Catalunya: Citro?n final report

2002 JUNIOR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
38th Catalunya Costa Brava Rally - Rally of Spain (22-24 March)

3rd Leg : Sunday 24th of March

One-two for the Citroën Saxos

The Catalan Dani Sola and the Italian Andrea Dallavilla provided the Super 1600 Citroën Saxo, the 2001 World Championship winning car, with a great one-two at the Catalunya Rally, second round of the Junior World Rally Championship.

Since the start of the rally, the two men fought for first place. During Friday's first leg in the area of Tarragona, Andrea Dallavilla made profit out of the very long stage of Escaladei to take the lead.

The second leg took place around Vic. Dani Sola, the local driver, reversed the order thanks to his superior knowledge of the stages and came back to Lloret de Mar with a lead of 12 seconds.

But Dallavilla did not give up the fight. After his team Vieffe Corse had checked his car carefully at Saturday's last service, the Italian driver was determined to attack to the maximum.

In stage 14, Dani Sola increased his lead and brought it to 18,4 seconds, but he suffered a puncture in the following stage (SS15) and they switched positions again.

At the next service, PH Sport changed Dani's gearbox in 17 minutes and the Catalan young hope came back into the fight. In the next two stages he slightly caught up Andrea, and still had to give his best in the ultimate stage (35km).

The great dual ended up with a puncture on Dallavilla's car, a win for Sola, and gave Citroën a dominating one-two.

The third Saxo, driven by Janne Tuohino also took part in the party. Following his target to reach the finish and learn the event, the recent hero of the Swedish Rally, heads François Duval, also delayed by a double puncture in stage 15.

With a fifth place, he scores 2 points for the Championship.

Badly delayed since Friday (double puncture), German Sven Haaf lost any hope to score points. However, he set some very good times in the last leg, getting better references for the next round at the Acropolis Rally in June.

-citroën-