|
|
| 2008 Rally New Zealand : WRC Round 11 of 15 : 29th - 31st August In this issue: 1. Leg 2 Unofficial Leaderboard 2. Leg 2 News 4. Leg 2 Team by Team News 5. Remaining Event Schedule 1. Unofficial Leaderboard 1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 57min 29.0sec 2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 2hr 57min 38.3sec 3. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 2hr 57min 42.3sec 4. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 2hr 57min 44.7sec 5. F Duval/P Pivato BEL Ford Focus RS 2hr 59min 09.9sec 6. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 3hr 00min 18.8sec 7. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 3hr 00min 21.8sec 8. P-G Andersson/J Andersson SWE Suzuki SX4 3hr 02min 00.0sec 9. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 3hr 04min 06.4sec 10 F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 3hr 04min 25.8sec 2. Leg News Tactics again played a crucial part right at the close of the day's action, which finished with Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila leading team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen by 9.3sec. Hirvonen's 27.8sec opening day advantage was gradually eaten into by championship rival Sébastien Loeb and the Frenchman eventually moved ahead on the penultimate stage. However, once Hirvonen completed the final test, Loeb deliberately slowed in the final few metres to drop behind the BP Ford Abu Dhabi driver and earn a lower, and therefore cleaner, start position for tomorrow. Behind the top three is Spain's Dani Sordo (Citroen), just 2.4sec behind team-mate Loeb and only 15.7sec from the lead. Stobart driver François Duval (Ford) and Urmo Aava (Citroen) complete the top six. Aava dropped 30sec on the second test after clipping a wall and dragging a tyre off the wheel, driving much of the test on just the wheel rim. That allowed Petter Solberg (Subaru) to move ahead but the Estonian quickly regained the place. Toni Gardemeister (Suzuki) lost almost 90sec with brake problems following a hydraulic leak on the morning's third stage but later retook ninth place. 4. Team by Team News BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team lies first and second after a gripping second day of Rally New Zealand that ended with four drivers covered by less than 16sec going into tomorrow's final leg. Tactics again played a crucial part right at the close of the day's action, which finished with Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila leading team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen by 9.3sec. Both are behind the wheel of Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars. #3 : Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "It was a hard day but I came through and the time differences aren't that big. The driver, the car, the pace notes and the rhythm were really good. I could do nothing tactically because I was first on the road. I'm in a good position and all I can do now is try to be faster than all of them tomorrow. It will be really close and I can't wait. I have a good road position but Loeb has a better one so it will be difficult. If I could have chosen my start position I would have selected fourth." #4 : Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "It's a great feeling to be leading tonight but it might bring me some difficulties tomorrow. I wanted to catch Loeb and I was expecting to be in the top three, but not to be leading tonight. I drove flat out on that final stage and tomorrow I need to do the same and be precise. The biggest thing is not to worry about being first on the road, it's being mentally strong that's the important thing," Citroen Total World Rally Team http://citroen.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=1 The second day of the 2008 Rally New Zealand saw everyone at Citroën Total put in a masterful performance that has put the team in a strong position going into Sunday's leg. Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena are overnight third with their C4 WRC, just 13.3 seconds behind the leader, while Dani Sordo/Marc Martí follow in fourth place, a little more than 15s off the lead. Both Citroën crews are now looking forward to tomorrow's loop in the Whaanga Coast region to try to pull off a top result. #1 : Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "We managed to move ahead after SS10..However, along with the team, we worked out that 4.2s wasn't a big enough lead to take into the finalday if we were first on the road. We regretfully let our rivals pass us again, although that's not really my vision of rallying which should be about driving faster than the others and not having to fift: There are nonetheless rules we have to exploit. We'll see tomorrow whether we made the right choice." Dani and Marc profited from the jostling for position going on between the three crews ahead of them on the leaderboard to consolidate their grip on fourth place and close in on the podium. "This afternoon's two stages went very well for us," beamed Dani. "We really enjoyed ourselves after making some small modifications to the set-up of our C4. I pushed as hard as I could and that paid off. We will now keep a close eye on the scrap that's going on in front of us. It could all work out in our favour…" #2 : Daniel Sordo/Marc Marti: "It was nice to see my times get closer to those of the front-runners. The gap is coming down, although I continue to lose time on the slower, more technical portions because I still lack experience of this event. However, if I compare my times with those I posted here in 2007, I can see that I am improving, and that is very encouraging." Subaru World Rally Team http://subaru.