WRC Round 1 - Monte Carlo - Loeb Leads, Start to Finish

27 January 2005

Round 1 of the 2005 FIA Word Rally Championships (WRC) kicked off last weekend with the traditional season opener from Monte Carlo and as expected, did not disappoint.

Team Citroen and Reigning Champion Sebastien Loeb drove a masterful race and conquering tricky conditions that caught out many of his equally experienced rivals, went on to take his third straight win and give his Championship defence a real kick start.

“This was a perfect race for us,” Loeb said after the rally that saw him lead from start to finish. “Like last year, lots of drivers made mistake but we managed to avoid them and I’m delighted with my third win in a row.”

New Ford signing Toni Gardemeister scored a fantastic 2nd place, his best career finish with an impressive drive that marked him out as one of the stars of the future. Equally impressive in third was the Mitsubishi’s asphalt ace, Giles Panizzi. This was Panizzi’s best ever result on his home rally and gave the Japanese team a real boost with its first podium in several years on its full time WRC comeback.

Further down the field, Markko Martin had a mixed debut for Peugeot, finishing fourth after seemingly struggling with confidence and a very relieved Marcus Gronholm ended up one spot behind his team mate in fifth. The double World Champion was just pleased to finish after having crashing out on the final afternoon, he had to three-wheel back to base and hope his mechanics could patch him up. Miraculously they were able to though there was no such luck for the 2003 Champion and Team Subaru driver, Petter Solberg, who crashed out on exactly the same spot as he did last year. He’ll be hoping for some better luck as the season unfolds.

British interest focussed on up and coming stars, Kris Meeke and Guy Wilkes, both of whom were competing in the very competitive J-WRC Series. Meeke’s lived up to his huge promise with a brilliant debut victory in his Citroen C2 and team Suzuki driver Wilkes also gained some valuable points, despite crashing out on Sunday’s final stage, as he was able to re-join and complete the race.

For those who caught it, 2005 also sees the WRC teaming up exclusively with ITV Sport. The first instalment from this year’s Championships went out last Sunday in it’s new afternoon slot and was seen by just over 1.2 million so don’t miss the next WRC instalment from snowy Sweden, ITV1 on Sunday 13th February at 2.45pm.

See 2005 series calendar for the World Rally Championship (WRC)

Related Story 27.01.2005 - WRC 2005 Kicks Off in Monte Carlo