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[WRC] Rally of New Zealand - Final
Sunday, 13 April 2003
Marcus Gronholm took his second consecutive win on the Propecia Rally New Zealand today. The reigning world champion took a comfortable lead into the final day of the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship and was untroubled through Sunday's six stages south of Auckland. Gronholm's second win of the year (he also won in Sweden) moves him into second position in the driver's standings. Gronholm's team-mate Richard Burns took second place, ensuring that he remains in the lead of the race for this year's title. Peugeot's double success has moved the French marque to the top of the standings in the manufacturer's race, five points ahead of Citroen. All four rounds of the championship this season have now been won by the PSA Group.Subaru's Petter Solberg was third after a relatively undramatic day in his Impreza. After non-finishes in Monte Carlo and Turkey, the Norwegian was happy to have added to his points tally for the season.
Peugeot
Technical: The Peugeot 206 WRCs of Marcus Gronholm and Richard Burns have run reliably today. Harri Rovanpera retired when he slid off the road on the second leg.Sporting: Gronholm made undramatic progress through the final leg. With more than one minute in hand over his nearest rival (Team-mate Burns) there was no reason for the Finn to take any risks. His only problem came when a spectator threw a rock at the windscreen of his car on the final stage of the day. The brake problems which Burns suffered on leg two were cured for today's six stages and after setting third quickest time on the first stage of the day, the Briton went fastest on all of the remaining stages.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "I am happy with this win, the car is in the same specification as it was last year, which shows how good it is. Today was okay, no panic, I had a good feeling about everything today. There is no secret to me winning this rally, I had a good push through the first two legs and that was enough."
Richard Burns said: "The brake problems which we had yesterday did not re-occur today, the car has run well. Looking back to before this rally, things could have been a lot worse for us if it hadn't been wet on the first day. It's nice to still be at the front of the driver's championship."
Corrado Provera said: "This is a fantastic result. Once again Marcus has driven a fantastic rally, as has Richard. Richard suffered a little bit on the first day with the conditions, today he has shown that he is close with Marcus. I am very happy for the whole team that Peugeot is on top in the manufacturer's championship and Richard and Marcus are first and second for the drivers. I do feel a sorry for Harri that he retired yesterday and has still to score his first point this season."
Subaru
Technical: Both Petter Solberg and Tommi Makinen's Subaru Impreza WRC 2003s ran without mechanical problems.Sporting: Petter Solberg made it to the finish with his third place intact after a sensible drive through the final leg. The suspension set-up of the car wasn't quite to his liking through the two Te Akau stages. He suffered four broken mousse inserts in his tyres on the final four stages, however. None of the tyres delaminated, but Solberg admitted the vibration had been very bad. Makinen ended the event in seventh, despite taking the wrong tyres for the first loop of two stages this morning. A five-minute penalty was imposed on Makinen for a speeding offence on the way to the first stage yesterday.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: "The tyre problem was pretty bad, but luckily this time the tyres didn't de-laminate or go down on us, we could have lost more time. I came here waning to score points, I have done that and so I must be happy, but this isn't really the way I wanted to drive here in New Zealand, I wanted to push and take risks."
Tommi Makinen said: "The tyres were too soft and too narrow to work on those stages. We thought the weather was going to be a little bit colder and wetter, in the end it was quite sunny and the roads were too aggressive for the tyres we had on, they went off on both of the stages. It is always good to get some points from a rally and we have done that for us and for the team."
Citroen
Technical: Sebastien Loeb's Citroen Xsara WRC suffered a gearbox sensor problem on the second stage this morning, but Carlos Sainz's car was mechanically reliable. Colin McRae retired with broken suspension on the first leg.Sporting: Loeb maintained his fourth position, despite dropping one minute on the second stage this morning with a transmission problem. Sainz moved up from an overnight 23rd overall to end the event in 12th place, despite sweeping the road clean for the remainder of the field. His only problem today came when he went off the road on the final stage.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: "Not far after the start of the second stage, the display for the gearbox wasn't working right at all. The sensor that was broken was also one controlling the differentials. I decided to switch to the manual gearshift, but this meant the car was quite hard to drive &endash; it cost me quite a lot of time. On the whole I am happy with the way the rally has gone. To finish fourth on my first attempt it good."
Carlos Sainz said: "Running first on the road has been really hard work today. In these hot and dry conditions, the stages were covered in the stones, which I had to sweep for everybody. It wasn't so good. The problem I had later in the day was a small one on the last stage. My co-driver got a little mixed up with his notes and told me to take a corner flat out when it should have been a fifth-gear corner. We went off the road at high speed, but came straight back on with a little bodywork damage."
Skoda
Technical: Didier Auriol's Octavia WRC suffered a turbo problem through the afternoon, costing the Frenchman's Skoda power. The exhaust on his Octavia was also broken on the penultimate test. Toni Gardemeister's car was reliable all day.Sporting: Gardemeister moved past Alister McRae for fifth place early in the final day, despite feeling that the suspension and the ride height was wrong on his car. The Finn's run through the Maramarua forest stages was without incident. Didier Auriol started the day with Tommi Makinen 31.6 seconds behind him. Despite his best efforts the Finn moved ahead of him on the final stage, when Auriol was struggling with the turbo problem.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "The first stage this morning was really slippery. There was no grip at all. I think my choice of tyre was wrong, too hard. The biggest problem for me was the turbo this afternoon. I noticed the car was starting to lose power early in the group of four stages, but the problem got worse and worse, by the finish there wasn't much boost at all. The turbo pipe had broken."
Toni Gardemeister said: "I took a small cut in the tyres for the first two stages today, but it wasn't enough &endash; the tyres were wrong. I was pushing hard through those stages, expecting a big fight from both Freddy and Alister (McRae) but Freddy went off and Alister had a problem with his car's differential, so in the end we made it to fifth place okay."
