2006 Rallye de France - Tour de Corse **Spoilers**

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Two weeks after Rally Catalunya the WRC circus moves to the island of Corsica for the Rallye de France.

Nicknamed the "Rally of 10,000 corners", the abrasive Corsican roads are likely to see a battle between Marcus Gronholm in the Focus and current championship leader Sebastien Loeb in his Citroen Xsara.

Subaru drivers Petter Solberg, Stephane Sarrazin and Chris Atkinson will be looking to improve after a disastrous Catalunya rally, Citroen's Dani Sordo will be trying to maintain the momentum of his excellent podium finish a fortnight ago.

After SS2:

1. Sebastien Loeb (Kronos Citroen)
2. Marcus Gronholm (BP Ford) +4.9
3. Alex Bengue (Peugeot) +43.9
4. Mikko Hirvonen (BP Ford) +49.9
5. Xevi Pons (Kronos Citroen) +52.1
6. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) +1:02.0
7. Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot) +1:03.1
8. Francois Duval (Skoda) +1:04.4

Well, one stage each for Loeb and Gronholm so far. Loeb took the first stage by 8.3 seconds but Gronholm fought back on the next to take a 3.4 second victory and close the gap to the leading Loeb to just under 5 seconds.

Loeb and Gronholm again seem to be on a different planet to the rest of the competitors, Alex Bengue is the leader of the pack in 3rd but is already nearly 44 seconds off the lead. The next 8 drivers are all covered by about 30 seconds though, so there should be some good battles in the upcoming stages to decide the second half of the top 10.

The Subarus continue to struggle on tarmac. Best placed is Sarrazin in 11th with Atkinson just behind in 12th, but Solberg has lost about 40 seconds with a slow spin into a bank and subsequent exhaust and gearbox problems. Even on SS2 he could only manage 10th fastest so he is already nearly 2 minutes off the lead in 17th place.

But all eyes will be on Loeb and Gronholm as they fight for the lead over the last 2 stages of Day 1.
 
After Leg One:

1.Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 1:13:18.9 h.
2. Marcus Gronholm (Ford) + 19.9 sec,
3. Alexandre Bengue (Peugeot) +1.15.6 min
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) + 1:23.4,
5. Daniel Sordo (Citroen) + 1:36.6,
6. Xavier Pons (Citroen) + 1:44.6,
7.Jari Matti Latvala (Ford) + 1:54.4,
8. Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot) + 2:04.5,
9. Manfred Stohl (OMV Peugeot Norway Team) +2:10.4,
10. Stephane Sarrazin (Subaru) + 2:19.6,
11. Francois Duval (Skoda) + 2:20.0,
12. Jan Kopecky (Skoda) + 2:31.9,
13. Gigi Galli (Peugeot) + 2:35.3,
14. Petter Solberg (Subaru) + 3:07.6,
15. Andreas Aigner (Red Bull Skoda Team) + 3:32.8,
16. Harri Rovanpera (Red Bull Skoda Team) + 3:40.7,
17. Matthew Wilson (Ford) + 4:17.1 minutes

Sebastien Loeb managed to stretch his lead over Marcus Gronholm during the final two stages of the day, so he will have a buffer of nearly 20 seconds over the Ford driver on Day Two. The reigning World Champion admitted he was having to push hard to stay ahead of the Finn.

A number of drivers had brake problems on these punishing Corsican stages, including Xavier Pons.

Daniel Sordo is making an inpired charge up the leaderboard after losing time on the first stage of the day when electrical problems affected his Citroen's differentials. He'll be looking to attack Ford's Mikko Hirvonen on Day Two.

Privateer Peugeot driver Alex Bengue had a day-long battle with Hirvonen and overtook the Finn on the last stage of the day to hold third place overnight. While former mountain-biking star Nicolas Vouilloz currently holds the final points place in 8th.

Subaru drivers Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson had identical problems today. Both spun, Solberg on SS1 and Atkinson on SS3, and minor contact with the scenery crushed the exhaust on the Imprezas, which led to a drop in power as well as gearbox problems as the hot exhaust toasted the transmission. Stephane Sarrazin had a problem free run but he'll be disappointed to be only 10th.
 
After Leg Two:

1.Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 2:35:31.4 h,
2. Marcus Gronholm (Ford) + 39.7 s,
3. Daniel Sordo (Citroen) + 1:38.4,
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) + 1:44.1,
5. Alexandre Bengue (Peugeot) +2.28.4 m,
6. Xavier Pons (Citroen) + 2:36.4,
7. Manfred Stohl (OMV Peugeot Norway Team) +3:40.6,
8. Stephane Sarrazin (Subaru) + 4:16.2,
9. Gigi Galli (Peugeot) + 4:30.3,
10. Jan Kopecky (Skoda) + 4:32.9,
11. Petter Solberg (Subaru) + 5:07.2,
12. Harri Rovanpera (Red Bull Skoda Team) + 8:46.4

Kronos Racing's Sebastien Loeb is on target to take victory tomorrow on the Tour de Corse with a comfortable gap of 40 seconds to second place Marcus Gronholm. The Ford driver was unhappy with his driving today, saying that the good feeling in the car he had two weeks ago in Catalunya was missing. Still, he is in a solid second place having nearly a minute gap back to Daniel Sordo in 3rd.

