Peugeot: Rallying's Ferrari

The 206 was the class of the field

Peugeot were expected to be the team to beat in 2002, but they dominated the season in a way in which even they had not expected.

Peugeot were in a class of their own from the very start of the season, and Marcus Gronholm delivered in style on his status as pre-season championship favourite.

Gronholm lead the series from the second event and never looked back, proving on the way too strong on all rallies for new team-mate Richard Burns.

Gronholm and Burns gave Peugeot the strongest driver line-up in rallying, and allied to the best car they were never going to beaten.

The team built on the speed that has been apparent since their return to world rallying in 2000 and added astonishing consistency.

That made them the team to beat almost on every event.

They utterly dominated the season, left their rivals exasperated, and wrapped up the drivers' and manufacturers' titles with two events to go.