COMMUNIQUE 5
18 September 2005 LEG 3 RELEASE

Wales Rally GB came to a tragic end this morning following a fatal accident in SS 15. The stage was immediately stopped and the remaining two scheduled stages abandoned.

The entire Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports team extends it sincere condolences to the family of Michael "Beef" Park, a good friend to many members of its team, and Peugeot Sport.

Sébastien Loeb, the leader of the rally before the incident, incurred a two-minute penalty for arriving at the final ’Out’ control early, which dropped him down the order into third position. Petter Solberg therefore takes maximum points. The Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 crews of Harri Rovanperä/Risto Pietiläinen and "Gigi" Galli/Guido d’Amore finished fourth and 13th respectively.

In Group N, Britain’s Stuart Jones claimed fifth overall in the category in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

FINAL OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
Note: Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) incurred a 2 min. penalty for arriving at the final ’Out’ control early.
  Driver / Co-driver Nat. Car Gr/Cl Total Time Difference
1   Petter SOLBERG / Phil Mills N/GB  SUBARU Impreza WRC 05 A8 M 2.45.57.8   
2   François DUVAL / Sven Smeets B  CITROEN Xsara WRC A8 M 2.47.15.2  1.17.4 
3   Sébastien LOEB / Daniel Elena F/MC  CITROEN Xsara WRC A8 M 2.47.15.7  1.17.9 
4   Harri ROVANPERA / Risto Pietiläinen FIN  MITSUBISHI Lancer WRC05 A8 M 2.47.27.2  1.29.4 
5   Manfred STOHL / Ilka Minor A  CITROEN Xsara WRC A8 2.48.32.8  2.35.0 
6   Roman KRESTA / Jan Tománek CZ  FORD Focus RS WRC 04 A8 M 2.49.15.1  3.17.3 
7   Colin McRAE / Nicky Grist GB  SKODA Fabia WRC A8 M 2.49.28.2  3.30.4 
8   Mark HIGGINS / Bryan Thomas GB  FORD Focus RS WRC 02 A8 2.49.38.7  3.40.9 
9   Kris MEEKE / Glen Patterson GB  SUBARU Impreza WRC A8 2.49.39.9  3.42.1 
10   Henning SOLBERG / Cato Menkerud N  FORD Focus RS WRC 04 A8 2.50.18.3  4.20.5 
11   Xavier PONS / Carlos del Barrio E  CITROEN Xsara WRC A8 2.51.17.1  5.19.3 
12   Antony WARMBOLD / Michael Orr D/GB  FORD Focus RS WRC 04 A8 2.51.26.6  5.28.8 
13   "Gigi" GALLI / Guido D’Amore I  MITSUBISHI Lancer WRC05 A8 M 2.55.38.7  9.40.9 
14   Armin SCHWARZ / Klaus Wicha D  SKODA Fabia WRC A8 M 2.55.51.2  9.53.4 
15   Matthew WILSON / Scott Martin GB  FORD Focus RS WRC 02 A8 3.00.33.1  14.35.3 
16   Julian REYNOLDS / Ieuan Thomas GB  FORD Focus RS WRC 01 A8 3.00.46.5  14.48.7 
17   Craig MIDDLETON / Robin Hernaman GB  SKODA Fabia WRC A8 3.01.39.9  15.42.1 
18   Aki TEISKONEN / Miika Teiskonen FIN  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.04.03.5  18.05.7 
19   Niall MCSHEA / Gordon Noble GB  SUBARU Impreza N4 3.04.10.7  18.12.9 
20   Marcos LIGATO / Rubèn Garcia RA  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.04.45.8  18.48.0 
21   Nasser AL-ATTIYA / Chris Patterson QA/GB  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.05.05.4  19.07.6 
.../...
23   Stuart JONES / Craig Parry GB  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.06.31.4  20.33.6 
24   David HIGGINS / Daniel Barritt GB  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.07.45.5  21.47.7 
25   Andreas AIGNER / Timo Gottschalk A/D  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.07.57.4  21.59.6 
26   Hamed AL-WAHAIBI / David Senior OM/GB  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.09.26.9  23.29.1 
27   Jaan MOLDER / Tónv Vunn EE  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.10.58.8  25.01.0 
30   Quirin MUELLER / Peter Müller D/A  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.14.18.1  28.20.3 
31   Gavin COX / Tim Hobbs GB  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.15.10.2  29.12.4 
35   Angelo MEDEGHINI / Barbara Capoferri I  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.16.40.1  30.42.3 
36   Fabio FRISIERO / Giovanni Agnese I  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.16.49.9  30.52.1 
38   Christopher ATKINSON / Glenn Macneall AUS  SUBARU Impreza WRC 05 A8 M 3.23.15.2  37.17.4 
41   Natalie BARRATT / Kaj Lindström GB/FIN  SUBARU Impreza N4 P 3.27.51.5  41.53.7 
42   Riccardo ERRANI / Stefano Casadio I  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 P 3.33.34.0  47.36.2 
43   Kevin STEVENS / Marc Jones GB  MITSUBISHI Lancer Evolution N4 3.33.44.6  47.46.8 
Nationalities: A=Austria/ AUS=Australia/ B=Belgium/ CZ=Czech Republic/ D=Germany/ E=Spain/ EE=Estonia/ F=France/ FIN=Finland/ GB=Great Britain/ I=Italy/ MC=Monte Carlo/ N=Norway/ OM=Oman/ QA=Qatar/ RA=Argentina/
M: drivers nominated in the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers
P: drivers eligible for FIA Production Car World Rally Championship points




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