Excellent finish in Spain for Robert.

Cedric Robert has ended the Catalunya Rally today placing his privateer Peugeot 206 WRC run by Bozian Racing in eleventh overall.

The Equipe de France FFSA-backed driver has finished in the thick of the factory cars, with an average gap of eight tenths of a second per kilometre to the winner - an excellent performance for a customer-specification car.

Robert was happy to end his World Championship 2003 learning programme with another solid result, backed by the FFSA and Peugeot Sport.

The first loop of three stages today, run in the rain, gave Robert 52 kilometres of heartstopping moments. He left service this morning with damper settings that were too stiff for the conditions, and had to fight his car in order to stay on the often muddy surfaces.

"The car was on the limit of being undriveable," said Robert. "It was oversteering a lot and braking was very marginal - we dropped quite a bit of time. I'm happy to have made it back to service under the circumstances."

The Bozian Racing service crew softened the dampers before the last three stages, and Robert found a much better feeling. He set a fifth fastest time on the penultimate stage, at the height of the battle for the lead of the rally. He also set a sixth fastest time earlier in the rally. "On the long stages, it's difficult to be further ahead in the pack of factory cars," he explained.

Robert has demonstrated an exemplary level of reliability this year by finishing five out of five rallies. The Frenchman has also achieved some very creditable results, such as sixth in Monte Carlo and ninth in Sanremo.

Claude Meistelman, in charge of medical services for the FFSA, said: "In 15 years of looking after drivers I'd remember three names that have stood out in terms of mental strength and resistance to pressure - Olivier Panis, Sebastien Loeb and Cedric Robert. Even in Germany, where he was not at all comfortable, Cedric didn't give up."

Considering the performance gap between a privateer 206 WRC (originally homologated in 2001) and the factory version, Robert has spent a season in close touch with the cutting edge factory cars, taking every possible opportunity to get in amongst the manufacturer teams. That's how he was able to score his first three points in the 2003 World Championship for Drivers.