2002 FIA World Rally Championship
Welcome to a new season of world rallying.
The official launch of the 2002 World Rally Championship was held in
Monte Carlo today and announced some major changes in the promotion
of rallying. You can certainly expect to see more rallying on TV
where-ever you are in the world.
The first event of the season, the Rallye Monte Carlo starts this
Friday.
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2002 FIA World Rally Championship Calendar
Jan 17-20 Monte Carlo Rally
Jan-Feb 31-03 Swedish Rally
Mar 08-10 Tour of Corsica
Mar 22-24 Catalonia Rally
Apr 19-21 Cyprus Rally
May 16-19 Rally of Argentina
Jun 13-16 Acropolis Rally
Jul 11-14 Safari Rally
Aug 08-11 Rally Finland
Aug 22-25 Deutschland Rally
Sep 19-22 San Remo Rally
Oct 03-06 Rally of New Zealand
Oct-Nov 31-03 Rally Australia
Nov 14-17 Rally of Great Britain
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Extract from Official FIA Press Release
http://www.fia.com
LATEST NEWS
Seven manufacturers' teams have been registered, six of them engaged
to enter every event and the seventh (Citroen, who were new to the
series in 2001 and entitled to a progressively bigger programme)
will enter seven. Taking into account the manufacturers active in
the FIA Junior World Rally Championship, no fewer than twelve
manufacturers will be involved in the 2002 FIA World Rally Championship,
with three of them in both the full and the Junior Championship.
Several important changes have been introduced into the FIA World
Championship for 2002:
- Every team must nominate two drivers who are committed to competing
on all fourteen events, with the possibility of entering a third
car for a specialist additional driver from event to event. Thus
manufacturers can enter either two or three cars to be eligible
for manufacturers points on each event, but only the best two crews
from each team will score points for manufacturers championship
purposes. A third entry to finish however will gain points in the
drivers championship.
- Six of the 14 events will also be the qualifying rounds for the
FIA Junior World Rally Championship for Super 1600 cars (results
from all six events to count) and the other eight will be for the
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship for Drivers (Group N
cars). Entrants for this championship had to nominate in advance
the six events on which they wish to score points. As previously
announced the Teams Cup series will not take place.
- Major technological advances are planned regarding safety measures
as well as tracking and timing systems, aimed at more immediate
results feedback.
- For promotional as well as logistical reasons, a maximum number
of 90 crews is planned for events. This number is to be broken down
into 30 championship crews with World Rally Cars, 5 invited drivers,
30 with the Junior World Rally, or Production Championship cars and
the others at the discretion of the organisers.
No new FIA World Rally car designs are expected in 2002. The most
important debuts will be the FIA Junior Rally Championship cars from
Rover-MG and Opel. Suzuki are entering FIA World Championship
events for the first time. The only team expected to introduce 2002
evolution versions of their FIA World Rally cars at the start of
the season is Ford. In an interesting move, Volvo are to be officially
represented in the FIA World Rally Championship as suppliers of the
registered reconnaissance and gravel note cars for the M-Sport
Ford team.
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NEWS FROM THE TEAMS
TEAM PEUGEOT TOTAL
(2001 FIA World Rally Champions, regular drivers in 2002: Richard
Burns and Marcus Gronholm. Additional drivers include Gilles Panizzi
and Harri Rovanpera)
No new evolution version is due to appear during the season, and
there will be few changes of major significance. Changes are to be
based on chassis strengthening.
FORD MOTOR COMPANY
(2nd in 2001: Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae. Regular third driver Markko
Martin, additional driver Francois Duval)
The 2002 version will feature many changes including revised engine
and turbocharger pieces. Main corporate change: new chief engineer
is Christian Loriaux (ex Subaru) Ford are due to announce a major new
additional sponsor on the 10th January.
TEAM MALBORO MITSUBISHI RALLIART
(3rd in 2001: Francois Delecour and Alister McRae. Additional drivers
to include Jani Paasonen)
No date has yet been announced for the debut of 2002 version which
will feature revised engine installation and necessary revised
transmission casing.
SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM
(4th in 2001, Tommi Makinen and Petter Solberg. No additional
drivers yet announced)
Corsica is expected to see the debut of the 2002 version, mainly
for the engine and turbo while more radical changes are expected
for 2003. Corporate move: new chief engineer, Pierre-Yves Genon,
replaces Loriaux.
SKODA MOTORSPORT
(5th in 2001, Kenneth Eriksson and Toni Gardemeister. Additional
drivers alternate between Stig Blomqvist and Roman Kresta. A
supporting fourth car to be run on nine events by David Sutton Cars
for Gabriel Pozzo)
Most urgent design changes are expected to concern the engine while
active rear differential design is under active consideration. No
date has yet been given for debut of 2002 evolution.
HYUNDAI CASTROL WORLD RALLY TEAM
(6th in 2001, Armin Schwarz and Freddy Loix. Additional driver Juha
Kankkunen)
Third evolution Accent expected to appear in Corsica with engine
changes and active rear differential. The 2002 version is also
expected to feature revised suspension geometry. Semi-automatic
gearshifts are being considered.
AUTOMOBILES CITROEN
(not classified in 2001, Thomas Radstrom and Sebastien Loeb.
Additional driver Philippe Bugalski)
Electronic improvements expected to be the most significant changes
to the design of their cars. No 2002 evolution version is anticipated.
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JUNIOR AND PRODUCTION CAR NEWS
28 and 26 drivers respectively have been registered for competition
in their categories in 2002. In neither series is it necessary to
nominate the type of car to be used, but it is known that cars from
eight different manufacturers will be active in the FIA Junior
Championship. In addition to Citroen, Fiat, Ford and Peugeot used in
2001, there will also be Suzuki (the car as used in the FIA Asia
Pacific Championship in 2001), Volkswagen (homologated at the end of
2001 in time for a non-championship appearance on the Network Q) and
newly homologated cars from Rover-MG and Opel.
The Peugeot 106 Maxi was homologated retrospectively for the purposes
of the British championship, but is still not accepted as an eligible
car for use under 2002 rules. The Citroen Saxo however has been
homologated with a new flywheel and clutch so as to be fully compliant
with the 2002 rules. The next Super 1600 car due to be homologated is
the Renault Clio. Mitsubishi cars are to be used by a very high
majority of Group N drivers.
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