Rally New Zealand News and Results

[RallyRaider]

Day two and two more stages run and won. SS10 was a Peugeot benifit, Marcus winning and Burns and Rovanpera second and third. Gronholm pulled out a further 24 seconds on Markko to lead by a minute. Burns moved ahead of Petter Solberg to take third.

On SS11 Markko took the first stage win for the new Focus, by less than a second to Gronholm, who will probably just follow Martin and Burns pace from now on. By taking the stage win Markko sent a message to Burns that he's not going to give up second easily. Quite a battle taking place for 2nd through 5th, we're sure to see some changes happen there.

Retirements are Possum Bourne who had engine trouble yesterday. Carlos Sainz is still running but lost almost 15 minutes in SS10.

Three proper stages left to run today, followed by two short Super Special Stages tonight.

1. 1 Gronholm-Rautia Peugeot 206 A8 2h01'49"700 107.5 km/h 1 1
2. 4 Martin-Park Ford Focus A8 2h02'51"400 + 01'01"70 2 2
3. 2 Burns-Reid Peugeot 206 A8 2h03'05"600 + 01'15"90 3 3
4. 7 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impr A8 2h03'21"600 + 01'31"90 4 4
5. 3 Rovanpera-Pieti Peugeot 206 A8 2h03'22"700 + 01'33"00 5 5
6. 18 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsa A8 2h04'07"800 + 02'18"10 6 6
7. 8 Makinen-Lindstr Subaru Impr A8 2h04'58"800 + 03'09"10 7 7
8. 33 Sohlberg-Honkan Mitsubishi A8 2h05'54"500 + 04'04"80 8 8
9. 15 Gardemeister-Lu Skoda Octav A8 2h06'17"600 + 04'27"90 9 9
10. 11 Loix-Smeets Hyundai Acc A8 2h06'35"800 + 04'46"10 10 10
11. 32 A.McRae-Senior Mitsubishi A8 2h07'01"800 + 05'12"10 11 11
12. 14 Auriol-Giraudet Skoda Octav A8 2h08'09"900 + 06'20"20 12 12
13. 5 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus A8 2h08'42"900 + 06'53"20 13 13
14. 34 Kuchar-Szczepan Ford Focus A8 2h09'22"400 + 07'32"70 14 14
15. 6 Hirvonen-Lehtin Ford Focus A8 2h09'32"500 + 07'42"80 15 15
16.105 Crocker-Foletta Subaru Impr N4 2h12'05"200 + 10'15"50 1 1
17.101 Herbert-Ryan Subaru Impr A8 2h12'11"600 + 10'21"90 16 16
18. 19 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsa A8 2h17'53"300 + 16'03"60 17 17

[RallyRaider]

SS12 and another best time for Martin and Ford, Gronholm again less than a second behind. Markko is very slowly restablishing his gap back to Burns. Rovanpera also put a few seconds on Solberg to move into fourth overall.

[RallyRaider]

Plenty of action on SS13 and 14. First of all Marcus rolled on SS13! However he seems to be able to continue, lost about 40 seconds but still kept his reduced lead. Martin set best time again.

SS14 and all is not well in the Ford camp, Martin has stopped on stage with an engine problem. Hari Rovanpera has also retired, presumably an accident. Despite his roll on the previous stage Gronholm somehow managed to set fastest time yet again.

All this is good news for Loeb who moves into 4th. Alister McRae also moves into the points in his Lancer, his team mate Sohlberg who had been leading McRae the whole rally also retired.

That is pretty much it for the day, only the two short super specials to run. And hopefully there is a nice long service to straighten out the number one Peugeot!

