Furthermore while Loeb won the Cyprus Rally in 2005 and would dearly love to do the same this weekend, he will again have to start first on the road and will concede time on the first loop, sweeping away the loose gravel.
"I’ve never competed in Cyprus in September. Maybe, it will be a bit less hot? We can dream, can’t we? In Cyprus, you need a very strong car. Shock absorbing is important for the traction and also to cope with the vertical demand on the chassis. It should not understeer at all in the slow corners and also should have a very good level of cooling. These past three years, the Xsara has done pretty well on the isle," he noted. "In 2003, our positions reflected our reliability and later we added the performance to it. The one-two finish last year with the Kronos Xsara of Manfred Stohl proved the ability of the Citroen on that terrain. We are going to try to benefit from it and fight for the win again."
Daniel Sordo meanwhile, who will be making his debut on the event, has again be entered in the second car and nominated to score manufacturers’ points. He has said that he will be very unhappy if he doesn’t pick up points for the Belgian-based squad come the conclusion of the event on Sunday.
"Once more we will have to be very focused during the recce. We need to find the right feeling, which dictates the ‘natural’ pace to choose. In Japan, I didn’t manage to do that. That rally is really special. The recce was completed in difficult conditions and maybe that was why. I wasn’t satisfied with my pace notes and unusually I corrected a lot of them over the first passage. The car was perfect but I couldn’t find the confidence. In Cyprus, I hope I will be able to get the right feeling straight away," he stated.
"I will try to achieve a top six finish with a focus on the manufacturers’ points. My job is to score some precious points for the team. I succeeded in Germany but had a blank score in the next two rounds. I will be very unhappy not to bring any to the team in Cyprus."
Kronos will also revert to a three-car line-up, with Xavier Pons back in action [see below].
BP Ford:
[Marcus Gronholm, car #3 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #4.]
Marcus Gronholm has said that he will have to rein himself in on the Cyprus Rally, as it is all too easy to over push and go off the road. Gronholm had to settle for second behind
Sebastien Loeb on the last round in Japan earlier this month, however while he is well aware that the drivers' championship is all but lost – barring a miracle,
BP Ford are more than in contention for the constructors' title, just 11 points adrift of Kronos
Citroen.
