Panizzi wins dramatic Catalunya rally
Panizzi wins dramatic Catalunya rally
Reuters , Lloret de Mar, Spain
Peugeot's Gilles Panizzi snatched a last-gasp victory in the
Rally of Catalunya on Sunday to push new world championship
leader Sebastien Loeb into second place and set up a four-way
showdown for the title.
Frenchman Loeb let a 31-second lead slip on a rain-lashed
final stage of the three-day race but second place was still
enough to take him level on points with fellow Citroen driver
Carlos Sainz at the top of the world championship standings.
Petter Solberg, who improved from 10th to fifth on a dramatic
final day, is a point behind in third, while Richard Burns is now
fourth, five points behind Loeb and Sainz after abandoning on the
19th stage in Catalunya.
An impossibly close title race will be decided between those
four drivers at the British Rally from Nov. 6 to 9.
On Saturday, Frenchman Sebastien Loeb held off a resolute
challenge from Markko Martin to maintain a 20-second advantage in
the Rally and keep the heat on world championship leader Carlos
Sainz.
Loeb, winner of four stages in his Citroen Xsara on Friday,
was second best to Martin for much of day two, but victory in the
day's final leg kept him well clear of the Ford driver with six
stages to race on Sunday.
Sainz, in second place at the end of the first day, slipped to
fourth and his slim lead in the championship standings is now
under threat.
With only the British Rally to come after Catalunya, Spanish
Citroen driver Sainz heads the standings by three points from
Britain's Richard Burns in his Peugeot and Petter Solberg of
Norway in a Subaru.
After a promising start, Burns finished day two in sixth
place, 35 seconds behind Sainz, while Solberg was down in 10th, a
further minute behind.
Loeb, six points behind Sainz in the standings, could prove to
be the Spaniard's main challenger.
Loeb struggled to compete with Estonia's Martin and French
Peugeot driver Panizzi in Saturday's early stages, but came back
strongly to win the final leg and reassert his authority.