Peugeot: Gronholm retirement 'a bitter blow'.

Peugeot's hopes of overhauling Citroen in the battle for the WRC Manufacturers' championship suffered a severe blow when Marcus Gronholm was forced to retire from the opening leg of Rallye de France - Tour de Corse.

Gronholm had held third going into SS4, but found his car stuck in third gear when he got to the end of the stage. The Finn deliberately stalled his engine in order to stop at the end of the stage but then found he was unable to start the car again and was forced to retire.

With Sebastien Loeb and Francois Duval holding first and second for Citroen, Peugeot's stable-mates could well wrap up the championship crown this weekend if the positions stay as they are.

"The two Peugeot 307 WRCs in Corsica were equipped for the first time this year with our double-clutch gearbox," team boss Jean-Pierre Nicolas said. "This system would have gained us about 15 to 20 seconds over the course of the entire rally. Despite a long period of making this unit reliable, Marcus Gronholm's gearbox became blocked on the fourth and final stage of the day and he was forced to retire. It was a bitter blow!"