönholm and Harri Rovanperä, as 3rd driver Freddy Loix, who may be replaced for 2 or 3 events. Peugeot will also run a 4th car, a 206 for Daniel Carlsson!

Thu August 28, 2003

 Robert Reid: In the hot seat As passenger in the right-hand seat of the World Rally Championship leader's 206 WRC, Robert Reid clearly lives a life in the fast lane. But his job is also a way of life; you don't get to become Richard Burns' co-driver by accident! We talked with him before the start o...

Tue August 26, 2003

 Launch details on the new 307 WRC Peugeot’s new 307 WRC will have its first public appearance on the Frankfurt Motor Show „IAA“ between 11th and 21st September 2003. On this Motorshow Peugeot will show 23 cars from their range. The 307 WRC is in good company as other Peugeot highlights include the Hoggar off road...

 Information on the new 307 WRCar The Frankfurt Motor Show 2003 will mark a third important event in the recent sporting history of Automobiles Peugeot: following on from February 1983 and the presentation of the 205 Turbo 16 jointly with the marketing of its little sister, the 205, and then June 1998 with the si...

Mon August 25, 2003

 Historic vs Modern On the past weekend, there was a German Championship event, the Eifel Rallye, which had a very special twist. The German championship international field was once more like a group N Mitsubishi one-makes series, although on the flowing tarmac stages some kit cars fared better tha...

 Gilles Panizzi Commits To Mitsubishi

NEWS JUST IN

 Panizzi joins Mitsubishi @ 08:37 AM - Asphalt king Gilles Panizzi has been confirmed in Mitsubishi's driver line up for next season. The Frenchman, who has been the mainstay of Peugeot's mastery on tarmac in recent years, will drive a heavily revised Lancer WRC in next year's events - the Japanese outfit have taken a year's sabbatical from the sport and is expected to return as a strong force in 2004.

Sun August 24, 2003

 Gloucester Park Sneak Peek Thanks to Andrew Porada of Perth, Australia. We can take a sneak peek of the location where Telstra Rally Australia's Super Special Stage will run. Construction of the stage begun not so long ago, which is a change from years before. That's because the team behind the event...

NEWS JUST IN

 Time to Tip for Australia @ 06:31 AM - The event is fast approaching. Make sure you get your top eight tips in!.

Tue August 19, 2003

NEWS JUST IN

 Another silly silly season twist @ 11:31 AM - We are receiving news that Simon Jean-Joseph is joining the Citroen works squad as 3rd driver in 2004. This not only confirms Citroen is to run 3 cars next year. It goes in line with new FIA 3rd driver rules aimed at giving drives to younger, less experienced drivers. Former Ford, Subaru and Renault works driver Jean-Joseph is a fresh 34 years young. We are now waiting for news who signs 57 year young ex-WRChampion Stig Blomqvist....

Mon August 18, 2003

 Skoda face fitness race for Australia Škoda Motorsport Team drivers Toni Gardemeister and Didier Auriol are engaged in a battle to be fit in time to contest next month’s Rally Australia, the third event for the new Škoda Fabia WRC. Over the weekend Toni fell and broke a bone in his wrist during a charity ice-hockey m...

 Burns Back to Subaru Follows Tommi News 2001 FIA World Rally Champion Richard Burns, who gained his title driving an Impreza WRC, has today signed a two-year contract that will see him return to Subaru from the start of next season. Richard currently leads this year's Drivers' Championship by five points, with fi...

 Four Times Champion - Makinen to Retire Tommi Mäkinen today announced his decision to make 2003 the closing season of his extraordinary career in rallying. The 39-year-old Finn will continue to compete with Subaru on the final five events of the 2003 Championship, which culminates with Rally GB on 7-9 November. Tommi&#...

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 Enter your Tips for Rally Australia @ 10:55 AM - Top eight down under? Enter your tips in our FREE competition..

Wed August 13, 2003

 Building Begins at Gloucester Park Gloucester Park is experiencing a major transformation. Where once there was little more than a track for the horses, the humble beginnings of what will soon be the Super Special Stage at Gloucester Park can now be seen. We are of course talking about Perth’s premier internationa...

Tue August 12, 2003

NEWS JUST IN

 Petter Solberg to Marry @ 08:34 AM - From Christer Bofeldt - RallysportNews. Petter Solberg from Norway and Pernilla Walfridsson from Swedan will marry on the August 16. Pernilla and Petter have already one son, Oliver born September 23 last yaer. Pernilla, 30 years old, comes from the rally centre of The Swedish Rally - Torsby, 6 miles from Hagfors. She is also a rally driver. Congratulations.

