Bugalski cruises to Deutschland victory
Philippe Bugalski has won the Rally Deutschland in dominant fashion for Citroen, after Peugeot's reigning World Champion Marcus Gronholm lost his slim hopes of victory with a couple of time consuming spins on the final day
Bugalski won the event, which looks likely to be included in next year's World Championship calendar, by almost four and a half minutes in his Citroen Xsara WRC.
Raimund Baumschlager just held on to second in his Ford Focus ahead of the similar machine of a charging Francois Delecour, and the teuton had good cause to thank his choice of soft tyres on the final stage to stay ahead of the Frenchman.
After his spin this morning that dropped him from second to fourth, Gronholm indulged in another rotation on SS15 which cost him any hope of moving back up the leaderboard.
Poulton-le-Fylde's fireman-turned-rally star Neil Wearden was forced out of the event when his Grifone-run Peugeot 306 WRC hit gearbox transfer problems on SS15 while lying in the top ten.
Philippe Bugalski, Citroen Xsara, 3hr23m12.7s
Raimond Baumschlager, Ford Focus, +4m27.2s
Francois Delecour, Ford Focus, +4m32.1s
Marcus Gronholm, Peuegot 306, +4m49.8s
Matthias Kahle, SEAT Cordoba, +5m26.0s
Armin Kremer, Toyota, +6m15.5s
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