Petter Solberg of Norway won the Rally of Australia today in Perth to move into a tie for second in the drivers standings with four rounds of the World Rally Championship remaining. Solberg, driving a Subaru, completed the three-day, 24-leg rally in an aggregate time of three hours 32 minutes 7.1 seconds, edging out Frenchman Sebastien Loeb who had led until the final two stages.
Loeb finished second in his Citroen, 26.6 seconds behind Solberg, wit championship leader Richard Burns of Britain third in a Peugeot. Another Briton, Colin McRae, and Spanish veteran Carlos Sainz, both driving Citroens, were fourth and fifth respectively with Finland's Tommi Makinen sixth in a Subaru.
Solberg's win was his third this year and drew him level with Sainz in joint second place in the standings on 48 points, seven behind Burns. Loeb climbed to fourth on 45 points, overtaking reigning world champion Marcus Gronholm, who retired after crashing on the first day. Markko Martin of Estonia stayed in sixth spot on 37 points after being disqualified for a technical infringement while running fourth in Australia.
Solberg began the third and final day trailing Loeb by 5.1 seconds but took the lead for the first time when he won the first of four concluding stages. Loeb immediately regained the lead by winning the 22nd stage, but Solberg easily clinched the penultimate stage to pull away from his rival as the rain began to fall and the course became more slippery. Solberg finished third in the final stage, won by McRae, to extend his lead over Loeb to almost half a minute.
Martin, who was fourth going into the third day, was excluded during an overnight hearing after he used a rock to help wedge a spare tyre into place, in breach of the sport's rules. Martin's Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson told reporters. "It is a blow to our world championship hopes but a decision that we have accepted without appeal. "Markko and (co-driver) Michael (Park) acted on the spur of the moment in an effort to retain the spare wheel which was not properly secured."
Filed by James Boylan
