Rally Australia winds up WRC season with few favours for the leading drivers

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The 2005 World Rally Championship came to a close at the weekend in Australia, where the Telstra Rally Australia was won by Francois Duval in a Citroen. It was the Belgian's first World Championship victory.
      Although he finished 6th overall in the drivers' standings, Duval has been overshadowed this season by his team-mate Sebastién Loeb, who wrapped up the championship in Japan already some weeks ago.
      However, even if he had won ten times already this season, it was not Loeb's weekend. He managed to wrap his Citroen around a sturdy eucalyptus tree on Friday and totalled the car. It was only the second time all season that he had finished outside the points.
     
Australia proved to be a tough nut all round: the attrition rate among the leading drivers was very high over the three days.
      Petter Solberg of Norway, who led after the first day, hit a kangaroo in his Subaru on the second stage on Saturday and had to withdraw. Duval took over the lead from that point and never looked back.
      Finland's Marcus Grönholm was taken out of the reckoning on Friday with a damaged front suspension after hitting a rock. Driving in their last WRC event for the foreseeable future, Peugeot's miseries were doubled by the fact that their No.2 works driver, Daniel Carlsson of Sweden, also went out on Day 1 when his car burst into flames after skidding off the road and down an embankment.
      None of the drivers or co-drivers were injured in the accidents.
     
Finland's Harri Rovanperä (Mitsubishi) was one of those to benefit from the crashes and retirements, and he followed Duval home in second place. Even so, he could have done even better: Rovanperä was another to suffer a collision with a kangaroo.
      The retirements of Marcus Grönholm and Petter Solberg left matters all square in the overall points table, with both men having 71 points. Solberg was runner-up behind Loeb for the season, since he could claim three rally wins to Grönholm's two.
      Ford driver Toni Gardemeister, who was another to retire with mechanical difficulties in Australia, was placed fourth overall for the season, with 58 points. Rovanperä scored 39 points for Mitsubishi in 2005, and he will drive for the team again in 2006.
      Gardemeister is unsure about where he will be driving next year, but it is unlikely to be in a Ford.
     
Grönholm, meanwhile, was driving his last race for Peugeot, and will be joining the Ford roster next season. The Finn won the World Championship twice in the French car in 2000 and 2002, but this season has been something of a disappointment.
      The new WRC season begins in Monte Carlo in January 2006.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Grönholm wins in Japan, and Loeb retains WRC title (3.10.2005)

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