1. 1 Gronholm-Rautia Peugeot 206 A8 2h39'16"200 107.5 km/h 1 1
2. 2 Burns-Reid Peugeot 206 A8 2h40'18"700 + 01'02"50 2 2
3. 7 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impr A8 2h41'09"000 + 01'52"80 3 3
4. 18 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsa A8 2h41'35"400 + 02'19"20 4 4
5. 8 Makinen-Lindstr Subaru Impr A8 2h42'45"900 + 03'29"70 5 5
6. 11 Loix-Smeets Hyundai Acc A8 2h45'15"300 + 05'59"10 6 6
7. 32 A.McRae-Senior Mitsubishi A8 2h45'49"100 + 06'32"90 7 7
8. 15 Gardemeister-Lu Skoda Octav A8 2h45'50"700 + 06'34"50 8 8
9. 14 Auriol-Giraudet Skoda Octav A8 2h47'04"200 + 07'48"00 9 9
10. 5 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus A8 2h47'36"700 + 08'20"50 10 10
11. 6 Hirvonen-Lehtin Ford Focus A8 2h49'20"200 + 10'04"00 11 11
12. 19 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsa A8 2h55'38"500 + 16'22"30 12 12

[ales]

:cry:

He had a chance!!! He was in with a chance!

The silver lining: he didn't crash out, he was very fast today, and it gives me hope for Markko's first win.

Alex

[RallyRaider]

Yes, Markko and the new Focus have signaled their intentions! Early days yet but it will be very interesting if Ford can regularly be in the fight for wins. All we need is Subaru to up their game a bit and there will be four manufactures with a chance of victory at each round.

[RallyRaider]

End of Leg two reveals an unusually high attrition rate for Rally New Zealand. Biggest news of the evening is Tommi Makinen’s five-minute penalty for some traffic infringements. Allegedly he was caught speeding and refused to stop, when flagged down. Can you imagine what might have happened if a full fledged car chase had ensued!

That drops Tommi down to 9th just out of the points. Very large distribution, Only close battle is Alister McRae and Toni Gardemeister for 6th. If Alister McRae can hang on he'll beat his point score from the whole of last season on just one event! Loeb is inching up on Solberg for third, but Petter has in excess of 30 seconds, as well as much more knowledge of the event over Loeb.

Quite a long 3rd Leg tomorrow 6 stages of which two are decently long, so anything could still happen!


