World Rally News

After two days of sunshine the rain finally arrived for the final leg of this year's Rallye Catalunya. Overnight rally leader Sebastien Loeb looked to have everything under control, going into the final stage of the rally with a 31-second advantage over Gilles Panizzi.

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

Peugeot-Michelin's Gilles Panizzi clinched his first win of the 2003 season in the last stage of this weekend's Catalonia Rally today.

Peugeot's Richard Burns has retired from the Rallye Catalunya in SS19, after going off the road. The Brit, who had been running sixth overall, reportedly slipped on some mud around 10 kms into the Viladra 1 stage [35.18 kms].

Skoda Motorsport Team driver Didier Auriol got off to a flying start on the Catalunya Rally, his 150th World Rally Championship event, when he set tenth fastest time over the opening stage of La Trona.

Two contrasting speed tests just to the south of Vic, one the longest of the day and the other the shortest, comprised the quickfire second section on today's opening leg of the Rallye Catalunyna.

The unofficial start of the 39th edition of the Rally Catalunya-Costa Brava took place this morning with the traditional pre-event shakedown in the Coll del Buc stage near Espinelves.

The 39th Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava/Rallye de Espana takes place this weekend, the thirteenth and penultimate round in the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship. Spain will also play host to the sixth round in the 2003 FIA Junior WRC.

Just days after an emphatic victory on the Tour de Corse, the 555 Subaru World Rally Team is already making final preparations ahead of the next round of the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship, Spain's Rallye Catalunya, which begins on Friday, and team boss David Lapworth reckons they now know the

Petter Solberg brought his Subaru Impreza WRC2003 home to win the twelfth round of this year's FIA World Rally Championship in Ajaccio today.

Skoda Motorsport World Rally Team driver Toni Gardemeister set the third fastest time on a rain-affected second stage today.

Martin Rowe is taking a measured approach to winning the Production Car World Rally Championship [PCWRC] in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI at the Tour de Corse.

Subaru World Rally team driver Petter Solberg damaged his Impreza WRC car this morning [Thursday] in Corsica in an accident during the pre-event shakedown.

The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris today [Wednesday] and approved further changes for next years FIA World Rally Championship.

Mitsubishi will return to the FIA World Rally Championship in 2004, following their sabbatical this season, and MMSP team boss, Sven Quandt, has revealed that their priority is 'reliability', before 'racing the others again' in 2005.

The FIA - the governing body for the World Rally Championship, has today released a revised calendar for 2004 following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

All eyes will be on the two Subaru Impreza WRX STIs of Martin Rowe and Toshi Arai when the final round of the Production Car World Rally Championship [PCWRC] starts in Corsica this Thursday [16 October]. The pair are the only drivers capable of winning the title this year.

Odd years have a habit of being kind to Citroen in Corsica. The DS 19 triumphed on the Mediterranean island in 1961 and 1963, while more recently Philippe Bugalski/Jean-Paul Chiaroni and Jesus Puras/Marc Marti secured an emphatic one-two for the Xsara Kit Car in 1999.

The Hyundai World Rally Team will not compete this weekend in Corsica, and it now appears extremely unlikely that it will take part in any further events this year.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has announced that Kristian Sohlberg will join the team in 2004, linking up with Gilles Panizzi, when the outfit returns to the FIA World Rally Championship, following their sabbatical in 2003.

The factory supported Skoda Matador team of Jan Kopecky and Filip Schovanek have a new climax to the 2003 season. At the beginning of November they are to take part in the Rally of Great Britain, the final event of this year's FIA World Rally Championship.

A simple mistake cost Kris Meeke his first podium finish in the Junior World Rally Championship [JWRC] at the weekend when he crashed out of second place on the Rallye Sanremo.

Skoda Motorsport Team driver Toni Gardemeister is out of the Rallye Sanremo after crashing off the road 21kms into SS2, Ceppo 1. Fog is a common feature of the early stages of each day of the Italian WRC round and it is believed that this was a contributing factor in the accident.

SS1 - Perinaldo (12.40 kms): Loeb fastest through SS1; Duval second; Gronholm third; Panizzi fourth; Sainz fifth; Solberg sixth; Tirabassi leads the JWRC category; Loeb leads the overall rally by 0.5 secs. Stage times and overall standings after SS1.