Ford
Technical: The Ford Focus RS WRC 03 of Francois Duval and the 2002 specification car of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen both ran without any problems through Sunday's stages. Markko Martin retired from second place with a broken cam belt on SS14 yesterday.Sporting: Duval and Hirvonen ended the event in ninth and tenth positions, with the Belgian's placing ensuring that Ford maintained its points-scoring record which means it has taken manufacturer points from the last 18 rallies. Duval stuck with his steady pace, electing not to push the car harder and risk not finishing the event. Hirvonen took a similarly measured approach, but felt that his car sliding around too much on the first two stages and decided to make some changes to the transmission settings at service prior to the four stages in Maramarua.
Quotes: Francois Duval said: "I'm pleased to have finished this event and gained a lot of experience of the roads. It is also good to get a point for the team. I've enjoyed the rally, the stages are something special &endash; always changing. I've made some changes to my pace notes, so I will be better prepared for when we come here next year."
Mikko Hirvonen said: "The car was quite tricky this morning. The surface was difficult and running second on the road didn't help, but I felt we were sliding quite wide in too many corners. The changes the team made at service helped the car, but the stages this afternoon were quite differentto the ones this morning."
Malcolm Wilson said: "I'm absolutely delighted with the way the new car has run here. Markko drove tremendously well on a rally where he really doesn't have very much experience. Francois and Mikko did exactly what I asked them to do, they got their cars to the finish in one piece and gained a lot of valuable experience."
Hyundai
Technical: Freddy Loix crashed out of the rally on SS18, their Hyundai Accent WRC had been reliable up until that point. Armin Schwarz and Jussi Valimaki both crashed out on the opening leg of the event.Sporting: Loix moved up one place, courtesy of the time penalty which the organisers imposed on Tommi Makinen (Subaru). While pushing hard to keep Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister behind him, the Belgian went off the road on the second stage of the day, rolling the car at high speed.
Quotes: Freddy Loix said: "The back end of the car stepped out and clipped bank in and rolled a few times. I wasn't too happy with my time through the first stage of the day and Toni was coming, so I was going hard. I'm disappointed, but at the same time I felt I had been driving well on the stages before this. It's a shame we didn't get to the stages this afternoon &endash; as I always seem to go well there. I'm sorry for the team, everybody had worked hard and deserved some points from this rally."
David Whitehead said: "There is very little margin for error on this event and both Freddy and Armin have been caught out by the conditions. I'm heartened by the improvements which we made to the car before the event, but we have to keep the pressure up and hope that the hard work pays off on the next round."
Other entries
Japan's Toshi Arai won the second round of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship, scooping the overall Group N award in his latest specification Subaru Impreza at the same time. Arai's only concern through the final day was the way the abrasive surface was wearing the tyres out on his car. Marcos Ligato was second in the Production Car standings in a Mitsubishi Lancer. The leading non-manufacturer on the overall results was Alister McRae who brought his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC home in sixth place despite differential trouble on the final leg.13/04/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 51 crews (24 Group A and 27 Group N) started this morning.RETIREMENTS: Loix (B) and 4 other drivers
TODAY: Sunday 9 February
Leg 3 started from Auckland at 06h00 and covered 340.55km, including 113.81km on six stages. The first car arrived back in Auckland at 15h30.SS17 TE AKAU SOUTH REVERSE (27.34km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 15m 49.7
2 Solberg (N) Subaru 15m 54.2
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 16m 02.5LEADERS AFTER SS17
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 58m 33.4
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 2h 59m 47.1
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 3h 00m 28.6SS18 TE AKAU NORTH (32.37km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 17m 43.0
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 17m 43.2
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 17m 45.1LEADERS AFTER SS18
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 16m 16.6
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 3h 17m 30.1
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 3h 18m 13.7SS19 RIDGE/CAMPBELL 1 (16.45km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 8m 53.7
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 8m 54.3
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 8m 55.5LEADERS AFTER SS19
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 25m 10.9
2 Makinen (FIN) Subaru 3h 26m 23.8
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 3h 27m 09.2SS20 RIDGE/CAMPBELL 2 (16.45km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 8m 46.9
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 8m 48.3
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 8m 49.1LEADERS AFTER SS20
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 33m 59.2
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 3h 35m 10.7
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 3h 35m 58.3SS21 FYFE 1 (10.60km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 5m 42.3
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 5m 43.0
3 Loeb (F) Citroen 5m 47.5LEADERS AFTER SS21
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 39m 42.2
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 3h 40m 53.0
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 3h 41m 50.2SS22 FYFE 2 (10.60km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 5m 36.9
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 5m 39.0
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 5m 40.8LEADERS AFTER SS22
1 Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot 3h 45m 21.2
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot +1m 08.7
3 Solberg (N) Subaru +2m 09.8
4 Loeb (F) Citroen +4m 15.4
5 Gardemeister (FIN) Skoda +8m 13.8
6 A.McRae (GB) Mitsubishi +9m 14.2
7 Makinen (FIN) Subaru +9m 50.2
8 Auriol (F) Skoda +10m 18.6
9 Duval (B) Ford +11m 11.7
10 Hirvonen (FIN) Ford +13m 42.3PROD. CAR WRC LEADERS AFTER SS22
1 Arai (J) Subaru 4h 03m 30.3
2 Ligato (RA) Mitsubishi +2m 10.2
3 Al Wahaibi (OM) Mitsubishi +2m 47.0
4 Rowe (GB) Subaru +2m 51.6
5 Ferreyros (PE) Mitsubishi +3m 14.5
6 Singh (MAL) Proton +3m 46.8
7 McShea (GB) Mitsubishi +5m 39.4
8 Blomqvist (S) Subaru +11m 06.4FINAL STATISTICS
