World Rally Championship

SAFARI RALLY
R8 of 14 JULY 12-14, 2002

SAFARI WORLD RALLY 2002

• Nairobi KENYA in Africa
• Bush tracks; longest Rally of the year; over 1000 km
• 2001 winner: Tommi Makinen, Mitsubishi
• 2000 winner: Richard Burns, Subaru

McRAE'S 25TH RALLY WIN

Colin McRae became the only driver in history to win 25 world rallies (Makinen and Sainz have won 24).

QUOTE McRAE: " ... I am over the moon with this victory and one that takes me into being the winningest driver of all time .... The key to this win was to find a good rhythm and stick to it. It got a little uncomfortable when Harri went for it on Saturday but that is the sport. I kept my nerve and refused to change our tactics. Here it is more important to play a waiting game as those who attempt to go fast from the start generally fall by the wayside .... To have won here and in Greece which are the two toughest rallies show how good the car is in extreme conditions .... It's good to get another victory and it's nice to have the record, but championships are what it's all about and this has helped us to close the gap on Marcus Grönholm. I always felt quite comfortable with my pace here and that's the key to winning the Safari. Even if Harri had charged this morning, I was prepared to stay at the same speed, because I thought he'd have a problem if he pushed any harder. I'm really pleased for the whole team, because everyone's worked really hard to maintain reliability here ... "

...

LEG 3, SUN, JULY 14, 2002

FINAL PLACING: only 11 cars finished (out of 48)

• 1 COLIN McRAE, FORD
• 2 ROVANPERA, PEUGEOT +2m 50
• 3 RADSTROM, CITROEN +18m 38
• 4 MARTIN, SUBARU +21m 28
• 5 LOEB, CITROEN +21m 48
• 6 PANIZZI, PEUGEOT +34m

  SS12 WINNER: LOEB, CITROEN
  SS11 WINNER: PANIZZI, PEUGEOT
  SS10 WINNER: McRAE, FORD

QUOTE ROVANPERA: " ... I'm really glad to get to the finish and with not many problems at all. Today we knew we only had a small chance to catch Colin but on the first section, we had a lot of dust and that was really the end of the fight. At least we have finished on the podium and scored some points for the team. We can look forward to Finland next month. I also think that Peugeot has showed we have a strong car ...."

TOTAL RETIREMENTS:
GRONHOLM, PEUGEOT OUT: SS1 - RETIRED WITH ENGINE PROBLEM
LOIX, HUYNDAI OUT: SS1 - CLUTCH PROBLEM
SCHWARTZ, HYUNDAI: SS2 - ALTERNATOR PROBLEM
DELECOUR, MITSUBISHI: SS3 - ENGINE PROBLEM
BURNS, PEUGEOT: SS8 - WHEEL PROBLEM
MAKINEN, SUBARU: SS8 - STEERING PROBLEM
SAINZ, FORD: SS8 - OIL PUMP PROBLEM
ERIKSSON: SS7, SKODA - GEAR BOX PROBLEM

LEG 2, SAT, JULY 13, 2002 - MAKINEN + SAINZ + BURNS + ERIKSSON OUT

CURRENT STANDING (AFTER SS9):

• 1 C McRAE, FORD
• 2 ROVANPERA, PEUGEOT +2m 26
• 3 MARTIN, SUBARU +9m 20
• 4 RADSTROM, CITROEN +13m 17
• 5 LOEB, CITROEN +16m
• 6 PANIZZI, PEUGEOT +34m
• OUT: SAINZ, MAKINEN, BURNS

  SS9 WINNER: LOEB, CITROEN
  SS8 WINNER: PANIZZI, PEUGEOT
  SS7 WINNER: BURNS, PEUGEOT
  SS6 CANCELLED - because low cloud cover prevents helicopters (required for every stage) to fly
  SS5 WINNER: LOEB, CITROEN

RETIREMENTS:
BURNS, PEUGEOT: SS8 - WHEEL PROBLEM
MAKINEN, SUBARU: SS8 - STEERING PROBLEM
SAINZ, FORD: SS8 - SUSPENSION
ERIKSSON: SS7, SKODA - OIL PRESSURE

QUOTE MAKINEN (RETIRED SS8): " ... Yesterday everything was going so well, the car was working perfectly, but everything changed this morning and then finally we lost steering after a hairpin left about 30kms in to CS8. I don't understand what happened, but it was fortunate that the wishbone broke in a slow section and not the flat out section. We have enough speed for the Finland rally we jut need reliability and to make sure the car is perfect we will do an extra test. It's not going to be easy as my home rally is always flat out ... "

LEG 1, FRI, JULY 12, 2002 - GRONHOLM OUT

QUOTE GRONHOLM: " ... The engine problem was like flicking a mains switch - the revs just died and that was it. We tried everything; changing the ECU, changing plugs; but nothing seemed to work ... "

SS4 WINNER: C McRAE, FORD
SS3 WINNER: MAKINEN,SUBARU
SS2 WINNER: C McRAE, FORD
SS1 WINNER: MAKINEN,SUBARU
2 RADSTROM, CITROEN, 3 MARTIN, FORD

RETIREMENTS:
GRONHOLM, PEUGEOT OUT: SS1 - RETIRED WITH ENGINE PROBLEM
LOIX, HUYNDAI OUT: SS1 - CLUTCH PROBLEM
SCHWARTZ, HYUNDAI: SS2 - ALTERNATOR PROBLEM
DELECOUR, MITSUBISHI: SS3 - ENGINE PROBLEM
SOLBERG, SUBARU: SS4 - MECHANICAL PROBLEM

QUOTE MAKINEN: " ... The Safari is one of my favourite rallies.
It is completely different to all the others. You have to keep everything in one piece, not break anything and drive 100% correctly. It went my way last year so I am hoping for a repeat. It will be my first Safari with Subaru. But we've spent a lot of time at the pre-event test making sure that it is driving the way that I want ... "

QUOTE C McRAE: " ...The Safari is like no other rally ....
It is so long and demanding that you have to choose a speed you like and stick with it without worrying about the pace of others. After the way the car dominated the Acropolis Rally, I guess Ford will start as favourites.We know the car is tough and goes well on rough rallies and despite this year's route changes the Safari is still harder than any other rally ...."

CITROEN'S FIRST SAFARI RALLY

• Friday July 12, 4 special stages
• Saturday July 13, 5 special stages
• Sunday July 14, 4 special stages

LEG 3 RESULT

FINAL PLACING:

• 1 COLIN McRAE, FORD
• 2 ROVANPERA, PEUGEOT +2m 50
• 3 RADSTROM, CITROEN +18m 38
• 4 MARTIN, SUBARU +21m 28
• 5 LOEB, CITROEN +21m 48
• 6 PANIZZI, PEUGEOT +34m

LEG 2 RESULT

• 1 MAKINEN, SUBARU
• 2 ROVANPERA, PEUGEOT +2m 26
• 3 MARTIN, SUBARU
• 4 RADSTROM, CITROEN
• 5 LOEB, CITROEN
• 6 PANIZZI, PEUGEOT
• OUT: SAINZ, MAKINEN, BURNS

LEG 1 RESULT

4 special stages
SS1-4

• 1 MAKINEN, SUBARU
• 2 C McRAE, FORD;
• 3 MARTIN, FORD;
• 4 ERIKSSON, SKODA;
• 5 ROVANPERA, PEUGEOT;
• OUT - GRONHOLM, LOIX, SCHWARTZ, DELECOUR