So much for a ho-hum third day of rallying in Italy. The first half of the day was standard fare for day three — drivers simply looking to maintain their positions in the points table, driving just fast enough to keep it interesting, but not fast enough to make a mistake. Then, things got really interesting. As the cars were leaving the day’s only service stop, the skies opened and the so far unseen rain come down in buckets. Nearly every works car was fitted with dry tarmac slicks, and without time to change them, the drivers were forced to deal with the now treacherous conditions. Only three works cars left service with wet weathe tyres: Gilles Panizzi (who simply bet that the weather would turn sour), Tommi Makinen (who was simply testing tyres since he was out of the points hunt), and Marcus Gronholm (who wasn’t actually using wet weather tyres — he simply had cuts make in his slicks). The results for the final two stages reflected tyre choice, and Panizzi nearly stole the rally from Sebastien Loeb.
On SS13, Panizzi stole 20 seconds back from the leaders as the roads were beginning to get soaked. Loeb mananged to keep things close, taking the third fastest time, but Panizzi managed to leapfrog Carlos Sainz into fourth place overall. On SS14, the day’s final stage, things got even more interesting. The roads were quite damp, and even Gronholm on his cut slicks couldn’t keep it together, as he crashed and destroyed a wheel, ending his rally. Panizzi took advantage of his tyres, and absolutely blazed through the stage, cutting nearly a minute and half of Loeb’s lead, and jumping ahead of Markko Martin into second place. Loeb ran just fast enough to take the rally by 23 seconds. How bad were the roads? Panizzi was the only works car in the top six for the stage. Look at the results table and you probably won’t recognize a name until seventh place — Rchard Burns. He, Loeb and Makinen were the best of the rest on the final stage.
So, the top five looked like this:
1. Seb Loeb
2. Gilles Panizzi
3. Markko Martin
4. Carlos Sainz
5. Francois Duval
Richard Burns narrowly maintained his lead in the championship by squeaking into seventh place and scoring 2 points. The top of the points table is still fairly cluttered, with Burns leading Loeb by those two points, with Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg still within striking distance. Burns has got to be worried at this point, with two more tarmac rallies left, and the Citroen Xsara looking to be the fastest car at the moment. Every one of the Peugeot drivers felt that the 206 just couldn’t keep up with the Xsara or the Ford Focus. Petter Solberg also has to be a bit diconcerted with his title hopes, but if he can keep it close over the next two rallies, he’s one of the favorites to win the season-ending Rally GB, so he’s still got a chance.
The teams get one weekend off before Corsica, and given the quickness of Loeb and Martin, this could be Panizzi’s best shot at a win. The tight, twisty roads will favor the tiny 206, so perhaps Peugeot’s fortunes can change. Loeb has become my pick for the title though. Even if he doesn’t win Corsica or Spain, he’ll still end up on the podium, and the chances of Sainz, Solberg or Burns winning one of the tarmc events is slim. Carlos Sainz probably has the best shot at giving Loeb a run for the money, as the Xsara keeps him competitive on the sealed surfaces, and his skill and experience will give him a shot at winning Rally GB. If Sainz can walk away from Spain with 16 or 18 points (over the course of the three tarmac rallies), he’s got a shot in Britain.
Posted on 6 October 2003