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Harri gets behind Peugeot

Peugeot driver Harri Rovanpera believes the marque's 307 WRC can still be a title contender this year even though the new-for-2004 car has not won a rally yet

Finn Rovanpera replaced Belgian Freddy Loix in the second 307 after the Swedish round of the World Rally Championship, but team leader and double champion Marcus Gronholm is second in the points behind joint leaders Sebastien Loeb and Markko Martin.

Rovanpera is convinced that the 307 has plenty of potential to win this year despite numerous reliability problems that have occurred already this year, mainly with the car's power steering system and four-speed gearbox.

Peugeot boss Corrado Provera has already vowed to make big improvements to the car ahead of next month's Rally New Zealand. Rovanpera said: "I've never seen the team working as hard as they are doing now.

"Everyone is 100 percent focused on making the 307 as fast and reliable as possible. But it's not really a bad situation - it's normal to have a few problems with any new car.

"Ford, Citroen and Subaru are very fast now, so we cannot waste any time. The important thing is to make the car reliable so that it can stay finishing in the top five until it is ready to win. If that happens, then Peugeot can be champions again."

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