1. 1 Gronholm-Rautia Peugeot 206 A8 2h42'43"700 106.7 km/h 1 1
2. 2 Burns-Reid Peugeot 206 A8 2h43'44"600 + 01'00"90 2 2
3. 7 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impr A8 2h44'34"400 + 01'50"70 3 3
4. 18 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsa A8 2h45'07"400 + 02'23"70 4 4
5. 11 Loix-Smeets Hyundai Acc A8 2h48'35"300 + 05'51"60 5 5
6. 32 A.McRae-Senior Mitsubishi A8 2h49'12"500 + 06'28"80 6 6
7. 15 Gardemeister-Lu Skoda Octav A8 2h49'17"200 + 06'33"50 7 7
8. 14 Auriol-Giraudet Skoda Octav A8 2h50'29"400 + 07'45"70 8 8
9. 8 Makinen-Lindstr Subaru Impr A8 2h51'06"500 + 08'22"80 9 9
10. 5 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus A8 2h51'22"900 + 08'39"20 10 10
11. 6 Hirvonen-Lehtin Ford Focus A8 2h52'44"400 + 10'00"70 11 11
12. 54 Arai-Sircombe Subaru Impr N4 2h55'52"900 + 13'09"20 1 1
13.105 Crocker-Foletta Subaru Impr N4 2h56'07"200 + 13'23"50 2 2
14.102 Argyle-Smith Mitsubishi A8 2h56'12"800 + 13'29"10 12 12
15.101 Herbert-Ryan Subaru Impr A8 2h56'47"100 + 14'03"40 13 13
16. 58 Ligato-Garcia Mitsubishi N4 2h57'08"500 + 14'24"80 3 3
17. 66 Al Wahaibi-Beec Mitsubishi N4 2h57'39"700 + 14'56"00 4 4
18. 20 Warmbold-Price Ford Focus A8 2h57'56"900 + 15'13"20 14 14
19. 53 Ferreyros-Marin Mitsubishi N4 2h58'01"600 + 15'17"90 5 5
20. 55 Rowe-Agnew Subaru Impr N4 2h58'24"900 + 15'41"20 6 6
21. 51 Singh-Oh Proton Pert N4 2h58'50"500 + 16'06"80 7 7
22. 60 McShea-Patterso Mitsubishi N4 2h58'57"600 + 16'13"90 8 8
23. 19 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsa A8 2h59'01"100 + 16'17"40 15 15
24. 65 Blomqvist-Goni Subaru Impr N4 3h00'18"100 + 17'34"40 9 9
25.103 Mason-Fenemor Mitsubishi A8 3h01'38"700 + 18'55"00 16 16
26. 57 Manfrinato-Cond Mitsubishi N4 3h02'48"800 + 20'05"10 10 10
27.121 Lagemann-Orr Subaru Impr N4 3h04'16"800 + 21'33"10 11 11
28.124 Stewart-Fletche Mitsubishi A8 3h04'56"500 + 22'12"80 17 17
29.113 Stokes-O'Hagen Mitsubishi A8 3h05'48"500 + 23'04"80 18 18
30.107 West-Cobham Subaru Impr N4 3h07'55"000 + 25'11"30 12 12
31. 74 Frisiero-Roggia Mitsubishi N4 3h07'55"100 + 25'11"40 13 13
32. 80 Trivino-Barrabe Mitsubishi N4 3h09'05"600 + 26'21"90 14 14
33. 64 Roman-Mitakidou Mitsubishi N4 3h09'39"600 + 26'55"90 15 15
34.131 Thompson-Gentle Subaru Impr N4 3h10'29"300 + 27'45"60 16 16
35.120 Ayling-Kenny Subaru Impr A8 3h10'39"900 + 27'56"20 19 19
36.115 Gray-Whitburn Mitsubishi N4 3h10'41"700 + 27'58"00 17 17
37. 77 De Dominicis-Be Mitsubishi N4 3h11'47"900 + 29'04"20 18 18
38. 71 Geradzhiev-Popo Mitsubishi N4 3h13'50"300 + 31'06"60 19 19
39.111 Tapper-Judd Mitsubishi A8 3h15'51"400 + 33'07"70 20 20
40.138 Hibbert Warburt Subaru Impr A8 3h17'57"000 + 35'13"30 21 21
41. 33 Sohlberg-Honkan Mitsubishi A8 3h18'22"700 + 35'39"00 22 22
42.132 Turner-Warringt Mitsubishi N4 3h20'33"900 + 37'50"20 20 20
43.126 Terao-Tokunou Subaru Impr N4 3h20'40"700 + 37'57"00 21 21
44. 70 Errani-Casado Mitsubishi N4 3h25'26"200 + 42'42"50 22 22
45.130 Minamino-Fintof Mitsubishi N4 3h26'23"000 + 43'39"30 23 23
46.133 Lewis-Ramsay Mitsubishi N4 3h27'40"700 + 44'57"00 24 24
47.129 Martin-Atkinson Mitsubishi A8 3h27'45"100 + 45'01"40 23 23
48.128 Giltrap-Marra Subaru Impr N4 3h27'51"500 + 45'07"80 25 25
49.137 Ito-Roberts Subaru Impr A8 3h29'12"900 + 46'29"20 24 24
50.141 Mizuno-Santo Daihatsu Ch A6 3h33'39"900 + 50'56"20 25 1
51. 52 Sola-Romani Mitsubishi N4 3h39'02"900 + 56'19"20 26 26
52.140 Sugiyama-Kagawa Mitsubishi N4 3h46'02"300 + 1h03'18" 27 27

[RallyRaider]

SS17 ran smoothly for the front runners, Gronholm taking the honours, extending his lead over Burns. Solberg also improving his gap to Loeb.

Plenty of drama on SS18 by comparison. Freddy Loix had an off road excursion and retired from a healthy fifth position. Loeb is having some kind of gearbox trouble and dropped a minute to Petter. Don’t know if the problem is fixable or may prove terminal on subsequent stages. Anyway at the top burns just pipped Gronholm for the stage win but with only four stages to go, Burns has well over a minute to make up. Ain't going to go that at half second at a time.


