ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2003

[Marco_Wrc]

One week to go until rally Deutschland starts.
I wanted to visit this rally because it's only 400km away from here. It would have been a nice weekend out, but I have to work. Maybe next year.

It will be an exciting event. One reason to watch this rally closely is the debut of the Skoda Fabia WRC.

ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2003
24 July / 27 July



Official site
Entry list

Top six last year:
1. Sébastien Loeb
2. Richard Burns
3. Marcus Grönholm
4. Colin McRae
5. Bruno Thiry
6. Markko Märtin

[ales]

I voted for Markko - mainly because 2002 Germany Focus is one of my next projects. And they say the new Focus is a vast improvement over the previous one when it comes to tarmac. We'll see. Hope it turns out to be an exciting event. Will be rather hard to beat Gilles Crazy Eyes Panizzi though.

[Guido]

Loeb. Basta!

[freakray]

Wow, look at all those votes

Should be an interesting rally, hopefully Pug have figured out what has been going wrong with the transmissions and we will see something from Marcus or Gilles, I don't expect to see Burnsie leading the Championship after this rally unless he gets a top 3 (optimistically speaking he could win, but what are the odds?).

I think Loeb will be a contender and may well pull it all together, I think of his teammates Carlos is the threat to challenge him, not McRae.

New Skoda, lets see what Didier can show us, I hope we can see some signs of things to come.

Maybe Petter will be able to challenge for a top position, lets hope the Impeza holds up again.

It's been a long month leading up to this rally, lets get back to racing!

EDIT: Some days my spelling sucks

[RallyRaider]

Aw man, this one is just too hard to pick. Except for Loix, all of the above guys could win it. Duval could be a dark horse too.

I'd like to see Marcus Gronholm take his first tarmac win and pass Burns in the points. Going on last year's form he could just do it, particularly if the second leg is the same.

[Marco_Wrc]

I put Loix in the poll because I hope someday he will win a rally wishful thinking I guess. Who knows.

The weather is good at the moment in Germany, but rain is forecast for next week which means slippery stages. I hope Petter Solberg will perform well with these weather conditions.

[RallyRaider]

Originally posted by Marco_Wrc
I put Loix in the poll because I hope someday he will win a rally wishful thinking I guess. Who knows.

Next year - in a Peugeot

[Marco_Wrc]

Originally posted by RallyRaider


Next year - in a Peugeot

I missed the rumours about that, so didn't know exactly what you were talking about. But now I know.
It would be a great opportunity for Loix to win some rallies.

[ales]

Freddy is talking to several teams, but he explicitly said that he' like to stay with Hyndai (why - don't know don't ask )

BTW, Bugalski will be driving for Citroen in Germany too

[Guido]

Originally posted by ales
Freddy is talking to several teams, but he explicitly said that he' like to stay with Hyndai (why - don't know don't ask )

BTW, Bugalski will be driving for Citroen in Germany too

Because he likes the team, not the car though. Although he's talking also to Citroën, the most likely he'll go to Peugeot given his relations in the past with Marloboro. They supported him in the early stages of his career. (Corolla and Mitsu)

[Focus2000]

I'll put my money on Martin in the Focus. That's assuming that it reaches the finish line, of course

[ales]

1st two stages go to Burns. He leads with Colin, Markko, and Loeb following. Marcus 6th, Carlos behind, Panizzi 9th () and Bugalski in 17th if anyone cares

[freakray]

As wonderful as it would be for Burnsie to lead the whole rally and take the win, I hold my reservations as to whether he will be able to.

I think Loeb and Panizzi, not to mention Marcus, will be pushing him soon enough, and I think it would only be a matter of time before McRash has an off and finds something to hit.

Let's keep in mind that with the new rules in place for next season, a lot of these drivers and driving for contracts now, so I suspect we can expect to see a lot harder racing?

[RallyRaider]

That new Focus is going well, mixing it with the French cars. Markko blitzed SS4 to move in front of Burns. Thankfully at that - feels unnatural for Burnsie to be leading in a Peugeot

Panizzi must be taking his time to wind up. Fair enoough since he has practically zero experience of this event. He's probably using it as a warm up for Corsica and San Remo.

The new Skoda is having some teething problem, bit of a shame, but not unexpected.

[ales]

Originally posted by RallyRaider
That new Focus is going well, mixing it with the French cars. Markko blitzed SS4 to move in front of Burns.

Only to lose 51 seconds to him on SS5 and slip back to 5th. I just got home, no idea what happened. At the moment it's Burns - Loeb - Gronholm - McRae - Martin - Sainz.