EVENT: The rally covered 1297.62km, including 403.34km on 22 special stages (including seven run twice). All stages were on gravel roads closed to other traffic.STARTERS: 80 crews (40 Group A and 40 Group N) started the rally
FINISHERS: 46 crews (21 Group A and 25 Group N) finished the rally
STAGE WINNERS:
Gronholm (SS1-3-4-5-6-8-9-10-14-17)
Burns (SS2-7-18-19-20-21-22)
Martin (SS11-12-13)
Duval (SS15)
Solberg (SS16)RALLY LEADERS: SS1-SS22 Gronholm
FIA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (provisional standings after 4 of 14 rounds):
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers: Burns (GB) 26, Gronholm (FIN) 20, Loeb (F) 17, C. McRae (GB) 17, Sainz (E) 16, Martin (EE) 13, Makinen (FIN) 11, Solberg (N) 9, Duval (B) 8, Gardemeister (FIN) 7, Panizzi (F) 4, Robert (F) 3, A. McRae (GB) 3, Schwarz (D) 1, Auriol (F) 1.FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers:
Peugeot 49, Citroen 44, Ford 26, Subaru 22, Skoda 12, Hyundai 3.FIA Junior World Rally Championship (after 2 of 7 rounds, this event not counting):
Tirabassi (F) 10, Katajamaki (FIN) 10, Ligato (RA) 8, Canellas (E) 8, Broccoli (RSM) 6, Wilks (GB) 6, Aava (EE) 5, Teuronen (FIN) 5, Cecchettini (I) 4, Ceccato (I) 4, others.FIA Production Car World Championship (after 2 of 7 rounds):
Blomqvist (S) 11, Singh (MAL) 11, Rowe (GB)11, Arai (J) 10, Ligato (RA) 8, Al Wahaibi (OM) Roman (S) 3, others.For more extensive results please consult the FIA Internet site at: www.fia.com
NEXT EVENT:
May 7 &endash; 11: Rally Argentina
Press Officer: Laura Cerezo
Tel: +54 351 426 52 52
Fax: +54 351 426 53 00
E-mail: info@rallyargentina.com
Website: www.rallyargentina.com
[WRC] Rally of New Zealand - End of leg two
Saturday, 12 April 2003
Marcus Gronholm continued to dominate this event from the front of the field. Today, however, was slightly more exciting for the Finn than yesterday, as he dropped his Peugeot 206 WRC onto its side for 30 seconds on the Parahi stage. The car was undamaged, however, and he set fastest time on the final long gravel stage around Paparoa, north of Auckland. The tricky weather conditions of yesterday were replaced by bright sunshine for the second leg of this fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Gronholm's wasn't the only front-runner to hit trouble. Ford's Markko Martin retired his new Focus RS WRC 03 from second place with an engine fault on SS14. Richard Burns moved into the runner's-up spot with Petter Solberg third as the crews headed south for a brace of superspecial stages in Manukau just south of the host city.
Harri Rovanpera also ended his rally early, the Peugeot driver sliding off the road on the Ararua stage. The two runs through the spectator superspecial at Manukau did not alter the general classification.
Peugeot
Technical: Marcus Gronholm and Richard Burns' Peugeot 206 WRCs both suffered brake problems during the second leg. Harri Rovanpera's car was mechanically reliable when he went off the road on SS14.Sporting: Gronholm stretched his lead to more than one minute on the opening stage while team-mate Burns moved past Solberg into third place, and to within 3.1seconds of Markko Martin. Rovanpera also moved ahead of the Subaru driver and into fourth place on SS12. Gronholm went off the road on SS13, tipping the car on to its side and losing half a minute before he continued. The car was mechanically undamaged and he went on to set fastest time on the following stage to maintain a lead of more than one minute as the cars headed for the Manukau superspecial stages. Rovanpera also went off the road on the next stage, but he was unable to get back on to the road. Burns arrived in Manukau in second place, despite a lack of rear brakes for the final ten kilometres of SS14.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "Today has been good, apart from the mistake on one stage. I was too quick into a junction and bang, there were only two spectators there, so it took time to get going again. I'm happy and quite confident about tomorrow."
Richard Burns said: "The brake problem was quite bad, the pedal was going right to the floor. I'm not sure what the problem is, but the team is changing everything to try and sort it out tonight."
Corrado Provera said: "Most of all I am sorry for Harri himself, he did a great job today and deserved to score his first points of the year. Looking on the positive side, Marcus and Richard have done a fantastic job and I wish them the best of luck for tomorrow."
Subaru
Technical: Both Subaru Impreza WRC 2003s ran reliably today.Sporting: Petter Solberg ended the day in third place, having benefited from the retirements of Harri Rovanpera and Markko Martin. The Norwegian's day started badly when a punctured front-right tyre delaminated seven kilometres from the end of the leg-opening test. Solberg still felt that his Impreza was down on power for the fast stages. Makinen also suffered a fraught start to the day, when he was stopped by the police for speeding on the way to the first stage. He only just made it in time to the start of the test, but was then subject to a 5-minute time penalty for double infringement of traffic laws, according to article 11.1.2 of the FIA General Prescriptions. From then on the four-times world champion spent most of the day adjusting the suspension settings on his car.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: "I came too quickly into one junction, slide wide and dropped into a ditch. We were stuck there for about 30 seconds, and then I spun on the next stage as well. We had changed the geometry on the car at last service, which made the rear of the car quite stiff, this didn't help."
Tommi Makinen said: "I made some more changes to the rear suspension before the last loop of stages and it is working the best it has all rally. Now I have good traction from the back. A little bit of the problem was that the roads we used for the test weren't too much like the stages, even the shakedown stage wasn't very similar."
David Lapworth said: "Tommi has found it quite difficult to get the car to his liking on this rally, but there are no technical problems &endash; we have looked at everything and the car is fine."
Citroen
Technical: The Citroen Xsara WRCs of Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz ran well on leg two, but Colin McRae retired after breaking the suspension on his car yesterday.Sporting: Sebastien Loeb belied his lack of experience of these stages (this is the first time he has competed here), to move into fourth place as the cars headed south for the day's final two stages at Manukau. The Frenchman had continued to work on the differential and suspension settings of his car. Carlos Sainz, who celebrates his 41st birthday today, dropped from eighth to 31st position on the first stage of the day, after going off the road.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: "I still have to be happy with what I have done today, the car has been okay mechanically good, but the day could have been better for me &endash; but at the same time it could have been worse. Fourth place is good for the first time on this event."