1. 1 Gronholm-Rautia Peugeot 206 A8 3h16'16"600 106.8 km/h 1 1
2. 2 Burns-Reid Peugeot 206 A8 3h17'30"100 + 01'13"50 2 2
3. 7 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impr A8 3h18'13"700 + 01'57"10 3 3
4. 18 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsa A8 3h20'08"400 + 03'51"80 4 4
5. 15 Gardemeister-Lu Skoda Octav A8 3h23'53"100 + 07'36"50 5 5
6. 32 A.McRae-Senior Mitsubishi A8 3h24'19"000 + 08'02"40 6 6
7. 14 Auriol-Giraudet Skoda Octav A8 3h25'11"800 + 08'55"20 7 7
8. 8 Makinen-Lindstr Subaru Impr A8 3h25'41"500 + 09'24"90 8 8
9. 5 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus A8 3h26'35"300 + 10'18"70 9 9
10. 6 Hirvonen-Lehtin Ford Focus A8 3h28'23"300 + 12'06"70 10 10
11. 54 Arai-Sircombe Subaru Impr N4 3h32'08"400 + 15'51"80 1 1
12.102 Argyle-Smith Mitsubishi A8 3h32'14"000 + 15'57"40 11 11
13.101 Herbert-Ryan Subaru Impr A8 3h32'35"600 + 16'19"00 12 12
14.105 Crocker-Foletta Subaru Impr N4 3h32'43"100 + 16'26"50 2 2
15. 19 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsa A8 3h33'43"300 + 17'26"70 13 13
16. 58 Ligato-Garcia Mitsubishi N4 3h33'49"400 + 17'32"80 3 3
17. 20 Warmbold-Price Ford Focus A8 3h34'22"800 + 18'06"20 14 14
18. 53 Ferreyros-Marin Mitsubishi N4 3h34'24"600 + 18'08"00 4 4
19. 55 Rowe-Agnew Subaru Impr N4 3h34'25"000 + 18'08"40 5 5
20. 66 Al Wahaibi-Beec Mitsubishi N4 3h34'27"700 + 18'11"10 6 6
21. 51 Singh-Oh Proton Pert N4 3h35'09"900 + 18'53"30 7 7
22. 60 McShea-Patterso Mitsubishi N4 3h36'18"600 + 20'02"00 8 8
23.103 Mason-Fenemor Mitsubishi A8 3h37'53"200 + 21'36"60 15 15
24. 65 Blomqvist-Goni Subaru Impr N4 3h41'32"800 + 25'16"20 9 9
25. 57 Manfrinato-Cond Mitsubishi N4 3h41'50"500 + 25'33"90 10 10
26.121 Lagemann-Orr Subaru Impr N4 3h42'01"100 + 25'44"50 11 11
27.113 Stokes-O'Hagen Mitsubishi A8 3h42'12"100 + 25'55"50 16 16
28.124 Stewart-Fletche Mitsubishi A8 3h42'18"100 + 26'01"50 17 17
29.107 West-Cobham Subaru Impr N4 3h44'42"200 + 28'25"60 12 12
30. 74 Frisiero-Roggia Mitsubishi N4 3h46'04"700 + 29'48"10 13 13
31. 80 Trivino-Barrabe Mitsubishi N4 3h47'15"400 + 30'58"80 14 14
32. 64 Roman-Mitakidou Mitsubishi N4 3h48'28"300 + 32'11"70 15 15
33.115 Gray-Whitburn Mitsubishi N4 3h48'47"200 + 32'30"60 16 16
34.131 Thompson-Gentle Subaru Impr N4 3h49'10"200 + 32'53"60 17 17
35. 77 De Dominicis-Be Mitsubishi N4 3h49'23"100 + 33'06"50 18 18
36.111 Tapper-Judd Mitsubishi A8 3h53'24"000 + 37'07"40 18 18
37. 71 Geradzhiev-Popo Mitsubishi N4 3h53'27"400 + 37'10"80 19 19
38.138 Hibbert Warburt Subaru Impr A8 3h57'47"700 + 41'31"10 19 19
39.126 Terao-Tokunou Subaru Impr N4 4h00'40"800 + 44'24"20 20 20
40.132 Turner-Warringt Mitsubishi N4 4h01'08"800 + 44'52"20 21 21
41.130 Minamino-Fintof Mitsubishi N4 4h07'21"100 + 51'04"50 22 22
42.133 Lewis-Ramsay Mitsubishi N4 4h08'12"200 + 51'55"60 23 23
43.129 Martin-Atkinson Mitsubishi A8 4h08'47"600 + 52'31"00 20 20
44.128 Giltrap-Marra Subaru Impr N4 4h09'49"900 + 53'33"30 24 24
45.137 Ito-Roberts Subaru Impr A8 4h11'24"100 + 55'07"50 21 21
46. 52 Sola-Romani Mitsubishi N4 4h14'55"400 + 58'38"80 25 25
47.141 Mizuno-Santo Daihatsu Ch A6 4h15'17"700 + 59'01"10 22 1

