Rally GB was traditionally the final event in the World Rally Championship until it moved from its November date to September last year. Despite predictions that the rally would be run in dry and dusty conditions with speeds threatening to reach similar levels to Finland, the weather proved just as difficult and the muddy conditions continued.

After a ceremonial start by the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff at 1930 on the evening of Thursday September 15, the event heads into west Wales to its base at the Felindre Rally Centre near Swansea. The opening leg features six stages (three run twice each) to the north and east of Felindre, totaling 139.24kms. Saturday’s action is to the north with six more stages (103.70kms) before the crews head to Cardiff for a one kilometre indoor superspecial at the Millennium Stadium. Sunday’s final leg includes two runs over two of the event’s longest stages, Resolfen and Margam (113.62kms). After an overall total of 357.56kms the rally finishes in the Welsh capital on Sunday afternoon at 1410 (1510 CET).

Leaderboard after Leg One:

1 LOEB/ELENA            CITROEN TOTAL                      1:18:12.0
2 SOLBERG/MILLS          SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM              +00:09.9
3 ROVANPERA/PIETILAINEN  MITSUBISHI MOTORS MOTOR SPORTS      +00:31.5
4 GRÖNHOLM/RAUTIAINEN    MARLBORO PEUGEOT TOTAL              +01:11.1
5 DUVAL/SMEETS          CITROEN TOTAL                        +01:12.4
6 ATKINSON/McNEAL        SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM              +01:21.3
7 SOLBERG/MENKERUD      BP FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM            +01:21.9
8 MARTIN/PARK            MARLBORO PEUGEOT TOTAL              +01:26.7
9 GARDEMEISTER/HONKANEN  BP FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM            +01:27.1
10 GALLI/DAMORE          MITSUBISHI MOTORS MOTOR SPORTS      +01:34.2
11 STOHL/MINOR            Citroën Xsara WRC                    +01:47.3
12 KRESTA/MOZNY          BP FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM            +01:54.7
13 McRAE/GRIST            SKODA MOTORSPORT                    +02:02.6

Leg One News

Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) was the early leader.  But when the Finn hit serious brake problems on the second test Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) moved to the front, despite losing 10 seconds by spinning and stalling.  The Frenchman won two stages to build an overnight lead of 9.9sec, despite a 10 second penalty for checking in late at a time control.  Petter Solberg (Subaru) spun in the same stage as Loeb but made no other mistakes to hold second ahead of Harri Rovanperä (Mitsubishi), who was fastest on the second stage.  Grönholm recovered superbly to climb from 19th to fourth, edging out François Duval (Citroen).  Duval's only problem came at the start of stage two when he dropped 10 seconds as his launch control system failed to engage.  Chris Atkinson (Subaru) had a fantastic Rally GB debut, holding sixth despite a final stage puncture.  Armin Schwarz (Skoda) had a torrid morning, a combination of a spin, a broken intercom and tyre troubles costing over two minutes.  He is 21st while returning team-mate Colin McRae is 13th.  There were no major retirements today.

Citroen

The Xsara WRCs of Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and François Duval/Sven Smeets emerged from the longest leg of the 2005 Wales Rally GB in 1st and 5th positions.

Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "The first two stages were very slippery, but not everywhere. It wasn't easy to read the road to spot the places where the grip changed. In SS2, I spun in a long left-hander which tightened into a 'right' and the engine stalled. Petter [Solberg] also had a problem and we ended up with exactly the same time. The conditions began to dry in SS3 and there was more grip available."

Francois Duval/Sven Smeets: "I didn't go too badly here last year. Our pre-event testing took place in dry conditions so I took it easily during the first loop which was damp. I had a couple of scares, due to slightly optimistic notes, but everything went to plan. On the drier second loop, I was very focused and on a good pace. It will probably be a close thing tomorrow since there are four or five drivers bunched within fifteen or so seconds. I will drive as I did today, basing my pace on that of Markko [Märtin] and trying not to make any mistakes."

