Peugeot prepare to bring curtain down on WRC.

Rally Australia next weekend will not only bring the 2005 World Rally Championship season to a close, it will also mark the final event in WRC competition for the Peugeot World Rally team who withdraw from the series at the end of the season.

Since returning to the WRC at the highest level in 1999 with the 206 WRC, the team has taken 27 victories and has taken two drivers' titles and three manufacturers' crowns making the team one of the most successful in the championship

"I believe those figures speak for themselves," team boss Jean-Pierre Nicolas said. "The team that has taken over from us at the very top is also a member of the PSA family, but other manufacturers have been chasing after this sort of success for many years. If you add the two Drivers' titles won by Marcus, I think the bottom line of our presence in WRC is very positive."

Nicolas added that the positive memories that will remain when Peugeot withdraws after the Australian event will far outweigh any negative things that have occurred over the last seven seasons.

"I experienced the joy of winning as a driver, but the pleasure is even greater when you share it with a team like Peugeot Sport," he said. "We have had some setbacks, such as the spate of starter motor problems that eliminated us early on from the 2000 Monte Carlo Rally, but the happy memories outweigh the less pleasant ones by far. We have scored a total of twenty-seven wins, eighteen with Marcus Gronholm, seven with Gilles Panizzi and one with Harri Rovanpera and Didier Auriol. That's a fantastic run. We have had strong emotions and we have also given our fans plenty to cheer about.

"It is obviously impossible to forget the recent tragic loss of Michael Park during September's Rally GB. Not only did that have a profound effect on everyone at Peugeot, but it also hit the rallying fraternity as a whole very hard. That too, unfortunately, is part and parcel of a job which isn't always easy, but which is so absorbing that our passion always ends up taking the upper hand."

The final round for the team will see Daniel Carlsson come back into the team alongside Marcus Gronholm, with asphalt expert Nicolas Bernardi stepping aside to allow the Swede to return to the second 307 WRC.

With Gronholm in particular having run well in Australia in the past, Nicolas said he was hopeful that Peugeot would bring its time in the WRC to an end while fighting for victory.

"The outcome of both championships has now been decided, so all the drivers will have a free hand," he said. "It will undoubtedly be a fantastic battle and I believe we have a very real chance. Daniel Carlsson lacks experience of the event, but Marcus Gronholm has always gone very well in Australia, as has the 307 WRC, and our Pirelli tyres are competitive on this sort of terrain."