Carlos Sainz said: "I was following Didier for a while on the first stage, but I couldn't get past because of the dust. We got to a part of the stage where it was damp and I really pushed harder to get up and past him. The car slid off the road and went through a fence. I couldn't get out of the ditch, so I had to go into a field, find a gate and go out that way. It is very disappointing."
Skoda
Technical: Didier Auriol's Octavia WRC suffered a centre differential problem caused by a broken speed sensor on the first three stages of the day. Toni Gardemeister's car was reliable.Sporting: Auriol slipped back behind his team mate through the second leg. The Frenchman struggled with the car all morning, but felt it was better after a big compression on SS13, which he thought might have knocked something into line in the steering. Auriol had dropped more time stopping on the opening stage, fearing that he was holding up Carlos Sainz. Gardemeister's day was drama-free. He caught Mikko Hirvonen in the long stage and was unable to get past because of the dust.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "When I pulled over for Carlos this morning I was standing still for 40 seconds, there was no more I could do. I found the car undriveable through the early stages, it was not good. Then we have this bang on SS13 and suddenly the car was better &endash; it was very strange."
Toni Gardemeister said: "Today was okay until the last stage where we had a terrible stage for punctures, we had three in the last stage &endash; the vibration from the mousse was awful."
Ford
Technical: Markko Martin suffered hydraulic failure on the first stage of the day and then retired from second place with an engine problem on SS14. The sister Focus RS WRC 03 of Francois Duval was reliable all day as was the 2002 car of Mikko Hirvonen.Sporting: Markko Martin maintained his grip on an early second place despite the loss of transmission hydraulics, which forced him to use the manual shift from two kilometres into the 59km SS10. He went on to set three fastest times on the next three stages, but retired near the end of the Ararua test. He spun the Focus, stalling the engine and re-started only to retire with an engine problem 2km further in the stage. Francois Duval's day was trouble-free and the Belgian progressed into the top ten. Hirvonen spun three times today, the final time after he had punctured a rear tyre going off the road earlier in SS14.
Quotes: Malcolm Wilson said: "I am obviously very disappointed with what has happened, but at the same time I go away from here tremendously encouraged with the pace that the new car has shown. We wanted to close the gap to Peugeot and we've done just that. It's a shame for Markko, he's done a great job, three fastest times today was amazing &endash; especially given his lack of experience on these roads.
Francois Duval said: "It has been nice today to get the car working how we wanted it. I haven't been pushing too hard, I need to drive all of the stages and get to the finish for experience."
Mikko Hirvonen said: "Most of the time I have tried to stay in the middle of the road, but as we have had three spins, we haven't managed it all of the time. I have been making some small adjustments to the car as the day has progressed and apart from the spins, I'm quite happy."
Hyundai
Technical: Freddy Loix's car was reliable throughout leg two; both Armin Schwarz and Jussi Valimaki retired yesterday.Sporting: Loix made good progress through the five stages north of Auckland today, exploiting the enhanced handling of his Accent, but maintained that the car still lacked top end power. He moved up the leaderboard to end the day in sixth place overall.
Quotes: Freddy Loix said: "Okay, we know about the engine problem. The engineers did some work on the car and it is a little better than it was yesterday. Everything else has been perfect, the new suspension works well and the transmission is fine. Today was a little better for us, yesterday in the muddy conditions the car was not pulling much at all in fifth and sixth gears."
Other entries
Toshi Arai continues to lead the way in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship after a trouble-free day in the recently-homologated Subaru Impreza, while Alister McRae is the leading non-manufacturer entry. This is the Scot's first WRC outing since Sanremo last season and he held seventh overall after the five northern stages.12/04/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS: 63 crews (30 Group A and 33 Group N) started this morning.
RETIREMENTS: Rovanpera (FIN), Martin (EE) and 12 other drivers
TODAY: Saturday 12 April
Leg 2 started from Paparoa at 08h00 and covered 455.57km, including 150.43km on seven stages. The first car arrived back in Auckland at 20h20.TOMORROW: Sunday 13 April
Leg 3 starts from Auckland at 06h00 and covers 340.55km, including 113.81km on six stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Auckland at 15h30.WEATHER FORECAST: Expected to remain sunny.