[RallyRaider]

The 2003 Rally New Zealand has now been run and win by Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen their third victory there in four years.

Rest of the points scoring positions panned out as below, only late change was Auriol losing out to Makinen on the last stage with a turbo problem.

1. 1 Gronholm-Rautia Peugeot 206 A8 3h45'21"200 107.4 km/h 1 1
2. 2 Burns-Reid Peugeot 206 A8 3h46'29"900 + 01'08"70 2 2
3. 7 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impr A8 3h47'31"000 + 02'09"80 3 3
4. 18 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsa A8 3h49'36"600 + 04'15"40 4 4
5. 15 Gardemeister-Lu Skoda Octav A8 3h53'35"000 + 08'13"80 5 5
6. 32 A.McRae-Senior Mitsubishi A8 3h54'35"400 + 09'14"20 6 6
7. 8 Makinen-Lindstr Subaru Impr A8 3h55'11"400 + 09'50"20 7 7
8. 14 Auriol-Giraudet Skoda Octav A8 3h55'29"800 + 10'08"60 8 8
9. 5 Duval-Prevot Ford Focus A8 3h56'32"900 + 11'11"70 9 9
10. 6 Hirvonen-Lehtin Ford Focus A8 3h58'56"300 + 13'35"10 10 10
11. 19 Sainz-Marti Citroen Xsa A8 4h03'34"400 + 18'13"20 11 11
12.102 Argyle-Smith Mitsubishi A8 4h03'46"600 + 18'25"40 12 12
13.105 Crocker-Foletta Subaru Impr N4 4h05'36"100 + 20'14"90 1 1

[RallyRaider]

Thanks to the new points scoring system Richard Burns still leads the Drivers Championship, despite not having won a rally yet. Gronholm moves into second in front of the trio of Citroen drivers. A shame Markko's engine let him down, would have made the points table much more interesting if he'd held on to second IMHO.

Burns 26
Gronholm 20
Loeb 17
McRae 17
Sainz 16
Martin 13
Makinen 11
Solberg 9
Duval 8
Gardemeister 7
Panizzi 4
Robert 3
McRae 3
Schwarz 1
Auriol 1

In the Makes Championship the 1-2 result moves Peugeot into the lead for the first time this year. Skoda are doing well, can't wait till the new Felicia hits the stages.

Peugeot 49
Citroen 44
Ford 26
Subaru 22
Skoda 12
Hyundai 3

[ales]

Quite an evenful rally! And Marcus is one lucky Gronholm! After his adventures on ss13 he still managed to win it ... by over a minute. Pure class!

[RallyRaider]

Saw the in-car from Gronholm's incident. Calling it a roll is a bit much, it was only about a quarter roll, over onto the co-drivers side. Only damage was probably losing a wing mirror.

Also liked the way Marcus creamed Burns on the first stage today then timed his runs to perfection within a second of Burn's time. Left Richard in no doubt who was in control of the situation!

