New Zealand: Pirelli fights for the victory

Paparoa (NZ), 8 April 2005 - The Pirelli-equipped Peugeot of Marcus Gronholm has finished the opening leg of the all-gravel Rally New Zealand, round four of the World Rally Championship, in second place. In total, there are six Pirelli drivers in the top 10 and Pirelli has won five out of the day's eight stages. The Subaru-Pirelli of World Championship leader Petter Solberg is fourth, just five seconds off a podium place - despite the considerable handicap of running first on the road and sweeping the stages clean of loose gravel for the rest of the field. Conditions on the opening leg of the Rally New Zealand consisted of fast and flowing gravel roads, with a thin layer of loose gravel on a hard base. The weather was warm and dry all day, although the opening pair of stages were about 50% damp after some rain the previous night. All the Pirelli drivers relied on the tried and trusted KP rubber throughout the opening leg, which was introduced in New Zealand last year and won on its debut, with Petter Solberg. For the first loop of four stages, run in slightly cooler conditions, all the Pirelli drivers used the KP4 tyres - apart from Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm and Mitsubishi's Harri Rovanpera, who opted for the harder KP2. For the final four stages (three of which were repeated from the morning) the Pirelli runners all used the KP4, apart from Subaru's youngster Chris Atkinson who chose the KP2 and set two fastest times throughout the day, moving up to fifth overall. Pirelli also leads the Production Car Championship classification in New Zealand (round two of eight) thanks to a dominant performance from Toshi Arai in his Group N Subaru. Rally New Zealand (Round 4 of 16) - Classification after leg one 1 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC 1h12m01.1s 2 Gronholm-Rautiainen Peugeot 307 WRC +23.1s 3 Duval-Prevot Citroen Xsara WRC +26.7s 4 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +31.7s 5 Atkinson-Macneall Subaru Impreza WRC +54.3s 6 Gardemeister-Honkanen Ford Focus WRC +59.7s 7 Martin-Park Peugeot 307 WRC +1m09.2s 8 Stohl-Minor Citroen Xsara WRC +1m47.3s 9 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +1m53.1s 10 Galli-d'Amore Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +2m00.6s More information and photographs on Pirelli's motor sport activities: www.pirellicompetizioni.com