SS10 PARAHI/ARARUA (59.00km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 33m 20.5
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 33m 31.0
3 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 33m 41.1LEADERS AFTER SS10
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 1h 51m 46.0
2 Martin (EE) Ford 1h 52m 48.4
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 1h 52m 51.5SS11 MITITAI FINISH (20.15km)
1 Martin (EE) Ford 10m 03.0
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 10m 03.7
3 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 10m 12.5LEADERS AFTER SS11
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 01m 49.7
2 Martin (EE) Ford 2h 02m 51.4
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 2h 02m 05.6SS12 TOKATOKA (10.15km)
1 Martin (EE) Ford 5m 07.1
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 5m 07.6
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 5m 09.6LEADERS AFTER SS12
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 06m 57.3
2 Martin (EE) Ford 2h 07m 58.5
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 2h 08m 15.2SS13 PARAHI (25.18km)
1 Martin (EE) Ford 12m 42.6
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 12m 46.6
3 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 12m 49.1LEADERS AFTER SS13
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 20m 14.9
2 Makinen (FIN) Subaru 2h20m 41.1
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 2h 21m 00.8SS14 ARARUA (31.75km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 19m 01.3
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 19m 17.9
3 Loeb (F) Citroen 19m 20.7LEADERS AFTER SS14
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 39m 16.2
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 2h 40m 18.7
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 2h 41m 09.0SS15 MANUKAU SUPER 1 (2.10km)
1 Duval (B) Ford 1m 36.4
2 Ligato (RA) Mitsubishi 1m 37.7
= Arai (J) Subaru 1m 37.7
4 Herbert (NZ) Subaru 1m 38.2
= Loix (B) Hyundai 1m 38.2LEADERS AFTER SS15
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 41m 01.4
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 2h 42m 01.6
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 2h 42m 54.2SS16 MANUKAU SUPER 2 (2.10km)
1 Solberg (N) Subaru 1m 40.2
2 Loix (B) Hyundai 1m 41.8
= Hirvonen (FIN) Ford 1m 41.8
4 A.McRae (GB) Mitsubishi 1m 42.0
= Sainz (E) Citroen 1m 42.0LEADERS AFTER SS16
1 Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot 2h 42m 43.7
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot +1m 00.9
3 Solberg (N) Subaru +1m 50.7
4 Loeb (F) Citroen +2m 23.7
5 Loix (B) Hyundai +5m 51.6
6 A.McRae (GB) Mitsubishi +6m 28.8
7 Gardemeister (FIN) Skoda +6m 33.5
8 Auriol (F) Skoda +7m 45.7
9 Makinen (FIN) Subaru +8m 22.8
10 Duval (B) Ford +8m 39.2
[WRC] Rally of New Zealand - Leg 1
Friday, 11 April 2003
Marcus Gronholm made the perfect start to this year's Propecia Rally New Zealand, posting fastest time on seven of the opening day's nine stages around the Northland town of Paparoa. The reigning world champion enjoyed a trouble-free start to the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. His pace was such that second-placed man Markko Martin admitted that the Peugeot driver was in a "different league" in some stages. Martin was delighted with his own performance in the all-new Ford Focus RS WRC 03, but there was just 5.5 seconds between himself and Petter Solberg's Subaru Impreza WRC 2003 in third place. The day started with rain, drying out around lunchtime before the rain returned for the final loop. The drivers accepted it was a lottery whether they got through the nine tests north of Auckland in the dry.Peugeot
Technical: All three of the Peugeot 206 WRCs ran without mechanical fault through today's nine stages.Sporting: Gronholm started and finished the day in the same way, setting fastest time. He has enjoyed a trouble-free run through the leg and now starts in a strong position for the second leg of the event. Burns and Rovanpera occupy fourth and fifth place respectively, split by just 8.6 seconds. The Englishman admitted that his end of leg result could have been considerably worse if the weather had remained dry. Just as Burns was happy with the weather, Rovanpera had wanted the complete opposite, starting further down the order.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "This is what I had hoped for at the start of the rally, now we have to make sure that we can keep this position for the next two days. Today has been a full attack, it's gone well and the car has been good for us all day."
Richard Burns said: "This position is okay, we could have ended this leg at the wrong end of the top ten &endash; we've been very lucky with the rain. I couldn't have gone any faster today."
Harri Rovanpera said: "Today has been quite hard work, some times the rain has been really bad, but okay we're here. Now we have to have a big push and see what we can do tomorrow."
Ford
Technical: Francois Duval's Ford Focus RS WRC 03 required a new gearbox at the lunchtime service halt, but the hydraulic problem re-occurred on the final loop. Duval incurred a 20-second penalty for leaving service two minutes late while the transmission work was completed. He also suffered a misfire on stages four and five. The sister car of Markko Martin ran without fault. The windscreen wipers broke on Mikko Hirvonen's 2002 specification Focus on the second stage.Sporting: Martin was quickest of the Fords on the opening leg, holding third overall. Martin's only problem had been running too much front brake bias through the first loop of three stages, which caused the brakes to overheat. That aside, the Estonian was happy with his progress. Duval's gearbox problem didn't cost him time in SS3, but it did through the final loop of stages. Hirvonen spun on the fourth stage and admitted that he wasn't driving on the limit for most of the first leg.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "The car feels really fantastic. Holding a position like this and setting the times we are doing would not have been possible with last year's car. Everything that we found about the car has been translated into the test, this is a really big step forward."
Francois Duval said: "The team thought they had fixed the gearbox problem in service after SS3, but the problem reoccurred leaving service, so the 'box was changed after the next two stages. We had to use the manual gearshift, which means that we didn't have a handbrake (the manual shift uses the same lever as the handbrake) but that wasn't such a problem as there weren't too many tight corners. It was not good when the problem came back, the car was very hard to drive for the last couple of stages."
Mikko Hirvonen said: "The spin came in a tight corner, but the problem was that stalled twice trying to get going again. I'm in the middle of the road today, I need to get to the finish of the rally."
Subaru
Technical: Both Subaru Impreza WRC 2003s ran without trouble through the opening leg.Sporting: Petter Solberg and Tommi Makinen held third and seventh place respectively at the end of the leg. Solberg was bemused by a brake problem at the start of the fourth stage, but promised that he was driving at no more than 90 per cent. Makinen was making changes to the rear suspension in an attempt to improve the car's traction, but felt the car wasn't working so well on the final loop.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: "I need points from this rally. On Sunday I will look at the positions again and decide whether or not to push harder. Right now I'm not taking any risks. The brake problem was a little concerning, for the first three kilometres of the stage I didn't have any brakes, the pedal went hard &endash; then they came back, but I didn't have too much confidence for the rest of the stage."
Tommi Makinen said: "On these stages you really need the suspension to be working right, earlier this wasn't so good for us. At first service we did something which raised the back end of the car, but that was wrong so then we had to lower it again as there was no grip. The rest of the car is good, but this doesn't matter if you have not the traction."
Citroen
Technical: The Xsara WRCs of Sebastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz were mechanically reliable, although all three cars suffered from a misting windscreen in the rain on the first loop. Colin McRae damaged the suspension on his car on the sixth stage and retired after the test.Sporting: Sebastien Loeb was the leading Citroen driver at the end of the first leg, holding sixth place. Sainz was just over 20 seconds behind the Monte Carlo Rally winner in eighth position. Both drivers admitted that the weather had helped them more than expected over the opening leg. McRae's problem came when the car bottomed in a fourth-gear corner. The compression caused the car to jump across the road and into the bank, breaking part of the suspension on the front-right corner of the car.