Subaru

After the first day of competition on Wales Rally GB, Subaru's Petter Solberg holds second place overall, less than 10 seconds off the lead. Solberg enjoyed a trouble-free run on the Leg's six stages and set the second fastest stage time on both runs through the challenging 27km stage at Rheola.  On their Wales Rally GB debuts, Chris Atkinson and Stephane Sarrazin both followed their individual objectives perfectly and delivered solid performances on the tricky and unfamiliar Welsh roads. Both are looking to increase their pace as they become more familiar with the conditions over the next two days.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "Not too bad at all. Of course, I'd prefer to be leading but the car is going well, all the set-up changes we've made are taking it in the right direction and I'd say that we've gone better today than on any of the other gravel rallies this year. The first three stages went very well except for a spin on the second and for the repeated loop we took a chance on a tyre choice that in hindsight was too hard. Although we were able to take time out of Loeb on the last stage of the day, we gave up too much on the first two. Phil and I have enjoyed a good fight with Sebastien today, and Marcus is pushing hard too, so I expect things are going to be pretty exciting tomorrow. I'm going to have to work very hard to win this rally, but I'll certainly give it my best shot."

Stephane Sarrazin/Denis Giraudet: "Yes, it's been a good first day. My road position wasn't great, there were a lot of ruts in the road, but we're in good shape ahead of the next two days. Now, looking back at my performance on some of the first stages, I think I could have been quicker, I just wasn't pushing enough. But the important thing is that the speed is getting better and more comfortable."

Chris Atkinson/Glen MacNeall: "It's been a good day for us. I'm pretty pleased with sixth place overall on my first ever day of Rally GB. But my main objective continues to be learning more about the event and that's what I'll be doing tomorrow on another set of stages that are new to me. Hopefully though I can step up the pace a little more as the weekend goes on."

Ford

Treacherously slippery conditions made today's opening leg of the Wales Rally GB exceptionally demanding, but both BP-Ford World Rally Team pairings survived unscathed in their Focus RS World Rally Cars.  Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen ended the day in ninth, less than six seconds away from a top six placing, with team-mates Roman Kresta and Jan Tománek in 12th.However, the leading Focus RS was in the hands of privately-entered Norwegians Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud.  They drove superbly to hold seventh, outpacing six manufacturer-entered cars on their final FIA World Rally Championship event of the season.  Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkanen: "I expected more from today.  I don't understand why the times haven't been there because I've been driving flat out and I'm upset not to be in the top six.  It's the first rally this year where I've pushed hard and got nothing out of it.  Maybe the car was too soft this afternoon because I didn't expect it to dry as much as it did.  If it stays dry tomorrow, I will need a harder set-up,"

Roman Kresta/Jan Mozny: "It was like driving on ice this morning. My tyres were too hard and many times I slid off the driving line in the mud. Everything was faster and nicer this afternoon.  Although my position isn't great the gaps are close and I'm only just over 30 seconds from the top six, so much can happen tomorrow.  I made some changes to the differential set-up after the shakedown test yesterday and the Focus has felt really good all day.  I won't change anything tonight.  Tomorrow I don't want to take any risks so I'll keep the same pace."

Peugeot

Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm set off like a rocket to win the first stage of Wales Rally GB, round 12 of the World Championship, but his charge was halted by a serious problem on the following stage: no brakes. Having fixed the fault, Marcus quickly fought back to an impressive fourth place overall. His team mate Markko Martin opted for a cautious approach, and ends the leg eighth.

Marcus Gronhölm/Timo Rautiainen: "Today has been good apart from the brake problem this morning. Without that, we could certainly have been fighting for the lead of the rally. The car and the tyres have been extremely good, despite the fact that conditions have been very difficult and changeable. The roads were slippery in the morning and then they dried out a bit in the afternoon. I realised we had a brake problem at the end of the first stage, but I was not able to try and fix it until after the second stage. The time lost on stage two was very costly, but let's see what we can do tomorrow."

Markko Martin/Michael Park: "I've struggled today. I have no real confidence in the car in these conditions, which is a problem I've had since the start of the year. On the last loop of stages, I was able to find a slightly better feeling by locking the diffs, but this made the car very difficult to drive in the tight corners. My co-driver was having to adjust the diffs in the middle of the stage as I told him to lock or unlock them, depending on what was needed! My objective now is just to get to the end and score as many points as I can."

