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Tommi's domination came to a sudden halt and four-time champion managed only one win. Instead of Mitsubishi, brightest stars of the season were Peugeot who scored their first win in second rally of the season, and Subaru with their new car.
Calendar was changed again, China was unable to find a new sponsor to replace 555 and was cancelled. Fortunately, reserve event (Cyprus) was in place and stepped in. Slow and twisty, it was not universally welcomed, though.
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Early in the season it looked like Richard would easily walk away with the title, such was the speed of the new Impreza WRC2000. And Burns' too. But car was a bit fragile, not often leading to outright retirement but dropping Richard back in the leadership, forcing him to try much to regain lost time. Marcus must not be understated either, he grew up a lot during the season and in the end was able to fight Richard on equal terms.
For Peugeot, the eventual manufacturer champions, season began with perhaps biggest imaginable humiliation for a french team as all three of their cars froze in parc ferme at Monte Carlo. New evolution was introduced in Catalunya and towards end of the year lion gradually found roaring voice again.
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The most radically new car was redesigned Subaru Impreza WRC2000, a car that was debuted in Portugal. It won instantly and nearly brought drivers' title to Burns. Their closest rival was Peugeot who also brought new car out but this was more of an small evolution version than a really ground breaking introduction.
Both Ford and Skoda also uprated their cars during the season but one completely new car was Hyundai's Accent WRC introduced in Sweden. Mitsubishi stayed with Evo6 though even that was renewed during the year but car was losing the edge.
Saddest news was Seat who brought out Evo3 of the Cordoba WRC, a fruit of Auriol's hard work with the team. Only after one outing with new car team announced they would quit at the end of season.
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Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen, 2003 FIA World Rally Champions, amongst their championship winning Peugeot team
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Drivers scoring their
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first win
M. Gronholm (Sweden)
G. Panizzi (Corsica)
first drivers' point
T. Arai (Safari)
A. Bakhashab (Acropolis)
T. Laukkanen (Australia)
first stage win
P. Solberg (Portugal)
S. Jean-Joseph (San Remo)
J. Tuohino (Great Britain)
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