Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

Full Story from wrc.com

Citroen's Francois Duval has said he's delighted to have secured the first victory of his World Rally Championship career on this weekend's Telstra Rally Australia. The Belgian's first win comes at a crucial time as he's looking for a drive for next season in the wake of Citroen's withdrawal from the series for a sabbatical.

Duval joined Citroen this year after two promising season's at Ford in which he emerged as a potential rally winner, but the 25-year-old spent much of this year overshadowed by double champion team-mate Sebastien Loeb, and was briefly sidelined by Citroen after several rally-ending crashes while in points-scoring positions. This weekend he emerged as one of the few remaining big-name drivers on a rally of attrition.

"I'm very happy to win my first rally," Duval said. "It was quite difficult for me because there was quite a big fight behind and I had to go quickly to stop them catching me, although I could not go off the road. It's impossible to say what will happen in the future, but I hope it will be easier for me to win rallies now that I've won my first one."

Duval said he was keen to expand on his first victory next year, while Citroen team boss Guy Frequelin has said he's keen to try and find a sponsor to help the Belgian work with a privateer Citroen team. "I'm still very young and I hope to continue what I have started with my first win here in Australia," Duval explained. "If I can find a good car for next year, then I don't see any reason not to continue."

Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

Quite a rally. It was really good, despite Subaru's two incidents.

Skoda and Mcrae did exceptionally well, and their retirement 3 stages from the finish was very heartbreaking, especially since it was at service, not on stage

Loeb proved he is human, and made his first driver error since 2003.

I feel bad for Gronholms retirement too. Not a great way to end countless years at Peugeot.

Solberg and Rovanpera's kangroo incidents were also quite heartwrenching. No driver error, no mechanical error, just plain bad luck.

Atkinson looked great. I hope he sticks around next year. Its a shame he lost his steering on the first day, but he almost made it back to the podium, and thats awesome.

Can't wait for 2006!

subie OCD

iTrader: (11)

I just got the speed channel, and was able to watch some on Sunday night, it got me all amped up to drive! It was gnarly when one dude (citroen car?) smashed right into a tree!