Accelerated Posted November 9, 2003 Report Share Posted November 9, 2003 Solberg leading by 30+ seconds with 2 stages to run (Rally of UK). Loeb (citroen) is one point in front in the championship race (Solberg 1pt behind), but is coming second now and needs to win. Guys you dont realise the magnitude of this upset of Subaru over Citroen AND Peugeot! Will update later! check proceedings at www.wrc.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted November 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2003 Petter: I'm the best in the world! Petter Solberg kept his head during the third day of the Wales Rally GB - the final round of the 2003 World Championship - to win the event outright and take his first drivers' world title. His performance during the final day was a carefully-calculated one: he had to push hard to maintain his half-minute lead over Sebastien Loeb but not risk going off the road. The battle for third between rally legends Tommi Makinen was even tighter. There was precious little between them as they shadowed to leaders on every stage. The three stages that made up the final day were, unsurprisingly, all about Solberg and Loeb. With eight straight wins yesterday for Solberg it was Loeb's turn to get some psychological stage wins under his belt to set-up a nerve-wracking final thrash through Margam. Loeb didn't disappoint - taking a combined 8.7 seconds out of Solberg's lead on SS16 and 17. All he could do was hope that something would go wrong for Solberg in the final, 12.64km Margam Forest/Park stage. Sadly for the Frenchman, it didn't and to rub salt into the wounds Solberg was 11 seconds quicker to stretch his rally advantage to 43.6seconds. A more excitable and extatic world champion you're unlikely to find: Solberg arrived at the finish at Margam to a rapturous reception - particularly from the Norwegian contingency. "Incredible," he shrieked at anyone who wanted to listen. "I'm the best in the World," he added, simply trying to comprehend the enormity of what he'd done. Loeb was a valliant runner-up on the stage and in the event. He will undoubtedly come back in 2004 refreshed and refocused to mount what will surely be another fast and consistent challenge for the title. Those legends Makinen and McRae continued to fight tooth and nail for the final podium slot in what is the last ever event for the Finn and the last for at least a year for the Scot. A last stage puncture - which he stopped to fix - denied McRae the chance to overhaul Makinen but it didn't jeopardise his fourth place because he was so far ahead of fith-place Ford driver Francois Duval. Sixth place was handsome reward for Peugeot stand-in Freddy Loix. The Belgian will be in the car regularly in 2004 and is sure to feature in the battle for wins and titles. And so a classic event and championship comes to a close. 14 events with six different winners (Solberg: 4; Loeb: 3; Gronholm: 3; Martin: 2; Sainz: 1; Panizzi: 1) has provided thrills and spills, joy and heartache from the icy mountain roads of Monte Carlo to the muddy forests of Wales, via the dusty slopes of Greece and the rain-lashed tarmac of Catalunya. Time for a rest for our WRC heroes after 11 months of flat-out motoring. No such luxuries on wrc.com, though. We'll be here long after they've gone home bringing you news, comment and analysis as we count down to Monte Carlo 2004. See you there! Wow! What a great victory for Subaru and Petter Solberg (a great chap btw.), I had given up on Subaru half way through the season, the car wasnt performing and they (Solberg) was way down the board in terms of points, yet they have managed to win against opposition which have 5+ times bigger budgets and significantly smaller cars (Citroen, Peugeot and Ford)....and it came down to the last rallye and the last day. Some snaps from the past year then (mostly of Subaru ) Hand-picked pics for your enjoyment - please dont make into links, their pretty small...http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/416327AE-934E-431F-B352-90CD45A31E7C/16382/ZSainzhairpinlarge.jpg CHAMPIONS! http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/EA6959D3-C994-4E2D-A388-65337B3B2934/29299/PodiumatMargamgallery.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/29C9F323-23BC-4A06-8036-3BDAF9254FCF/29243/PetterSolberg2.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/7F5ED40D-04FE-4653-BB67-E6FDDEE9F1C8/29141/groupg.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/1408E6BD-839C-4B22-B57E-6682634C8350/29065/solberg20tor2063thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/87FF204C-6A11-4722-B527-5AEF093354EB/28532/Solberg2.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/ACA6C942-AF3D-4672-B40F-E410EE24B716/28217/LoebOff.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/F8CAED0C-BBEE-4A21-8DB1-122D686E2D79/28151/Bengue.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/6F657384-E2C4-4BB4-99BE-F70AD121F815/28045/Untitled10.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted November 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2003 (edited) http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/D93FA793-927B-461B-87FD-1D7F0B34AC40/27695/Makinenlord27Big.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/94D4C636-73D8-49AA-8355-EC25690CBB73/27531/solbergtor31thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/5CDC290C-AA8F-4093-8B18-A339BC04B01C/26724/roo.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/7F6541CA-EA25-4DC6-AC84-349EBD966359/26080/NasaMartin.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/DF848917-2ED6-4AA6-A47F-AFD708D55962/24995/Kresta03.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/F5F78AD8-15D4-44FD-8F0B-0494492465D7/23930/Solberg08.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/DFC40569-FC44-4D31-B4D0-2D5DF0DB50BB/23920/Solberg11.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/2CC6B67D-7B37-49F7-BE07-A5F04BD424A5/22671/Panizzifre03thumb.jpg Edited November 9, 2003 by Accelerated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted November 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2003 http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/BFD8357E-A23C-4A84-AEA4-98F7B7BD29C6/21338/Makinenfre25thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/070FCC8F-9E40-49C3-9260-9578DC5D163B/21487/Gardemeisterlor08thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/A9142298-B42D-4F29-950A-B36C360BC261/21484/Burnsfre44thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/C284AF9F-847D-47BF-A79A-39779C6E15AB/20531/Makinenson36thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/1067F0B8-AFAC-40E7-9280-49184EECDFB6/20083/NZMartin1.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/2D6F6677-7DC1-4DB4-A6DA-73061E72F276/17747/Marcusatnight.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/C8EA86EB-D8CA-4DEB-8D0C-D29E49DF6112/17224/MakinenSwedenday1.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted November 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2003 http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/017D4443-340F-46C7-BC59-06A425DBC485/16588/Athmosphereson20thumb.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/C536B6A0-EEDE-43FA-95E0-13F857CC642B/16420/ZMakinenonbridgelarge.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/4F0CFE63-F5F9-443D-B2CF-1D6170A6A167/16378/ZRobertCedricdrivinglar.jpg http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/0102F35D-6820-4690-8B36-72DDAFFB3F32/15983/Girls2.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted November 10, 2003 Report Share Posted November 10, 2003 Juggs, nice but you are killing poor modem users! May want to keep most of those as links or make them as thumbnails that link to bigger pics (I'm sure you've seen how I do it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azat Posted November 10, 2003 Report Share Posted November 10, 2003 I agree, except for the last pic. Can you get that pic bigger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THOTH Posted November 10, 2003 Report Share Posted November 10, 2003 I agree, except for the last pic. Can you get that pic bigger? LOL - I was goiong to say awesome pics! I like the car ones too.. Actually i would love to be in a race like that...alwasy wanted to do the pikes peak race... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted November 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2003 Glad, you liked the pics guys. I like em as they are, if you make them into links no-one is going to look and I dont know how to/cant be bothered turning em into thums. btw. Im a modem user too and good things come to those who wait . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted November 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2003 http://drive.fairfax.com.au/content-new/images/2003/11/11/11solberg.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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