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It's over and out on the title, says Gronholm

Marcus Gronholm says the chances of defending his World Rally Championship title are at an end following his sixth retirement in seven events

The Finn's Acropolis Rally hopes ended when he hit a rock and damaged his sump on SS3 and the Peugeot now believes its over and out on any hopes of back-to-back titles.

"I think my championship is now over," he shrugged, after returning to the Parnassos service. "All we can hope to do now is finish rallies. Catching the others is very difficult. I'm disappointed, but what else can we do?"

Gronholm, who confirmed today that he has re-signed with Peugeot, said the retirement wasn't due to any lingering fragility in the latest evolution 206 WRC.

"Just after 10 kilometres into the stage, we found a loose stone in the road that someone had pulled out," he explained. "I couldn't avoid it, because to do that I'd have had to go off and it was quite a fast place anyway.

"It broke the sump and the oil came out. It's not Peugeot's fault - this time it's just really bad luck."

Gronholm has just four points, compared to the 27 of countryman and championship-leader Tommi Makinen.

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