2005 Cyprus rally

The rally was run over the weekend and was won by Loeb (his 3rd rally win in a row) in style and by a margin of over 4 minutes! He won 14 out of 18 stages, but at the end he could afford to ease off the throttle just a bit. His nearest rival was, of all people, Manfred Stohl in a privateer 2004-spec Xsara. Markko Martin managed to get yet another podium by overtaking another privateer and older brother of Petter - Henning Solberg in a privateer Focus on the final day of the event. This was the second rally in a row with a large number of accidents, and this time the casualties included Duval, Gronholm, P.Solberg, and others.

The championship standings look like this:

1. S. LOEB (F) 45 Pts
2. P. SOLBERG (N) 34 Pts
3. M. MÄRTIN (EE) 34 Pts
4. T. GARDEMEISTER (FIN) 28 Pts
5. M. GRÖNHOLM (FIN) 26 Pts
6. H. ROVANPERÄ (FIN) 13 Pts
7. M. STOHL (A) 11 Pts
8. H. SOLBERG (N) Pts
9. R. KRESTA (CZ) 8 Pts
10. G. PANIZZI (F) 7 Pts

Loeb isn't running away with it just yet, but his 3 victories in a row, and his 4th this season, may well be a sign of things to come.

In the program they talked about the 307 - that thing has given its drivers only one victory! That's what you get for making a decision based mostly on marketing and not performance considerations.

But Alex the 307 is leading the Manufacturers standings! ;) Weird, more credit to Peugeot's balanced driving line up than the car of course.

I was following the stage times and couldn't believe Marcus retired on the first stage with a broken camshaft. He didn't even get the chance to roll it this time! The Citroen is just an awesome package this year, I think they deserve another year in the sport rather than pull out. Highly doubt Duval will be driving for them much longer, his career must be over given his last few 'adventures'.

A huge result for Stohl, I was hoping Loeb would strike trouble and give us the first privateer victory in a long, long time. San Remo 1993 I think. But no chance Loeb would put a foot wrong.

Ford hit their mark of 50 consecutive point scoring finishes in a row too. Impressive, even if the pace of the old Focus isnt.

and with Duval crashing again, it seems like it's "bye bye François". He will be replaced by Sainz/Marti for next rallye. This after Prevot resigned. He's no longer willing to sit next to Duval.

all stories are on www.rally-action.com

Huge news that Carlos is returning for Turkey. :) Sounds like it is just a one off at the moment. I wonder if Duval will get another chance after he has time to think about his actions, and find a new co-driver of course. He sacked Fortin just a few years ago, nobody for him to blame this time. But he is only young so deserves another chance (so long as somebody is prepared to pay the repair bills!). Besides, who could Citroen find to replace him on a permanent basis?