Skoda

Skoda Motorsport World Rally Team drivers Colin McRae and Armin Schwarz ended the opening leg of Rally GB in 13th and 21st places respectively. The return of Colin to the WRC with Skoda Motorsport has generated a massive amount of interest among the media and the rally fans, thousands of whom turned out to cheer the Scot and his Welsh co-driver Nicky Grist over the start ramp at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium last night.

Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha: "I spun on the first corner of the first stage and stalled the engine. It took a long time to restart and then after that I had an intercom problem for two more stages. Klaus did a great job guiding me with hand signals but I think that, in terms of results, my rally was over before it really began."

Colin McRae/Nicky Grist: "The first two stages were so slippery that to push hard would have been stupid because we had no experience of these conditions as the test was dry. These are the most demanding stages of the rally and it's very easy to make a mistake. I went for it on the dry third stage and got sixth place so if it stays like that for the rest of the rally then we can build on it. This afternoon the car was bouncing about in the ruts so we will change the set up for tomorrow and I'm confident we can improve our position as everything is very close. The atmosphere at last night's start was fantastic and there are thousands of fans in the forests cheering us on. It's good to be back!"

Mitsubishi

After the opening leg of Wales Rally GB, the 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 crew of Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen are on the provisional podium, in third. Team-mates "Gigi" Galli and Guido d'Amore have been easing themselves into the pace in their first competitive outing in Wales but have set competitive times to lie 10th overnight.

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen: "Today has been fantastic for me and very good for the team on the mechanics home event, every stage has been going well. The only problem we have had is a suspension link failure in SS5 but we were able to fix it for the final stage. All the stages this afternoon have been very slippy, especially the last one even though it was completely dry. Everyone in the team has worked very hard so I am happy to have a good result at the end of the first day. I need to keep my concentration for the whole weekend, because I'm sure there will be a big fight ahead."

Gigi Galli/Guido D'Amore: "I am pleased with the day, which has gone accordingly to plan, but this rally is harder than I thought. The main thing about the event is the grip; sometimes it's slippy and other times not, but I think tomorrow's stages are more twisty and the surface a bit more predictable. We are trying, step by step, but doing these stages in a rally car is something quite different to the recce."

Leaderboard after Leg Two:

1 LOEB/ELENA            CITROEN TOTAL                      2:15:12.7
2 SOLBERG/MILLS          SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM              +00:44.7
3 GRÖNHOLM/RAUTIAINEN    MARLBORO PEUGEOT TOTAL              +01:29.8
4 DUVAL/SMEETS          CITROEN TOTAL                        +01:53.2
5 ROVANPERA/PIETILAINEN  MITSUBISHI MOTORS MOTOR SPORTS      +01:53.9
6 MARTIN/PARK            MARLBORO PEUGEOT TOTAL              +02:24.4
7 GALLI/DAMORE          MITSUBISHI MOTORS MOTOR SPORTS      +02:44.2
8 STOHL/MINOR            Citroën Xsara WRC                    +03:01.3
9 KRESTA/MOZNY          BP FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM            +03:37.9
10 HIGGINS/AGNEW          EDDIE STOBART MOTORSPORT            +03:50.1
11 McRAE/GRIST            SKODA MOTORSPORT                    +03:51.5
12 MEEKE/PATTERSON        Subaru Impreza  WRC                  +03:57.5
13 WARMBOLD/ORR          BP FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM            +04:10.4
14 SOLBERG/MENKERUD      BP FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM            +04:29.9

Leg Two News

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) dominated the day to take a step closer to his ninth victory of the season.  The Frenchman was fastest on all six forest stages to increase his leg one advantage of 9.9sec to 44.7sec.  Petter Solberg (Subaru) retained second but was powerless to match the championship leader.  Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) continued his recovery from yesterday's brake troubles and climbed to third on the penultimate stage, although he was hounded all the way by a hard-charging François Duval (Citroen).  Harri Rovanperä (Mitsubishi) held third all day until a gearbox problem deprived him of third gear for the final two stages and he dropped more than 30 seconds.  Chris Atkinson (Subaru) saw his good run end when he went off the road and down a bank on the opening stage while team-mate Stephane Sarrazin also retired when he too went off the road, damaging the front of the car too seriously to continue.