Quotes: Sebastien Loeb said: "I have to be happy with the way today has gone for me. To be doing the times like Carlos and then to end the day in front of him on my first time here is good. The car has been good, okay we have been making lots of small changes, but it's good."
Carlos Sainz said: "I tried to make some changes to the suspension after stage five, but they didn't work on the last loop of stages, I'll be changing the car back tonight. Today has been quite a hard day, trying to predict what the weather will do for tyre choices."
Colin McRae said: "It's at disappointing end to a disappointing day for us. We went well through two of the stages, but with the weather changing so much it's hard to know exactly where we were. The place where we retired wasn't bad, I would take the corner in the same way again. We run the cars so low here that something like this is always a risk, but it doesn't make retirement any easier."
Hyundai
Technical: Armin Schwarz crashed on the first stage of the rally, but the Accent WRC of Freddy Loix ran without problem. Jussi Valimaki put his 2002 specification Accent off the road on SS7.Sporting: Schwarz crashed out of the rally after running wide on the first of a series of fast corners. His Accent WRC hit a rock and tore the front-right wheel off before rolling three times. Schwarz and his co-driver Manfred Heimer were uninjured in the accident. Loix felt the revisions to the turbo charger on the Accent had helped the mid-range torque of the car, but on today's fast stages he admitted the car was lacking top speed. Valimaki was happy with his pace early in the day, holding 15th after SS6 before crashing out on the next test.
Quotes: Armin Schwarz said: "The accident happened about 12 kilometres into the first stage. It was a very fast section with the speed up around 160 or 170kph. I went into an open right corner a little too quick, the car ran wide and forced us off line for the next left-hander we ran wide in that corner too, hit the rock and started to roll. We rolled three or four times. Very disappointing."
Freddy Loix said: "The corners are fantastic in this car, but when we are coming on to the straights, the first ten metres out of the corner is good, but then we are lacking a little in the top speed. I think the car feels a bit slower in the top speed than before. I am talking with the engineers to see if we can sort this out."
Jussi Valimaki said: "We didn't go off badly, the car just slipped over the edge of the road, but there were no spectators to get us back on."
Skoda
Technical: Both Octavia WRCs ran reliably today.Sporting: Didier Auriol was quickest of the two Skodas through most of the day, despite the fact that he didn't contest this event last season. Gardemeister's efforts were hampered by the windscreen wiper problem on the first loop of stages today and the wrong suspension set-up for the final loop.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "Today has been okay, not great, but not bad. The second stage was quite difficult, very, very slippery with all of the rain, but apart from that there is nothing to talk about today. For me it is important to be faster than my team mate and I have done that today. "
Toni Gardemeister said: "I was expecting it to be wet on the stage four, so we took the softer tyre, but then it was completely dry, so the tyre didn't work very well. Both Didier and I are pushing as hard as we can today, but I just felt that the car was a bit soft for the last stages."
Other entries
Toshi Arai leads the FIA Production Cars World Rally Championship standings in his latest specification Subaru Impreza. Local driver 'Possum' Bourne had made the initial running, but retired on the middle loop of stages with engine problems on his similar car. Marcos Ligato is second, while Australian driver Cody Crocker leads Group N outright in his Impreza. Manfred Stohl is the leading non-works driver, holding ninth overall in his Peugeot 206 WRC.11/04/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
STARTERS:
80 crews (40 Group A and 40 Group N) started this morning.RETIREMENTS:
Schwarz (D), Valimaki (FIN), McRae (GB) and 14 other driversTODAY:
Friday 11 April
Leg 1 started from Auckland at 07h00 and covered 387.69km, including 139.10km on nine stages. The first car arrived in Paparoa at 17h00.TOMORROW:
Saturday 12 April
Leg 2 starts from Paparoa at 08h00 and covers 455.57km, including 150.43km on seven stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Auckland at 20h20.WEATHER FORECAST: More changeable weather expected.
SS1 BATLEY 1 (19.82km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 10m 45.2
2 Martin (EE) Ford 10m 51.3
3 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 10m 54.4SS2 WAIPU GORGE 1 (11.24km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 6m 37.0
2 Martin (EE) Ford 6m 37.7
3 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 6m 37.9LEADERS AFTER SS2
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 17m 23.1
2 Martin (EE) Ford 17m 29.0
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 17m 34.6SS3 BROOKS 1 (16.03km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 9m 46.3
2 Solberg (N) Subaru 9m 51.4
3 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 9m 52.9LEADERS AFTER SS3
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 27m 09.4
2 Martin (EE) Ford 27m 22.8
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 27m 26.0SS4 NEW CASSIDY (21.64km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 12m 13.7
2 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 12m 15.2
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 12m 16.6LEADERS AFTER SS4
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 39m 23.1
2 Martin (EE) Ford 39m 41.5
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 39m 42.6SS5 PAPAROA STATION 1 (11.64km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 6m 18.2
2 McRae (GB) Citroen 6m 19.7
3 Burns (GB) Peugeot 6m 19.9LEADERS AFTER SS5
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 45m 41.3
2 Martin (EE) Ford 46m 03.0
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 46m 03.7SS6 BATLEY 2 (19.82km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 10m 33.0
2 Martin (EE) Ford 10m 35.9
3 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot 10m 37.5LEADERS AFTER SS6
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 56m 14.3
2 Martin (EE) Ford 56m 38.9
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 56m 45.2SS7 WAIPU GORGE 2 (11.24km)
1 Burns (GB) Peugeot 6m 34.9
2 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 6m 36.6
3 Martin (EE) Ford 6m 37.1LEADERS AFTER SS7
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 1h 02m 50.9
2 Martin (EE) Ford 1h 03m 16.0
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 1h 03m 24.0SS8 BROOKS 2 (16.03km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 9m 22.9
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 9m 29.5
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 9m 30.8LEADERS AFTER SS8
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 1h 12m 13.8
2 Martin (EE) Ford 1h 12m 49.2
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 1h 12m 54.8SS9 PAPAROA STATION 2 (11.64km)
1 Gronholm (FIN) Peugeot 6m 11.7
2 Burns (GB) Peugeot 6m 12.6
3 Solberg (N) Subaru 6m 14.3LEADERS AFTER SS9
1 Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot 1h 18m 25.5
2 Martin (EE) Ford +38.1
3 Solberg (N) Subaru +43.6
4 Burns (GB) Peugeot +55.0
5 Rovanpera (FIN) Peugeot +1m 03.6
6 Loeb (F) Citroen +1m 26.2
7 Makinen (FIN) Subaru +1m 29.4
8 Sainz (E) Citroen +1m 47.2
9 Stohl (A) Peugeot +2m 01.0
10 Auriol (F) Skoda +2m 11.9
[WRC] Rally of New Zealand - Preview
Thursday, 10 April 2003
Citroen arrives in Auckland with an eight-point lead in the manufacturer's title race, having won two of the first three rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship. Richard Burns is leading the race for the driver's title, the Peugeot pilot holds a one-point advantage from his fellow British driver Colin McRae. Neither Burns or Colin McRae has won a round this season, but third-placed driver Carlos Sainz topped the podium on the last round, the Rally of Turkey.The weather plays a vital role in this week's Propecia Rally New Zealand, which is running in an Autumn rather than Spring date for the first time this season. If it remains dry then running first on the road -and sweeping the layer of stones off the surface -will be a disadvantage. If it rains, however, the surface will bind together and reduce the disadvantage to those at the head of the field.
