Rally New Zealand Leg 3
Starters: 51 of the original 80 competitors left Auckland parc ferme at 0600hrs this morning
Route: Leg three comprised 113.81 competitive kilometres and six stages based around the Te Kauwhata service park, 75 km south of Auckland
Weather: Following early morning mist, conditions remained dry and sunny all day. Stages were largely dry, with some damp patches remaining. Air temperatures varied between 14C and 24C
Leaderboard: Gronholm, Burns, Solberg, Loeb, Gardemeister, McRae, Mkinen, Auriol, Duval, Hirvonen
Retirements: Loix (SS18)
Subaru Summary:
555 Subaru World Rally Team driver, Petter Solberg maintained his overnight third position to collect six WRC Drivers points, while team-mate Tommi Mkinen was seventh, securing two WRC Drivers points. Between them, the drivers collected nine Manufacturers points for the Subaru World Rally Team.
Rounding off a successful event for Subaru, Toshi Arai put in an impressive performance at the wheel of a Subaru Impreza WRX to win the FIA Production Car Championship by a margin of 2 minutes 10.2 seconds. Also competing in a Subaru, local hero Bruce Herbert delighted his home crowds by finishing fourteenth.
Stage Reports
SS17 0823hrs Te Akau South Reverse (27.60km)
Fastest time: Gronholm (Peugeot) 15:49.7
The first stage of the day saw Marcus Gronholm secure his tenth stage win of the event and extend his lead to 1 minute 13.7 seconds over Richard Burns. With the top eleven competitors running in reverse order, the stage was the first indication of the amount of time that the front-runners would concede as they swept the roads clean. Running first, Carlos Sainz posted seventh fastest time, while Hirvonen and Mkinen, running second and third respectively, were twelfth and sixth fastest. In overall third, a neat run from Subaru driver Petter Solberg through the tests twisty, downhill sections, saw the Norwegian set an impressive second fastest time.
SS18 0906hrs Te Akau North (32.37km)
Fastest time: Burns (Peugeot) 17:43.0
SS18 saw the Hyundais Teams rally come to an early finish, when the 32.27km test, the longest stage of the day, claimed the teams remaining competitor, Freddy Loix. The Belgian clipped a bank in his Accent 12km in and rolled. The crew were uninjured, but were unable to rejoin the road and retirement was instant. He had been in fifth overall. Problems also for Citroen driver, Sebastian Loeb. The Frenchman suffered with a faulty gearbox sensor, and was forced to use the manual gearchange system. The incident cost him almost a minute, but he maintained fourth overall due to a three-minute cushion that he had built up between himself and fifth placed, Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister. Petter Solberg continued his impressive run and was third fastest, to remain in third overall, 43.6 seconds behind Burns. Mkinen was fourth and moved up the leaderboard into eighth position and into the points.
SS19 1119hrs Ridge / Campbell 1 (16.45km)
Fastest time: Burns (Peugeot) 8:53.7
Richard Burns was fastest on the first of four tests run through the forestry plantations of Maramarua Forest. Running under clear skies and in temperatures of 16 degrees, the Brit finished 0.6 seconds faster than team-mate Gronholm, who was second. Petter Solberg was third and extended his lead over fourth-placed Loeb to more than two minutes. With three stages left to run, the Norwegian was looking good for a podium finish. His team-mate Mkinen was fourth.
SS20 1147hrs Ridge / Campbell 2 (16.45km)
Fastest time: Burns (Peugeot) 8:46.9
As the tension mounted during the closing stages, eighth placed Tommi Mkinen picked up the pace in his Subaru Impreza WRC2003 and posted another top five time, eating into Auriols overall lead in seventh. Assisted also by a 10 second time penalty, which Auriol picked up for a jump-start, at the end of the test Mkinen lay just 7.3 seconds behind the Frenchman, with 21.2km left to run. Richard Burns was quickest, finishing the repeated 16.45km stage 6.9 seconds faster than his previous run to pick up his fifth stage win of the event.
SS21 1240hrs Fyfe 1 (10.60km)
Fastest time: Burns (Peugeot) 5:42.3
As the crowds turned out to watch the remaining competitors charge through the penultimate test, the fast Fyfe run, all eyes were on the battle for seventh between Mkinen and Auriol. Posting the fourth fastest time, Mkinen finished just ahead of his French rival, shaving a further 0.4 seconds from the Skoda drivers overall lead. At the finish, 6.9 seconds separated the pair. Burns was again fastest, followed by team-mate Gronholm. Conditions in the stage were dry, with temperatures hovering around 16 degrees. Subaru star, Petter suffered a small spin but still managed to finish sixth fastest.
SS22 1310hrs Fyfe 2 (10.60km)
Fastest time: Burns (Peugeot) 5:36.9
The final test saw no dramas, and Gronholm cruised through the take the second fastest time and the overall event win - his third in New Zealand. Burns was fastest for second overall, while Petter finished the stage third, the same position that he secured overall. Mkinens time was good enough to clinch him seventh position, while a broken turbo on Auriols Skoda Octavia saw the Frenchman drop over half a minute to the leaders and finish eighth in the overall standings. Alister McRae, competing in his first WRC event since Sanremo last year, was sixth.
Team Quotes
David Lapworth, 555 Subaru World Rally Team Principal: It was a good solid performance from Petter this weekend and he did exactly what we asked him to. Both cars have been 100 per cent reliable for the whole three days. Weve bench-marked our progress over the last six months and its clear that we are progressing in the right direction. Were looking forward to taking a few more steps up the podium on the coming events. Id also like to offer my congratulations to Toshi Arai on his victory in the Production Cup, and to Ramana Lagemann, the only USA entrant, on finishing his first ever WRC event in tenth position in Group N - both in Subaru Imprezas.
Petter Solberg: It was my plan before the rally to get onto the podium so Im very happy. We didnt push too hard, and after a tricky start to the season weve got six points today. Were getting closer and closer to the top, and this is the way to do it. The car and tyres have been working well. Weve got a little bit more work to do, but were getting there and Im really looking forward to Argentina.
Tommi Mkinen: The event itself has been very good. Its been good weather, very different to the normal conditions of the New Zealand Rally, but its been difficult for me. On our side, it hasnt really been one hundred per cent. Things felt very good before the event, but on the stages, it just didnt feel the same. Its always good to get some points and we didnt have any potential driver points when we started this morning. So, to come away with some for both ourselves and the team is a positive way to finish. Im looking forward very much to Argentina now. Its a rally that I like and we should get some good points in the next few rallies coming up.
News from Pirelli
Fiore Brivio, Pirelli Tyres Rally Manager: Both Tommi and Petter have been happy with their choice of tyres today. Tommi continued with the PZero K pattern tyre with a mid range compound, while Petter retained the PZero KM tyre, again with the mid range compound.
Final Leaderboard
1. Gronholm / Rautiainen
Peugeot 206WRC
3:45:21.2
2. Burns / Reid
Peugeot 206WRC
+ 1:08.7
3. Solberg / Mills
Subaru Impreza WRC2003
+ 2:09.8