Mon August 11, 2003

 Interview - Ari Vatanen on the 93 Team

 Fabia completes 500 stage kilometres Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team co-driver Paavo Lukander will return to the sport in which he made his competition debut to host an ice hockey match to be held at 6pm on Saturday evening at Kuovala Ice Hall. The event raises money for the Ice Hockey Club that works to help youn...

Sun August 10, 2003

 Championship In Sights Citroën - still in its debut season in the World Rally Championship - has strengthened its position in the World Rally Championship with Citroën Xsara WRC drivers Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb finishing fourth and fifth in the Rally of Finland at the weekend (8-10 August 2003)....

 Flying Markko with Another Win Ford BP Rallye Sport's Markko Märtin and Michael Park today became only the third non-Nordic drivers to win the Rally Finland in the event's 53-year history. The 27-year-old Estonian and his 37-year-old co-driver powered their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car to victory on th...

 All the Risks Pay off for Petter - 2nd! Locked in a thrilling battle for second place, Subaru driver Petter Solberg delivered a faultless performance at the wheel of his Impreza today. He set a string of consistently fast times and clinched two stage wins before overturning Richard Burns’ overnight advantage and snatch...

 Not quite enough For Peugeot sadly only one works car was left and even that suffered from the mysterious wheel bearing problems that emberassingly kept annoying Peugeot all weekend. Thankfully Peugeot has found wheel bearings of an older production batch, therefore on the last leg the problem sh...

 Most nailbiting Finnish finish! The last leg of Rally Finland 2003 started off with just as much excitement as the previous day provided. Markko Märtin in his fast Ford had a secure lead, yet to the delight of the many Estonian fans he refused to stop attacking and even posted a fastest time on the opening stag...

 Two Stages Remain - SS21 Update

 Burns Snatches 2nd Back - SS20 Teams return to service now before a repeat of the morning stages. But not before that, SS20 has seen Richard Burns take second place back and the mind games are continuing between the pair. With three stages to go Petter is playing down his chances, but in reality he has every c...

 Markko Flying, Petter 2nd - SS19 Richard Burns was the quickest through the stage by with Petter Solberg only 0.3 seconds slower, Solberg keeps hold of second place overall. Solberg says he is pushing as hard as he can but wants to give more, while Markko Martin admitted he is now in a position to enjoy the rall...

NEWS JUST IN

 WRC positions after FIN @ 08:03 AM - Provisional makes: 1st Peugeot 101points / 2nd Citroen 97 / 3rd Ford 60 / 4th Subaru 60 / 5th Skoda 20 / 6th Hyundai 10

 WRC positions after FIN @ 08:03 AM - Provisional drivers: 1st Burns 49points / 2nd Sainz 44 / 3rd Grönholm 38 / 4th Solberg 38 / 5th Loeb 37 / 6th Märtin 37 / 7th Mc Rae 28 / 8th Mäkinen 18 / 9th Rovanperä 16 / 10th Duval 11

 Markko Wins, Petter Second!! @ 07:38 AM - Absolutely nail biting finish, Petter grabs second in the last kilometres of the last stage! A great win for Markko. 1. Martin 2. Solberg +58.9 3. Burns +1:00.1 4. Sainz +1:59.0 5. Loeb +2:48.7 6. Makinen +3:25.2 7. Tuohino +4:22.9 8. Lindholm 4:39.4 9. Pykalisto +6:23.9 10. Loix +8:19.2 11. Vatanen +11:49.3 12. Schwarz +12:51.5

 So Close with 1 to Go! @ 06:48 AM - 1. Martin 2. Burns +1:01.7 3. Solberg +1:03.5 4. Sainz +1:48.5 5. Loeb +2:42.6 6. Makinen +3:17.9 7. Tuohino +4:16.9 8. Lindholm 4:25.7 9. Pykalisto +6:19.5 10. Loix +7:53.0 11. Vatanen +11:26.6 12. Schwarz +12:26.9

 Overall After SS21 @ 06:15 AM - 1. Martin 2. Burns +1:02.6 3. Solberg +1:05.7 4. Sainz +1:39.5 5. Loeb +2:34.1 6. Makinen +3:08.3 7. Tuohino +4:00.4 8. Lindholm 4:08.1 9. Pykalisto +6:00.4 10. Loix +7:15.5 11. Vatanen +10:57.2 12. Schwarz +11:39.8