[RallyRaider]

Marcus Gronholm now as a caree total of 14 wins moving him into equal tenth (with Walter Rohl no less!) on the all time standings. Pretty awesome considering he has collected all those wins in slightly over three years. At that rate it may not be long before he is nipping at the heels of a certain wee Scott for top honours

Rally Victories per Driver:

01 Colin McRAE British 25
-- Carlos SAINZ Spanish 25
03 Tommi MAKINEN Finnish 24
04 Juha KANKKUNEN Finnish 23
05 Didier AURIOL French 20
06 Markku ALEN Finnish 19
07 Hannu MIKOLA Finnish 18
08 Massimo BIASION Italian 17
09 Bjorn WALDEGAARD Swedish 16
10 Walter ROHRL German 14
-- Marcus GRONHOLM Finnish 14
12 Timo SALONEN Finnish 11
-- Stig BLOMQVIST Swedish 11
14 Richard BURNS British 10
-- Ari VATANEN Finnish 10
16 Bernard DARNICHE French 07
-- Sandro MUNARI Italian 07
18 Kenneth ERIKSSON Swedish 06
-- Gilles PANIZZI French 06
20 Shekhar MEHTA Kenyan 05
-- Jean-Pierre NICOLAS French 05
-- Jean-Luc THERIER French 05
23 Michèle MOUTON French 04
-- François DELECOUR French 04
25 Jean-Claude ANDRUET French 03
-- Henri TOIVONEN Finnish 03
-- Timo MAKINEN Finnish 03
-- Jean RAGNOTTI French 03
29 Ingvar CARLSSON Swedish 02
-- Michael ERICSSON Swedish 02
-- Bruno SABY French 02
-- Joginder SINGH Kenyan 02
-- Achim WARMBOLD German 02
-- Kenjiro SHINOZUKA Japanese 02
-- Mats JONSSON Swedish 02
-- Philippe BUGALSKI French 02
-- Sébastien LOEB French 02
38 Harri ROVANPERA Finnish 01
-- Andrea AGHINI Italian 01
-- Pentti AIRIKKALA Finnish 01
-- Piero LIATTI Italian 01
-- Alain AMBROSINO French 01
-- Ove ANDERSSON Swedish 01
-- Fulvio BACCHELI Italian 01
-- Bernard BEGUIN French 01
-- Walter BOYCE Canadian 01
-- Roger CLARK British 01
-- Per EKLUND Swedish 01
-- Tony FASSINA Italian 01
-- Guy FREQUELIN French 01
-- Sepp HAIDER Austrian 01
-- Keysti HAMALAINEN Finnish 01
-- Anders KULLANG Swedish 01
-- Harry KALLSTROM Swedish 01
-- Joaquim MOUTINHO Portugese 01
-- Alain OREILLE French 01
-- Jorge RECALDE Argentinian 01
-- Armin SCHWARZ German 01
-- Patrick TAUZIAC French 01
-- Frenchnz WITTMANN Austrian 01
-- Giancarlo CUNICO Italian 01
-- Raffaele PINTO Italian 01
-- Jesus PURAS Spanish 01
-- Petter SOLBERG Norway 01

[Guido]

An interesting rally indeed. Deserved win for Marcus and lucky enough Loeb kept his fourth. A shame again for Freddy Loix. When will he ever be able to finish a rally without going off.

[Marco_Wrc]

What an event it was. Again, much surprising things happened. Makes it attractive for the viewer.

But, some things just shouldn't have happened like:
Loix getting off the road (he seems to be like our Jos Verstappen, also has problems finishing a race)
Rovanperra having a really hard time in a crash, he doesn't deserve this.

Nice to see the skoda's doing a good rally.

[Focus2000]

Originally posted by Marco_Wrc
Rovanperra having a really hard time in a crash, he doesn't deserve this.

I think Harri should have had an extra cup of coffe before starting the stage. The TV footage showed him yawning away mid-stage, seconds before crashing into the trees. Looks like he wasn't quite awake!

An encouraging performance from Markko, it was good to see the Focus getting the stage wins even if it did drop out later It all bodes well for some close fights in the upcoming events.