I haven’t written much about the 2005 campaign thus far, but after a tumultuous day in Cyprus, I thought I’d pass along a few bits of news.

Unsurprisingly, Sebastien Loeb leads the event after the first leg, but every factory team has suffered significant problems. First, Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm, who expected to compete for victory this weekend, retired during the very first stage. Loeb’s teammate Francois Duval had throttle problems, leading to several time penalties. Mitsubishi’s Gilles Panizzi suffered gearbox problems, dropping him well down the timesheets. Petter Solberg, who was the only driver with Loeb in his sights, suffered turbo problems, prompting his retirement prior to the leg’s final stage. Thanks these problems, the current leaderboard is peppered with privateers, with Manfred Stohl holding second place, and Henning Solberg in third. Peugot’s Markko Martin is fourth, with Ford privateer Antony Warmbold within striking distance in fifth.

Solberg will attempt to restart the rally on leg two, suffering a five minute time penalty. With the leaderboard as it is, however, Solberg should have no problems pulling into the points, and perhaps even fighting for a podium place, which is absolutely critical for his title chances. Gronholm, however, will not restart, as the damage to his 307 was deemed terminal. Loeb will also have two challenging days ahead of him. He will be walking the fine line between not pushing enough and potentially losing focus and pushing too hard and suffering a fate similiar to his rivals.

Posted on 13 May 2005