Catalunya 2002
The second race of the Junior World Rally Championship has been run at the Catalunya Rally from March 21st to March 24th 2002. In the WRC class Panizzi got the victory ahead of his team-mate Richard Burns, Citroen based Philippe Bugalski.
The Super 1600 class(courtesy of www.rally-live.com)
The third and final day of the Rally of Catalunya was an interesting one for those competing in the Junior World Championship. Mechanical problems late last night meant that Nicola Caldani (Peugeot) was unable to start today's final leg, although the second placed man from Monte Carlo was already out of the points on this round. Citroen's Daniel Sola was fastest on the first two stages today but then lost a tyre and slipped behind early leader Andrea Dallavilla (also driving a Citroen) on the long third stage. In the end he regained the lead with fastest time on the final stage. Of the 26 starters only 15 completed the final stage.
Belgian Ford Puma driver Francois Duval continues to lead the Junior World Rally Championship after finishing sixth on the Catalunya Rally yesterday. Duvaland co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin are the only crew to have scored on both rounds of the championship so far.
Duval completed Saturday's stages in fourth place, just 4.6sec behind Giandomenico Basso, and after two second fastest times and a pair of stage wins was full of confidence that he could overhaul the Italian for the final podium place yesterday. Unfortunately a precautionary gearbox change on Saturday night took longer than expected and Duval was late out of last night's final service, collecting 1min20sec penalties.
This made his podium quest impossible and the Belgian wisely decided to concentrate on securing the points finish that would extend his championship lead rather than take unnecessary risks in a potentially vain chase for third place. Unfortunately luck was not on Duval's side yesterday. He fell victim to the sharp edges of the asphalt roads and on today's third stage punctured both right-hand tyres, losing over 4min to the leaders.
"We were able to stop and change one of them, at the front, but with only one spare wheel permitted we still had to complete the stage with a rear wheel puncture," he said. "Obviously we're disappointed not to have been able to push for that podium place but we still came away from Spain with points and that means we have maintained our lead in the championship. We tried really hard to pass Tuohino for fifth place at the end but it was just too much and we finished less than 2sec behind. However, I'm pleased to have scored even just one point. The competition is very close this season and it will be important to take points from every round. I'm now looking forward to the next event in Greece because I set good times there last year and I'm sure I can do the same again."
On Saturday Paraguayan driver Alejandro Galanti and his Spanish co-driver Xavier Amigo felt that the rear of the car was moving around too much and so the mechanics changed the rear beam at Saturday night's final service. It enabled Galanti to adopt a safe driving pace today in order to complete his second Junior World Rally Championship event in succession, finishing eighth.
"Reaching the finish was always our prime target here in Catalunya," he explained. "We've achieved our goal and so, although we didn't quite manage to finish in the points, we can be very happy with our performance. We had to complete the last three stages without the clutch and so I was very relieved to see the flying finish at the end of the final stage!"
British Rally Champions Martin Rowe and co-driver Chris Wood ended the rally in 11th place and on a high note after suffering more than their fair share of problems in Spain. "Today we have managed the kind of performance that we knew was possible," said Rowe. "The third stage today was especially enjoyable and we were the fastest Ford Puma. Everything worked perfectly, allowing us to gain three places from our overnight position and showing what we could have done if fortune had smiled on us during the first two days. I'm sure that we could have got into the points if we'd been a little more lucky."
Meanwhile two of the three privateer Suzuki Ignis teams yesterday succeeded in their goal of finishing the Rally. Suzuki Team Ignis Germany, Suzuki Team Ignis Finland, and Suzuki Team Ignis Japan were celebrating their experiences at the finish of the rally in Lloret de Mar, after an intense three days and hundreds of kilometres of red hot competition. Suzuki were the only newcomers to get two cars to the finish, as they did in Monte Carlo. The cars were reliable throughout the event, but the teams were particularly pleased by the way that constant development of the Ignis is making the car more and more competitive all the time.
Schelle continued his battle with Doppelreiter on the first stage of the day, scalping six seconds from his rival. On the following short stage his good work was undone when he spun while pushing hard. But Schelle was soon in front again, after Doppelreiter had to stop and change a puncture on stage 15.
After the first loop of stages, Schelle decided to preserve his advantage to the finish and not take any unecessary risks. When he reached the finish, he instantly reached for the phone to call his two-year-old daughter Francesca to tell her the happy news.
"I've had a really good time", he said. "The car has been impressive and I was able to set some consistent times. There was a lot of spectators, but they were all stood in safe places and we were able to go flat out."
Kangas was concerned by intermittent gearbox problems, but the strength of the car allowed him to reach the finish as he had planned. ìI've really been able to make some progress on tarmac," he said. "Finns are normally good on gravel, but I am enjoying sealed surfaces too! I'm really enjoying it and I'm very excited."
