Rallye De France Preview

After one week’s rest, the World Rally Championship heads to Corsica for another tarmac round. Corsica is considered to be the classic sealed surface rally, with rough old tarmac roads, and loads of tight corners. It’s a visually stunning rally as well, with the roads cut into high mountainsides, with deep ravines waiting if the drivers make a mistake. Tommi Makinen had a terrible shunt here in 2001, coming within inches of a huge drop.

The championship race is still wide open, with Richard Burns carry a narrow two point lead of Sebastien Loeb. Loeb is another two points ahead of Carlos Sainz, with Petter Solberg still in the hunt, nine points behind Burns. Loeb is an obvious favorite to win in France, and Burns has to work very hard to avoid the disaster that befell him in Italy two weekends ago. Burns has shown flashes of brilliance on tarmac in the past, but he’s struggling with obviously substandard car in the 206 — the Citroen Xsara and Ford Focus are by far the quickest cars at the moment, and that puts Burns at a distinct disadvantage.

Now, a team-by-team analysis:

Subaru
Solberg and Tommi Makinen are hoping to put Italy behind them as well. Solberg struggled, then retired, and Makinen never found a good rhythm, and just barely squeaked into the manufacturer’s points for Subaru. The Impreza’s new suspension and differentials were touted before Italy, and both Solberg and Makinen looked quick during shakedown, but they couldn’t find that pace during the rally. Solberg can still fight for a podium spot in Corsica, though he honestly can’t expect to fight for the win. He can keep the championship leaders in his sights with a good performace, and hope the fight goes down to the last round in Great Britain, which he won last year.

Peugeot
There’s been much grumbling from Burns, Marcus Gronholm, and Gilles Panizzi about the state of the 206. The team has decided to scrap the car at the end of the season, and testing has begun on its replacement, the 307. This means there has been little to no development work done on the 206, and that shows it in its pace. Panizzi said during Italy that he had the pace he had this year during last year’s rally (which he won easily), he could have won by over five minutes. As it was, though, Panizzi struggled to keep up with the Focus and the Xsara, and snuck into second place after a tyre gamble before the final stage. Burns will have to work hard to keep the championship lead, and he will probably leave Corsica in second place. But he can walk away with four or six points, he’ll be in good shape going into the final two round.

Ford
The Focus is quick. If it wasn’t for some mechanical issues, Markko Martin would have given Loeb a good run on Sunday in Italy. And Francois Duval also looked quick in Italy, and he’s hoping to build on his fifth place finish there. Martin does have a legimate shot at winning Corsica, though his lack of experience could tip the scales in Loeb’s favor. Martin is still a longshot for the championship however. Even with a win, he’d have to hope that Loeb and Burns retire to give himself a chance at the title.

Citroen
Loeb is a legimate title contender, and he is the marked man in Corsica. If Burns falters, Loeb could pull away in the points table. This is a home event for Loeb, who cut his teeth on the French junior championships (which, by the way, are all tarmac rallies). But Loeb isn’t the only championship contender on the Citroen squad. Carlos Sainz had a solid performance in Italy, and he’s currently in third place in the points table, and much of the media seems to have forgotten this. If Sainz can put in another solid performance this week, he can keep his title hopes alive. And Colin McRae had a solid rally in Italy as well, and though he won’t be contender for the title this year, he will be the key to Citroen extending their lead in the manufacturer’s championship.

Skoda
The team made some changes to the new Fabia after Italy, and hopefully Corsica will be another step forward for the development of the car. If Didier Auriol can score a few top ten stage times, this will be a successful rally for the Czech outfit.

Hyundai
Sadly, Hyundai has pulled out of the championship, and won’t return until 2006. Budget problems and contract disputes with the team’s sporting unit prevented the team from doing any real testing this year, and the team has finally decided to pull the plug on the program until things can be ironed out, and the team can truly compete again.

My Top Five
1. Sebastien Loeb
2. Markko Martin
3. Gilles Panizzi
4. Petter Solberg
5. Carlos Sainz