The rally was the first all-tarmac event of the season. The event was marred by an accident in the JWRC category which resulted in the
death of the co-driver
Jörg Bastuck. Eventually the rally saw the second win of the season for the reigning world champion
Sébastien Loeb, although the early pacesetter was
Ford's
Marcus Grönholm. After winning the first three stages, he suffered turbo problems on stage five but fought back from tenth place to eventually take third place. Ahead of Grönholm was the first podium for Spain's
Dani Sordo with a fast run that was publicly acknowledged by Loeb. Further down the field, the twice previous
Rally Catalunya winner
Gilles Panizzi disappointed with a tenth-place finish. Panizzi promptly left the
Red Bull Škoda Team and has not competed in a
WRC round since. ==Results==