Citroen

The famous Welsh red dragon would have been a fitting steed for Citroën's Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena today, but instead it was at the wheel of their familiar red Xsara WRC that they continued to impress in Britain's WRC round.

Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "I admit we pushed very hard all day today," said Seb. "But we didn't have a single problem and the car was nicely balanced. Switching to slightly harder compound tyres for the afternoon's loop was a judicious move. The surface is exceptionally dry for this event but I have to say that the stages are just as fun to drive in these conditions. Tomorrow it will obviously be a case of trying not to make any mistakes."

Francois Duval/Sven Smeets: "I am very pleased with my times in the second loop. They are a particularly positive boost for my confidence and I can't complain about the weather conditions either: our pre-event testing was done in the dry and the stages are slippery enough as it is like that!"

Subaru

At the end of the second day of competition on Wales Rally GB, Petter Solberg holds second place overall, 44 seconds behind the leading Citroen of Sebastien Loeb. Solberg enjoyed another incident-free day on the Welsh gravel stages and his Impreza WRC2005 ran faultlessly over the day's 103 competitive kilometres. Solberg's team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stephane Sarrazin both retired from the leg after separate incidents in the morning. Chris will re-start the event tomorrow under Superally regulations, but the damage to Stephane's car was too extensive to allow him to continue.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "I've enjoyed the day and overall the feeling in the car is okay but I wish we were able to get closer to Sebastien. I particularly liked the stage inside the stadium - it was great fun and I hope the spectators enjoyed it as much as I did. We're trying as hard as we can out there, going absolutely flat out, but it doesn't seem to be quite enough. Sebastien is doing a good job and we have to work to find some solution to get quicker. I like tomorrow's stages, they're very good and there's still a long way to go, so I won't give up."

Stephane Sarrazin/Denis Giraudet: "I'm disappointed not to be able to finish this event. It was a simple mistake in one junction; I began to make a right turn when in fact the note was for a left. The car went straight on and the front end was damaged on a low bank. Up until that point things had been getting steadily better. The speed was building and I was getting closer and closer to the competition. Generally though and despite the crash, there are quite a lot of positives to take from this rally, it's still only my third ever gravel event and Denis and I were making good progress. Now we'll concentrate on the next event in Corsica and hopefully a better result."

Chris Atkinson/Glen MacNeall: "Not such a good day. I was on a slow, tightening corner when the front wheel just caught the apex and spun the car around. We dropped off the road a fair way into some bushes and there was no way for us to get back on the stage. It's a shame because before the incident the car and the tyres had felt excellent. We were running at a pace that wasn't far off the guys with much more experience, and when you're pushing harder then sometimes mistakes happen. The one consolation is that the car is absolutely fine and we can re- join the rally again tomorrow."

Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Roman Kresta and Jan Tománek climbed into a points scoring position during today's second leg of the Wales Rally GB. The Czech pair are ninth in their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car and on target to score the manufacturers' points which will extend Ford's unrivalled scoring record in the FIA World Rally Championship.

Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkanen: Excluded (Underweight)

Roman Kresta/Jan Tomanek: "The roads were pretty dry, although there were a few puddles in the opening stage where cars had cut corners and dragged water and mud onto the track. This afternoon the loose gravel had been swept away and the roads were extremely fast.  It felt like driving in Finland at times with lots of time in sixth gear.  I chose soft compound Michelin tyres this morning and harder rubber this afternoon and it felt right.  My target for tomorrow is clear - to stay in the manufacturer points for Ford."

Peugeot

Marcus Gronholm has continued his spectacular charge up the leaderboard today by depriving his compatriot Harri Rovanpera of third place on the penultimate stage of leg two of the Wales Rally GB. A good run through the morning's stages allowed his team mate Markko Martin to take a solid sixth place.

Marcus Gronhölm/Timo Rautiainen:  "Today has been good, but it has not quite been the same as fighting for a victory. It's a pity, as we undoubtedly had a car that was good enough to win here. This morning's stages were quite difficult, so I was not taking any risks. I knew that if I kept going at the same pace I could pass Harri Rovanpera, but I think it will be a different story to catch Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg. Still, there are four long stages to go tomorrow so anything can happen."