Kazuhiro Niwa built on his rally career to date, and enjoyed approaching the pace of his more experienced colleagues. His car ran reliably all day, without any mechanical problems at all. "It is so useful to have this experience now," said the smiling Japanese driver. "We started off our campaign with the objective to learn more about the car and its capabilities and we have succeeded in that."
Niwa came so close to the end of the rally, but rolled on the very last stage after mishearing a pace note. He managed to get the car back onto the road, but was just out of time at the stage finish. "I understand now the physical element of world rallying," he said. "I'm already in training for my next event".
Final classification
ORD NUM Driver Gr. Class Penalty Total Difference
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1 65 D. SOLA 19/A 1/ 6 03:52:11.5 00:00:00.0
2 51 A. DALLAVILLA 20/A 2/ 6 03:53:01.8 00:00:50.3
3 53 G. BASSO 21/A 3/ 6 03:54:25.6 00:02:14.1
4 64 G. GALLI 23/A 4/ 6 03:58:46.3 00:06:34.8
5 62 J. TUOHINO 24/A 5/ 6 03:59:31.3 00:07:19.8
6 55 F. DUVAL 25/A 6/ 6 00:01:40 03:59:33.1 00:07:21.6
7 58 C. CHEMIN 26/A 7/ 6 00:00:30 03:59:55.2 00:07:43.7
8 57 A. GALANTI 27/A 8/ 6 04:02:40.2 00:10:28.7
9 68 N. SCHELLE 28/A 9/ 6 04:04:35.2 00:12:23.7
10 71 D. DOPPELREITER 29/A 10/ 6 04:06:25.8 00:14:14.3
11 63 M. ROWE 30/A 11/ 6 04:10:42.4 00:18:30.9
12 59 J. KANGAS 31/A 12/ 6 04:10:43.3 00:18:31.8
13 73 A. LLOVERA 32/A 13/ 6 00:00:20 04:15:49.0 00:23:37.5
14 70 S. HAAF 33/A 14/ 6 00:01:30 04:16:01.1 00:23:49.6
15 77 F. ROIG 34/A 15/ 6 04:18:01.9 00:25:50.4
JWRC entry list
NUM Driver - Codriver Car Class
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51 DALLAVILLA Andrea - BERNACCHINI Giovanni CitroÎn Saxo A6
52 McSHEA Niall - ORR Michael Opel Corsa 1.6 A6
53 BASSO Giandomenico - PIROLLO Luigi Fiat Punto Kit-Car A6
54 STENSHORNE Martin - HONKANEN Jakke Peugeot 206 A6
55 DUVAL FranÁois - FORTIN Jean-Marc Ford Puma A6
56 VŸLIMAKI Jussi - GARDEMEISTER Tero CitroÎn Saxo VTS A6
57 GALANTI Alejandro - AMIGO Xavier Ford Puma A6
58 CHEMIN Christian - SCATTOLIN Simone Fiat Punto A6
59 KANGAS Juha - LAAKSONEN Suzuki Ignis A6
60 CALDANI Nicola - FARNOCCHIA Sauro Peugeot 206 XS A6
61 EVANS Gwyndaf - PATTERSON Chris MG ZR A6
62 TUOHINO Janne - VIHAVAINEN Petri CitroÎn Saxo VTS A6
63 ROWE Martin - WOOD Chris Ford Puma A6
64 GALLI GianLuigi - D'AMORE Guido Fiat Punto A6
65 SOLA Daniel - ROMANI Alex CitroÎn Saxo A6
66 BALDACCI Mirco - BARONE Maurizio CitroÎn Saxo A6
67 CARLSSON Daniel - ANDERSON Mattias Ford Puma A6
68 SCHELLE Nikolaus - WEISS Gerhard Suzuki Ignis A6
69 KATAJAMAKI Kosti - HIRVIJŸRVI Lasse Volswagen Polo GTI A6
70 HAAF Sven - K÷LBACH Michael CitroÎn Saxo VTS A6
71 DOPPELREITER David - LETTNER Peugeot 206 XS A6
72 BLAZQUEZ Marc - JULIA Oriol Ford Puma A6
73 LLOVERA Albert - CORRAL Marc Fiat Punto A6
75 KAZUHIKO Niwa - KUSAKA Kohei Suzuki Ignis A6
76 FOSS Alexander - MENKERUD Cato Ford Puma A6
77 ROIG Francisco - SUREDA Joan Fiat Punto A6
78 FEGHALI Roger - ARENA Nicola Ford Puma A6
Admitted cars for the A/6, K/10 class:
108 SANFILIPPO Ignacio - PUJOL GuifrÈ Ford Puma A6 109 BROCCOLI Alessandro - STEFANELLI Silvio Opel Corsa A6 110 CANELLA Massimo - GRIA Silvio Peugeot 206 XS A6
 Basso on stage |
 Galli |
 Basso no.1 |
 Chemin |
 Basso and Pirollo |
 The Toprun car yellow nose |
 Galli with different wheels |
 Galli running down |
 Schelle on Suzuki Ignis |
 The German Haaf |
 Gigino finished in third position |