Three teams have homologated new parts for this event, the biggest changes coming at Ford where a radically new Focus RS WRC 03 will be used for the first time on the North Island roads. Citroen and Hyundai are the other teams who have made smaller changes to the Xsara WRC and Accent WRC respectively.
This event is also a round of the FIA Production Car Championship and former world champion Stig Blomqvist starts this second round at the top of the table after his win on round one in a Subaru Impreza. Reigning champion Karamjit Singh is second in his Proton Pert.
Citroen Total (1st -39 points)
Technical: This is the first event for the new evolution of Xsara WRC. There have been changes to the turbo, intercooler and the exhaust manifold, but the only visible change is the introduction of a sectioned rear wing to improve downforce in high-speed corners.Sporting: Citroen's full-time entrance into the FIA World Rally Championship has been one of the stories of the season so far. The Xsara WRCs have won two out of the three rallies (Sebastien Loeb won Monte Carlo and Carlos Sainz won Rally of Turkey). Consistent finishes over the first three rallies have placed Colin McRae ahead of his team-mates, however. Both McRae and Sainz know this event particularly well and have won it three and four times respectively in the past. By contrast Loeb has never competed here, although he has completed the recce for the last two seasons.
Quotes: Colin McRae said: "A lot depends on the weather for us. On the recce the stages south of Auckland were looking good, there had been quite a lot of rain and they were expecting more, but the ones to the north are a harder surface and they need more rain to bind the stones together. We'll have to wait and see."
Sebastien Loeb said: "It's hard to know what I can do here, obviously it's a disadvantage not having competed on this rally before. I'm going to be looking at the set-up that Colin and Carlos take, because we're not allowed to test on rallies outside of Europe."
Carlos Sainz said: "For drivers, this is one of the best rallies of the year. You can concentrate totally on your driving without worrying about the car. It's hard to say whether we can repeat the win in Turkey as this rally is the complete opposite of what the last round was like."
Marlboro Peugeot Total (2nd -31 points)
Technical: The Peugeots arrive here in the same specification that they tackled Rally of Turkey.Sporting: Richard Burns starts this event as championship leader following his second place on the last round in Turkey. Burns arrived in New Zealand early, taking a holiday in Queenstown before heading north to Auckland for the recce. Burns is a previous winner of this rally, taking the spoils in 2001 on his way to winning the world championship. Marcus Gronholm won Rally New Zealand last year. This season hasn't started particularly well for the Finn. He won the Swedish Rally in February, but went off the road while leading Monte Carlo and then suffered time-consuming power steering trouble in Turkey. Harri Rovanpera capitalised on Gronholm's trouble on the last round, but then suffered suspension problems of his own -eventually retiring from round three.
Quotes: Marcus Gronholm said: "This dry weather is going to be a bit harder on the tyres than last year. I want to try and win this rally and I think it is possible to win. The car feels very good and I haven't made any changes to the car during the shakedown."
Richard Burns said: "I'm quite relaxed about this rally, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be complacent. I know what to expect from this event, which makes things a little bit easier. Tomorrow is my favourite day in the whole year, but it's not going to be quite so good running at the front of the field with all that gravel on the road."
Harri Rovanpera said: "I'm going to be going flat out from the start of this rally. Two years ago I was third, last year I was second and so maybe this year I can win."
Ford Motor Company (3rd -25 points)
Technical: Markko Martin and Francois Duval have a new Ford Focus RS WRC03 apiece while Mikko Hirvonen remains in the 2002 car. The main changes to the 2003 car are in the aerodynamics, the rear suspension and in the weight. The aerodynamics are radically different, with the car now sporting a much larger rear wing and hot air exit vents in the bonnet. The suspension changes are being kept largely under wraps, but the car's designer Christian Loriaux promises it's nothing revolutionary. The weight saving has been significant, but of equal importance has been the re-distribution of that weight, with almost everything in the car being set as low as possible, including the driver and co-driver.Sporting: Martin is the only one of the three Ford drivers to have tackled this event before and the 27-year-old Estonian was a debutant here last year. Martin crashed out of the event last year, but has made a good start to this season, finishing in the top six on all three of the rallies run so far. Duval arrives in New Zealand on a high having posted his first podium placing on the last round in Turkey. The Belgian's fellow, 22-year-old team-mate Hirvonen has yet to register his first point, retiring from Monte Carlo and Turkey and finishing just outside the top ten in Sweden.
