Ford driver Marcus Gronholm strengthend his lead of the World Rally Championship with a dominant perfomance on the Rally of Greece. Gronholm established his authority on the event early and cruised on the second day just matching his pace to that of second place runner Sebastian Loeb’s Citroen. Third place went to Petter Solberg who, given his Subaru’s obvious lack of pace, was happy just to finish on the podium.  Australian Chris Atkinson did lead the rally briefly on Friday, but a series of punctures saw him drop back to finish 6th overall.

The Top 10 Finishers were:

1. Marcus Gronholm (Ford)
2. Sebastian Loeb (Citroen)
3. Petter Solberg (Subaru)
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford)
5. Henning Solberg (Ford)
6. Chris Atkinson (Subaru)
7. Jan Kopecky (Skoda)
8. Manfred Stohl (Citroen)
9. Guy Wilks (Ford)
10. Matthew Wilson (Ford)

British Rally ace Tony Pond in one of the mid-engined, 4WD Metro 6R4 Group B rally cars, circa 1984,  flat out on a stage in the Welsh Forests – watch the trees flash past at close to 100 mph!

Ford’s Marcus Gronholm regained the lead of the World Rally Championship with a victory on the Italian Rally over the weekend. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Loeb throw away an early lead after going off the road and planting his Citroen in a roadside ditch. Gronholm had also suffered problems during the event, with a spin, suspension damage and even a detached wheel, but managed to keep it on the road.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1. Gronholm (Ford)
2. Hirvonen (Ford)
3. Sordo (Citroen)
4. H. Solberg (Ford)
5. P. Solberg (Subaru)
6. Gardemeister (Mitsubishi)
7. Sthol (Citroen)
8. Hanninen ( Mitsubishi)
9. Latvala (Ford)
10. Atkinson (Subaru)

The Argentian Rally will probably be remembered more for its strange start than it’s eventual result. The plan to hold a special stadium stage 700kms from rally headquarters on the Thursday night had already been questioned by many competitors. When weather caused flight cancellations and delays after the stage which resulted in many teams being unable to make the official start of the rally on Friday, several stages were scrapped. As a result the rally didn’t really start in earnest until Saturday when World Champion Sebastian Loeb (below) quickly took charge.

After a short battle with Petter Solberg, Marcus Gronholm secured second place, but could do nothing to catch Loeb. Mikko Hirvonen, winner of the controversial Thursday night stadium stage dropped back when the rally took to the open road, but eventually finished third after benefiting from Petter Solberg’s engine failure.

Wordl Champion Sebastian Loeb took his Citroen to his second straight victory and his second gravel surface victory over the weekend with a dominant perfomance on the Rally Portugal.

Initially it look like the rally may be a close fought event as by the end of the first morning the lead four cars were only seperated by 9 seconds.  But a poor choice by championship leader Marcus Gronholm allowed Loeb to open up a 40 second gap and from that point on the rally was his. The battle for third took longer to settle with Mikko Hirvonen coming in ahead of Petter Solberg.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1.  Loeb (Citroen)
2.  Gronholm (Ford)
3.  Hirvonen (Ford)
4.  P. Solberg  (Subaru)
5.  Sordo (Citroen)
6.  Latvala (Ford)
7.  Carlsson  (Citroen)
8.  Galli  (Citroen)
9.  H. Solberg  (Ford)
10.  Stohl  (Citroen)