More interesting news on day 2 of the Acropolic Rally. Petter Solberg stormed out of the gate and looked to the man to challenge Markko Martin. He got quite close, til he had driveshaft issues later in the morning, and dropped over a minute. Martin saw his chance and took it, storming to three stage wins and putting close to a minute between himself and Carlos Sainz. Harri Rovanpera started the day only 4 seconds off Martin’s lead, but that soon became almost 3 minutes by the end of the day thanks to gearbox issues with his Peugot (the same fate suffered by teammate Richard Burns). Colin McRae sits in fourth, with Tommi Makinen fifth, Rovanpera sixth, and Richard Burins seventh.

Martin has his work cut out for him, as he basically just has to survive tomorrow’s new, rough stages, but he’s got to be a bit nervous, as the latest version of the Focus WRC hasn’t been the most dependable car this season. Solberg has the ability to overtake Sainz for second — he and Marcus Gronholm are quite possibly the only drivers on the circuit able to make up large chunks of time. Expect to see Martin and Sainz drive steadily to reach the end in one piece, while Solberg and Burns (who’s fighting to get as many points on Gronholm in the driver’s championship) should really put their feet down to make up time and places.

Peugeot suddenly looks very vulnerable. After being incredibly fast last year, and incredibly durable (after several seasons of many retirements), the 206 looks mortal again. Burns will be contesting the stages tomorrow without the benefit of 2nd gear — thanks to his and Rovanpera’s gearbox problems, the Peugeot engineers have exhausted their parts supply. Burns has had a good run of luck with his 206, never finishing less than fourth this year, but Gronholm and Rovanpera haven’t been as lucky — Gronholm has 3 wins and 2 retirements in five rallies, and Rovanpera has seen multiple podium finishes crushed by accidents and car problems. Ironically, tarmac specialist Gilles Panizzi has been running well in a customer-spec 206 — he’s currently holding 8th place. He’s driving himself right off the Peugeot roster for next season if the new team rules are accepted by the FIA (teams can only have 2 drivers nominated for points who have previously won rallies. Right now, every Peugeot driver has a rally win to his credit).

So far, this rally has made me really appreciate how tough professional rallying is. I just read a print article about Michael Schumacher and life on the Formula 1 circuit. While those cars are quite impressive, they drive on pretty tarmac tracks in generally good weather. WRC cars during rallies like the Acropolis, Cyprus and Turkey run on roads that would leave all cars save Hummers and Range Rovers nothing more than a pile of metal. There are two service stops during most days, and engineers have 20 minutes to beat the cars into shape again (that includes switching entire gearboxes, suspensions, etc). And the rough roads aren’t just for the gravel rallies. Watch footage of Monte Carlo, Spain, or Corsica. Especially Monte Carlo — stages include going from sunny dry tarmac to snow storms and back again on roads that would be absolutely terrifying to drive at 5kph, let alone 100….anyway, just my thoughts on why rallying beats the pants off any other type of auto racing….

Posted on 7 June 2003