WRC - Australia

By Naughtynat
October 29 2006

It all looks good for Marcus Gronholm,as Sebastian Loeb is still recovering.However, rallying is very unpredictable and especially when the drivers have to face slippery bauxite surfaces like Australia's.He got off to a good start,winning the Super Special Stage and moving to the special stages of Leg 1 as the leader.

Leg 1 : Things took an unexpected turn,when leader Marcus Gronholm hit a rock in SS5 and rolled the Focus.As a result,he dropped down to 56th.Local man Chris Atkinson was there to pick up the lead,but not for a long time,as he had left the road on SS6, and the Impreza got on fire.Atkinson retired from Leg 1. The battle for the lead now was between their team mates.Mikko Hirvonen had a close fight with Petter Solberg for the lead,but by the end of the day he was first with the Norwegian 27.2 seconds behind him.Marcus was 18th by the end of the day.

Leg 2 : Mikko extended his lead over Petter.The battle for third was thrilling,but Manfred Stohl took the position and left Xavier Pons fourth.Gronholm managed to climb up to 7th,but he was still 10 minutes behind the podium,a podium he needed to keep his mathematical hopes for the title alive.

Leg 3 : Mikko drove a solid race and brought the Focus home in first.Second was Petter Solberg,and Manfred Stohl extended his lead over Pons (who almost ran over a cangaroo).Fifth was Marcus Gronholm,who did a good job but was too far from the podium,sixth Latvala,seventh Baldacci and eighth Beltran. Chris Atkinson finished just out of the points in 9th,after retiring from the first leg.

The aftermath :

Mikko Hirvonen took a first career win,he's very consistent and didn't let the opportunity slip.He is now firmly third in the standings.
Loeb is officially the champion as the points gap is 21,and the maximum points Gronholm can take is 20.
The legendary jumps of Bannister North,the beautiful super special stage and Rally Australia in Perth are now history,as Australia isn't included in the 2007 calendar,and in 2008 Rally Australia moves to Queensland.
Congratulations to Sebastian Loeb (and Kronos Citroen) for his third World title.