LIMASSOL, Cyprus, 17 May 2004 — Finland’s Marcus Gronholm of Finland moved to the top of the world championship rankings with victory at the Cyprus Rally yesterday.
The Peugeot driver was 54 seconds ahead of main challenger Sebastien Loeb, of France, for his first win of the year. Estonia’s Markko Martin was third.
Gronholm, world champion in 2000 and 2002, only just managed to pull through the Cyprus test after his Peugeot 307 developed gearbox problems.
He heads the overall standings with 34 points, one more than Citroen’s Loeb. Mexico rally winner Martin is third on 32 points.
Gronholm began the day with a lead of 22.9 seconds over Loeb and almost doubled it by winning the first two stages.
The Finn had problems with a dodgy clutch in the final three special stages through the rutted tracks of the Troodos mountains.
“It is a small wonder that we made it to the finish at all,” said Gronholm.
“The gearbox was on its last legs and I had to change gear very gently each time. I knew that Harri (Rovanpera) had gearbox problems as well, so I was careful.”
Loeb, in a Citroen Xsara, won five of the 18 special stages, which covered 1,146 km through rutted and rock-strewn dirt tracks in the Troodos mountains.
World champion Petter Solberg took the final stage of the rally to finish sixth over 10 minutes behind Gronholm.
The Norwegian, who won the opening two stages of the rally, struggled to make up time after losing more than nine minutes on Friday when sand got into the radiator of his Impreza.
Norway’s Henning Solberg had to retire his Peugeot 206 at the start of the 17th stage with mechanical problems.
The Cyprus Rally was the fifth of 16 rounds in the world championship.
