Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Though Peugeot didn’t have a disasterous year in 2003, taking second place in the manufacturer’s championship, it was still a huge disappointment after taking both the driver’s and make’s titles in 2002. The team had problems everywhere, so where to begin….
Reliability suddenly become an issue for 206. After an amazing 2002, none of the drivers seemed content with the changes to the car. Marcus Gronholm had a string of retirements, Gilles Panizzi complained of a lack of power, and Richard Burns just never felt comfortable in the car. Harri Rovanpera added a string of mistakes and mechanical retirements. So what happened? More and likely, the team’s engineers rested on their laurels and didn’t do enough to boost the power of the engine. The most telling comment came from Gilles Panizzi during the Corsica rally — he said that if he ran at the pace he was during the 2002, he would have won by five minutes. As it stood, Panizzi was struggling for a top 5 finish.
Things won’t be better in 2004 with the debut of the new 307 in Monte Carlo. Peugeot couldn’t decide if they would wait to debut the WRC until later in the season, but finally concluded it was best just to get some miles on it and make changes as necessary. Releasing a new rally car is never a cause for immediate celebration. With only about six weeks between the Rally GB and Monte Carlo, the engineers don’t have much time to fully test the car. Expect plenty of retirements and poor finishes for the 307 during the first third of the 2004 season.
The driver line-up looks entirely different this year as well, with only Marcus Gronholm returning. Richard Burns decided to leave the team late last season, with the management responding with a “Well, we weren’t going to resign you anyway.” There was no mistaking that Gronholm and Burns didn’t really get on well as teammates, especially with the strong year Burns had. I imagine that at some point Gronholm requested that he be the only number 1 driver on the team in 2004. Peugeot also decided to release Harri Rovanpera, after Rovanpera had a disappointing year. The most mind-boggling choice, however, was why the management didn’t offer Panizzi a full factory drive (remember, Panizzi had only been contesting the tarmac rounds in a factory-spec 206 — everything else was in a customer-spec car). Panizzi showed incredible skill on the gravel rounds he contested (and remember, the playing field was far from level for him in a privateer car), and he’s a danger to win every tarmac event he enters. While Panizzi probably wouldn’t be in the running for the driver’s championship, his prescence on the team still doesn’t allow Gronholm to be the clear number one driver on every rally.
Peugeot’s solution was to sign Freddy Loix, who was left unemployed when Hyundai folded its WRC program before the Rally GB. Loix is a good driver who has been hampered by a less than ideal car (the Hyundai Accent WRC). He can be counted on the score manufacturer’s point, and perhaps still a few driver’s points here and there. But he’ll never challenge Gronholm as the team’s number one driver — he is a clear number two in a supporting role.
And what about Gronholm? He’ll be anxious to make up for a disappointing 2003 campaign, but the new 307 will no doubt hold him back. If the car progresses quickly enough, he may be a threat to win a few gravel rallies, but it would take a small miracle to be able to compete for the championship. I’d expect that if the car doesn’t progress well enough this season that Gronholm will look to move on.
Posted on 8 January 2004