CARDIFF, 17 September 2004 — Belgian driver Francois Duval gave Ford a timely reminder of his talents as he took the early lead in the Rally of Great Britain yesterday.
Duval, who will be released by the team at the end of the season after Ford were unable to commit to 2005, took his Ford Focus to the top of the standings after the opening super special stage in the Welsh capital.
Duval covered the 2.45km course in 2min 6.5sec, to egde out championship leader Sebastien Loeb in the Citroen. Loeb went into the 12the round of the 16 event championship with a 30-point lead over reigning champion Petter Solberg of Norway in the Subaru Impreza.
Solberg was fourth yesterday, 1.2sec behind Duval with Markko Martin of Estonia, also in a Ford Focus, in third place, 0.8sec off the pace.
The two Peugeots of Finns Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera were fifth and sixth respectively yesterday. Today, the rally starts in earnest with six stages covering a total of 180.86km.
Loeb approaches this weekend’s Rally of Britain in a very different state of mind from last year, when his title hopes disappeared in the Welsh forests.
This time the Frenchman has a cushion over his nearest championship rival, and is cruising to his first world title after winning five out of 11 rallies and finishing second three times.
Last year, with the rally held in mid-November as the season-ender, he arrived level on points with teammate Carlos Sainz and one ahead of Solberg. Solberg went on to win the rally and the title after Citroen told Loeb to make their first manufacturers’ crown a priority.
It will take a major mishap to stop the 30-year-old former gymnast, who has failed to score points just once this season, from becoming the first French champion since Didier Auriol in 1994.
Four rounds remain after Britain and it will not matter much if Loeb does not win in Wales on Sunday but the chances are that he will be up there anyway.