Quotes: Markko Martin said: "I can't wait to get going in this rally. I'm really looking forward to the stages which we re-use, that gives us more of a level playing field to compete against the others on -rather than sweeping the road at the front of the field."
François Duval said: "We had a small problem with the car at shakedown, it was cutting out on two of our runs. There was a problem with one of the sensors on the car, but it's fixed and the car's fine now."
Malcolm Wilson said: "This new car is very exciting for everybody at Ford. In the back-to-back tests we've done against the 2002 car it's quicker already, so we know we've got the performance right, all we have to do is make sure that we can maintain the finishing record that has brought us into the points on the last 17 rounds of the championship."
555 Subaru World Rally Team (4th -13 points)
Technical: This year's Subaru Impreza WRC 2003 was designed with high-speed events such as the Rally New Zealand in mind. The team has made slight changes to the electronics to maximise the performance of the engine, but there are no hardware changes anywhere on the car.Sporting: Both Tommi Makinen and Petter Solberg endured difficult times in Turkey. Makinen made it home in eighth place despite suspension and power steering damage, while Solberg retired on the first day with suspension trouble. The new car has shown pace this season, however, with Makinen challenging for victory in Sweden.
Quotes: Petter Solberg said: "The testing I did before this rally went well, but it's difficult to recreate the exact conditions which we are going to find here. I know the stages quite well and have a good position on the road for the first leg, we'll see."
Tommi Makinen said: "Running the rally at this time of the year makes it a little bit difficult to predict what the conditions are going to be like, but this is an event where we should be looking to get a good result."
Skoda Motorsport (5th -6 points)
Technical: Since the official announcement of its new Fabia WRC (which is scheduled to appear towards the end of the season), there has been very little development work done on the Octavia WRC. The car is in the same specification that it ran on the first three rallies of 2003.Sporting: Both Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister have posted good results on this rally in the past. Auriol finished second on the rally in 1998, while Gardemeister's third place the following year remains his best finish in the FIA World Rally Championship. Gardemeister arrives in Auckland on the back of two points-scoring finishes, while Auriol has yet to register his first point of the season.
Quotes: Didier Auriol said: "We had a problem with the transmission this morning, so the team changed the gearbox and the car has been okay since then. We've made a lot of changes to the car at shakedown, on suspension set-up and things like that, but I'm not sure what we can achieve in the rally.
Toni Gardemeister said: "When we arrived at shakedown the car felt terrible; it was too low and we had to change the suspension, but it got better and better and now it's quite good in time for the rally. It's a shame that we haven't tested the car since before the rally in Turkey.
Hyundai World Rally Team (6th -3 points)
Technical: Hyundai has homologated a new turbo housing and for the first time the Accent WRC will be fitted with shock absorbers made in-house.Sporting: Hyundai will be running three Accents again on this event, with Jussi Valimaki joining Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz. The latter two drivers have been unable to test the car before the first three rounds of the season, but both are upbeat about their chances here following the changes made to the car and a test session in Spain. Schwarz and Loix drive the same cars that they used on this event last season.
Quotes: Armin Schwarz said: "The car feels better since the changes we've made, but it's quite strange because it is so much more driveable, it feels less dramatic and you feel sure that you're going slower until you look at the times."
Freddy Loix said: "I'm happy with the testing we've done before this event, there's better torque and response from the engine. The shock absorbers are a good step forward, we've got better traction with the car now. I have a good feeling with the car and I'm confident we can score points."
Other entries
Mitsubishi driver Alister McRae makes his first appearance of the season in a factory specification Lancer WRC, although his is not a manufacturer entry. Finland's Kristian Sohlberg drives a sister car to that of McRae's.This event is the second round of the FIA Production Car Championship and round one winner Stig Blomqvist leads the crews away in a Subaru Impreza. Toshi Arai and 'Possum' Bourne drive the latest evolution of Impreza homologated on April 1.
10/04/2003 RALLY STATISTICS
EVENT: Propecia Rally New Zealand is the 4th of 14 events in the FIA World Rally Championship.ENTRIES: 80 (40 Group A, 40 Group N)
DRIVERS: Argentina 1, Austria 1, Australia 3, Belgium 2, Bulgaria 1, Canada 1, Estonia 1, Finland 7, France 2, Germany 2, Great Britain 7, Italy 3, Japan 6, Malaysia 1, Mexico 1, Monte Carlo 1, Oman 1, Peru 1, New Zealand 27, Norway 1, Poland 4, Romania 1, Spain 2, Sweden 2, United States 1.
MANUFACTURER TEAMS: Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Peugeot, Skoda, Subaru
CARS: (including the manufacturer cars): Citroen 3, Daihatsu 1, Ford 5, Hyundai 3, Mitsubishi 41, Peugeot 5, Proton 1, Skoda 2, Subaru 19
TIMETABLE:
Thursday 10 April
Ceremonial start at 19h15, AucklandFriday 11 April
Leg 1 starts from Auckland at 07h00 and covers 387.69km, including 139.10km on nine stages. The first car is expected to arrive in Paparoa at 17h00.Saturday 12 April
Leg 2 starts from Paparoa at 08h00 and covers 455.57km, including 150.43km on seven stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Auckland at 20h20.Sunday 13 April
Leg 3 starts from Auckland at 06h00 and covers 454.36km, including 113.81km on six stages. The first car is expected to arrive back in Auckland at 15h30.Total
The rally covers 1297.62km, including 403.34km on 22 special stages (including seven run twice). All stages are on gravel roads closed to other traffic.TOMORROW: Friday 7 February
Leg 1 starts from Auckland at 07h00 and covers 387.69km, including 139.10km on nine stages. The first car is expected to arrive in Paparoa at 17h00.WEATHER FORECAST: Expected to start cloudy with sun coming out later.
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