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2003 WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

SOLBERG WINS 2003 CHAMPIONSHIP

• Petter Solberg won his maiden world rally championship title.
  SOLBERG (champion): "... I just can't believe this. It's amazing, absolutely amazing .."
• 4 rally wins (Cyprus, Australia, Corsica, Great Britain)

Most of the year Peugeot driver Richard Burns led the driver standing through consistent reliable finishes despite not having won any rallies since September 2001 (NZ Rally). In contrast world champion Marcus Gronholm, Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg all have won 3 rallies. Carlos Sainz took over the lead after Corsica (Oct 9) with 2 rallies left to run. After Catalunya, Citroen team-mates Loeb and Sainz were equal leaders on 63 points, just 1 point ahead of Solberg. In the final rally 2003, Petter Solberg took the win and the championship.

• WRC NEWS: HIRVONEN JOINS SUBARU      BURNS TO MISS NEXT SEASON  SAINZ TO RETIRE IN 2004; NEW RALLY IN JAPAN & MEXICO IN 2004 ; PANIZZI JOINS MITSUBISHI ; MAKINEN TO RETIRE ; BURNS TO JOIN SUBARU
• POSSUM BOURNE TRIBUTE: New Zealand rally champion passed away on April 30. He won 3 Asia Pacific and 7 Australian Rally titles.
• Jonny Milner wins British Rally Championship.

FINAL STANDING:
1 SOLBERG, 72
2 LOEB, 71
3 SAINZ, 63
4 BURNS, 58
5 MARTIN, 49
6 GRONHOLM, 45
=6 McRAE, 45
8 MAKINEN 30
9 DUVAL 26
10 ROVANPERA 16

Manufacturer Champions:

2003: Citroen
2002: Peugeot
2001: Peugeot
2000: Peugeot

2003 Manufacturer Standing:
1 Citroen 160 pts
2 Peugeot 145 pts
3 Subaru 93 pts
4 Ford 89 pts
5 Skoda 21 pts

WRC Car Specs

NEW RALLY IN JAPAN & MEXICO IN 2004

• 2003 DRIVER CHAMPION: Petter Solberg (NOR), Subaru
• 2003 MANUFACTURER CHAMPION: CITROEN

• Safari Rally removed
• New Rally added - Rally of Anatolia in Turkey
• Jan 24-26 (Monte Carlo Rally) to Nov 7-9 ( Rally of Great Britain)
• 2003 Calendar

• Colin McRae joins Citroen after 4 years with Ford
• Carlos Sainz joins Citroen after 3 years with Ford
• Didier Auriol joins Skoda
• Tommi Makinen will retire at the end of 2003 season

TEAM CHANGES:

• Citroen will contest all 14 rounds
• Mitsubishi will only compete part-time in 2003

OTHER CHANGES:

• Points System - revised as in Formula 1 GP; points awarded down to 8th driver:
  1st = 10 pts; 2nd = 8; 3rd = 6;
  4th = 5; 5th = 4; 6th = 3; 7th = 2; 8th = 1

• WORLD RALLY: 2002
  Driver Champion: Marcus Gronholm (FIN), Peugeot
  Manufacturer champion: Peugeot
• WORLD JUNIOR RALLY: 2002
  Driver Champion: Daniel Sola (SPA), Citroen
• WORLD PRODUCTION: 2002
  Driver Champion: Karamjit Singh (MAL), Peugeot

World Champions:

2003: P Solberg

2002: M Gronholm

2001: R Burns

2000: M Gronholm

1999: T Makinen

1998: T Makinen

1997: T Makinen

1996: T Makinen

*COLIN McRAE DURING 2002 SEASON HE BECAME THE FIRST DRIVER IN HISTORY TO WIN 25 WORLD RALLIES

CARLOS SAINZ EQUALLED McRAE'S RECORD BY WINNING THE TURKISH RALLY IN MARCH 2003

JUNIOR WORLD RALLY FINAL STANDING: after R7 of 7

• 1 Brice Tirabassi Renault Clio, 38 points
• 2 Salvador Canellas, Suzuki Ignis Super 1600, 36 points
• 3 Daniel Carlsson Suzuki Ignis Super 1600, 33 points
• 4 Urmo Aava Suzuki Ignis, 20 points
• =4 Mirco Baldacci, 20 points
• 6 Ville-Pertti Teuronen, 19

PRODUCTION CAR RALLY STANDING: after R7 of 7

• 1 Martin Rowe, Subaru 43
• 2 Toshi Arai Subaru Impreza WRX, 38
• =3 Karamjit Singh, Proton 30
• =3 Blomqvist, Subaru 30
• 5 Sola, Mitsubishi 22
• 6 McShea, 18

2003 British Rally Champion:
Jonny Milner

Super 1600:
Kris Meeke