Markko Martin/Michael Park: "This morning was a little bit better for me, as I managed to find some better differential settings which gave me more control over the car. These stages generally suit me quite well, but I need to have full confidence in order to really attack them. The main thing is that we are in a solid points scoring position, and we will try and move a bit higher up the leaderboard tomorrow."

Skoda

Skoda Motorsport World Rally Team drivers Colin McRae and Armin Schwarz ended the second leg of Rally GB in 11th and 18th places respectively. After six stages in the fast Welsh forests, the leg ended with possibly the shortest stage in the championship, the 1.10kms indoor superspecial at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. It may have lacked distance but there was no lack of atmosphere as over 20,000 rally fans gathered to support their heroes with the noise reaching deafening levels when Colin's Fabia WRC 05 burst into the stadium. Colin's hopes of setting super-fast times were dashed on the run out to this morning's first stage. The semi-automatic gearshift system failed and the Scot had to revert to the manual option. Nevertheless he dropped little time and by the end of the leg had climbed into the top 10 and was poised to chase a points finish on tomorrow's final leg.

Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha: "We've had no problems today but I haven't had any speed either. The conditions are a bit like Mexico but unfortunately I've been driving like I did in Mexico too. I really don't know what the solution is."

Colin McRae/Nicky Grist: "Losing the auto shift wasn't the best start to today but it didn't actually cost me a lot of time. The biggest problem was that the manual gearshift isn't located in the best position for me and I had to stretch to reach it. Generally it's been a good day and tomorrow's stages could suit the car a little bit better so we'll be pushing as hard as possible."

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 crew of Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen held off a mounting challenge from Marcus Grönholm in the second leg of Wales Rally GB, but ultimately lost out to their fellow Finn when a gearbox problem dropped them from third to fifth in the penultimate stage. Team-mates "Gigi" Galli and Guido d'Amore have set consistent times in their debut competitive outing in the event and the Italians have moved up the leaderboard into seventh position.

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen: "About 5-7 kilometers into the stage (SS7) we lost third gear. We could've dropped more time, but the nature of the stage was reasonably kind to us. The other problem was that normally when you lose a gear you can shift through it, but I had a problem getting over third and was worried the whole gearbox would break. But it's been okay and overall we've had two very good days, with this really being our only problem. Of course we will fight again tomorrow and hopefully take fourth."

Gigi Galli/Guido D'Amore: "I have been staying focused on the road and our notes, because this is my first Rally GB and I have to learn to work myself, not the car, in this situation. The whole day has been good and with the drier conditions, this makes things 'easier'. I'm happy with our performance for our first time here and we have compared favorably with a lot of other drivers with much more experience of these stages."

The whole of the Rallying World was saddened to learn of the death today of Michael Park. Co-Driver to Markko Martin, Park was fatally injured when the pair's Peugeot left the road on the second of Sunday's stages. The event was immediately halted under the tragic circumstances. Rally leader Sebastien Loeb took a 2 minute penalty to avoid winning the World Championship on such a black day.

Michael "Beef" Park was 39 years of age and is survived by wife Marie and his two children William and Victoria.

Rallye-Info.com would like to express their deepest condolences to the family and friends of Michael.

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Final Results of Rally GB:

1. Solberg Subaru 2h 45:57.8
2. Duval Citroen + 1:17.4
3. Loeb Citroen + 1:17.9 (including 2-minute penalty)
4. Rovanpera Mitsubishi + 1:29.4
5. Stohl Citreen + 2:35.0
6. Kresta Ford + 3:17.3
7. Mcrae Skoda + 3:30.4
8. Higgins Ford + 3:40.9
9. Meeke Subaru + 3:42.1
10. Solberg Ford + 4:20.5
11. Pons Citroen + 5:19.3
12. Warmbold Ford + 5:28.8
13. Schwarz Skoda + 9:13.4
14. Galli Mitsubishi + 9:40.9
15. Wilson Ford + 14:35.3

If the Rally is cancelled, it should be cancelled.

No points etc.

I mean, It was a fantastic gesture by Loeb, but its a bit silly to have him taking a penalty not to win. Wouldn't it just be easier to not give points.