The young Spaniard drove brilliantly today to set two fastest times and move up two more places into 3rd, overtaking Mikko Hirvonen and Alex Bengue. Bengue, driving a privateer Peugeot, had a miserable day. He complained of handling problems causing understeer and capped off his day with a spin on the final stage.

Others fared worse however, with the first stage of the day claiming many victims. Both Nicolas Vouilloz and Andreas Aigner ended their rally off the road, along with teenager Matthew Wilson in the Stobart Focus.

Francois Duval dropped down the leaderboard on the first two stages of the day after a damaged brake calliper caused total brake failure on his Skoda. He managed to continue, using only the handbrake to slow down, and got the car to service where the problem was fixed. But his good work was undone on the last stage today when he went off the road and couldn't continue.

Steady drives from Subaru's Petter Solberg and Stephane Sarrazin saw them finish the day trouble-free. Sarrazin benefitted from the retirement of other drivers and now sits in 8th. Solberg is in 11th place, more than five minutes off the lead; the Subaru/Pirelli combination is no match for the other cars on BFGoodrich tyres.
 
Well obviously a bad season for a Subaru fan so far....:indiff:
 
Final Results:

1.Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) 3:43:05.4 hours,
2. Marcus Grönholm (Ford) + 29.0 sec,
3. Daniel Sordo (Citroen) + 1:48.7,
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) + 1:59.2,
5. Alexandre Bengue (Peugeot) +2.47.7,
6. Xavier Pons (Citroen) + 3:10.2,
7. Manfred Stohl (OMV Peugeot Norway Team) +5:01.3,
8. Stephane Sarrazin (Subaru) +5:21.9,
9 Gigi Galli (Peugeot) + 5:42.5,
10. Jan Kopecky (Skoda) + 6:11.4,
11. Petter Solberg (Subaru) + 6:40.5,
12. Harri Rovanpera (Skoda) + 13:12.3,
13. Chris Atkinson (Subaru) + 14:57.1

Sebastien Loeb made it two wins from two asphalt rallies, taking victory in Corsica two weeks after claiming the win in Catalunya. The Citroen driver cruised through the final day's four stages, dropping about 10 seconds over the day to second place Marcus Gronholm. But the win was never in doubt; Gronholm in the BP-Ford Focus seemed happy to settle for the 8 points once Loeb moved out of reach.

Daniel Sordo consolidated his reputation as a star of the future, taking his second podium position in his Xsara after scoring his first two weeks ago in Catalunya. His battle for the position with fellow rising star Mikko Hirvonen was the highlight of the third day, the two traded times through the first 3 stages and Hirvonen had closed the gap to just 5.5 seconds going into the last stage. But the young Finn had a big scare 8.5 km into the final test when gravel on the road nearly sent him and his Focus down the mountainside, and after that he was content to settle for fourth place.

The only other battle of interest was for the final driver's points position in eigth. Subaru's Stephane Sarrazin and Gigi Galli in a Peugeot were vying for the spot, but in the end it was Sarrazin who secured the point as well as finishing as the highest-placed Pirelli runner.

Petter Solberg could do no better than 11th after his Leg One time-loss and Chris Atkinson recovered from his dramas to finish 13th, driving sensibly on Days Two and Three.

The next event is in three weeks time and marks the WRC's only foray into the Americas with the Rally Argentina. It will be a welcome return to gravel for Marcus Gronholm, who now sits 11 points behind Loeb in the Driver's title, and it will be a relief for Subaru after struggling for speed on the last two tarmac events.


(Rally information from wrc.com, rallye-newsletter.com, and swrt.com. If you found these summaries helpful, how about a tick of approval?)
 
Thanks VTRacing for this topic! :cheers:

And again we see the Citroens ahead, Fords right behind and the Subarus way behind. But no surprises, right?
Now with a few gravel rally ahead, we might have more action in the WRC 💡

It's very interesting to see how Ford is going strong again! Marcus still has all the speed...
...and Loeb is coming fast to beat Carlo's record of winnings.
 
Indeed, Loeb is now on 23 wins and Carlos's record is 26 (I think).

The problem from Gronholm and Solberg's point of view is that Sebastien is not exactly slow on gravel....

Thanks for the feedback too. 👍
 
im surprised to see ford up high on the board...but citroen is an obvious choice. im all for citroen in WRC...

and gravel is amazing to watch...look forward to it. thanks
 
Leob up front with Grönholm somewhere behind (sometimes infront), Subaru's having issues seems to be how these rally's go these days.
 
Just got done watching all 3 days and wow, Loeb is just straight up dominating the competition. What's up with the Subarus?
I'm very impressed by Daniel Sordo's driving.

Cheers
 
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