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=5 Petter Solberg and Phil Mills, today celebrating his birthday, found improved pace on the second day of competition in New Zealand. Restarting after a roll yesterday, Subaru World Rally Team team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot took the opportunity to cover more testing miles in their Impreza WRC2008. #5 : Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "A lot of the stages were very narrow, and when you struggle for confidence it really shows in the times. We made some adjustments to the dampers for the last stage and it wasn't bad, but we still have more work to do. I'm just driving, saying what I feel, and letting the engineers work on the car and come up with the ideas. We're just lacking overall grip here, that's what we need to find. On the fast and flat stuff, like the last stage, we're not bad, but on the twisty it's very difficult to push and that's where we're losing time." #6 : Chris Atkinson/Stephane Prevot: We've still got a lot to learn with this new car and it's frustrating that we're in this position as from testing we know this car can perform far better. The guys did a great job on the car last night to turn it round in time, and I'd like to thank them all." Stobart VK M-Sport Ford World Rally Team http://ford.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=2 The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team look poised for another fine result as François Duval/Patrick Pivato sit comfortably in fifth with one day remaining of Repco Rally New Zealand - round 11 of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin have come back firing after re-entering the event this morning under SupeRally regulations to set a raft of top-five fastest stage times. Currently the pair occupy 23rd on the leaderboard. #7 : Francois Duval/Patrick Pivato: "I have been learning the car a lot more today and things have gone OK without any problems. The stages were a lot faster which I prefer and I had a much better feeling especially on the two long stages this afternoon. I used too much left-foot braking in the last 10 kilometres of the long stage this morning and lost the front brakes but apart from this the car has been going good and we haven't made any mistakes. I am in a good position and I want to finish the rally tomorrow because I can take a lot of experience, with the car, from this event." #8: Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin: "Today has been really good for us and I am really happy with the times we were setting. On all stages we were less than one second a kilometre off the leader and for some only 0.2-0.3 seconds which is very encouraging. The splits were also really fast in sections and it has helped my confidence a lot especially after retiring yesterday. I know I still need more experience of these events but it is a good feeling to know we can set these times. Tomorrow we will look to continue and hopefully achieve what we have today." Suzuki World Rally Team http://suzuki.rallye-info.com/teams.asp?sid=12 The second day of Rally New Zealand included the three longest stages of the event. Once again, the story was about finding grip through the deep gravel, which coated the fast, but technical North Island roads. Despite those tricky conditions, P-G Andersson drove consistently and quickly through the day's six stages to maintain his grip on eighth place. Toni Gardemeister ensured both Suzukis were in the top 10 after another fine day behind the wheel of his ninth-placed SX4 WRC. #11 : Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen: "This morning was okay for the first two stages. It was slippery, worse than yesterday - there was more gravel around. But then we had the brake trouble in the third stage, caused by a loss of the brake fluid, which unfortunately also affected the clutch. The afternoon was good again. I had driven these stages before and like them, they're nice and quick, like the traditional Rally New Zealand roads." #12 : Per-Gunnar Andersson/Jonas Andersson: "I am in the points and am really happy for that. I'm not going to take any risks to try and catch the car ahead. At the same time, I have a nice gap to the car behind. This morning was quite hard work, though. The stages were so full of gravel, it was hard to find a line and to get any grip. We tried to soften the car through the morning. That helps with the traction, but it means the car loses precision in the faster sections. For the afternoon, where the stages were faster, we stiffened the roll bars, which worked quite well. The confidence was not so bad this afternoon." 5. Remaing Event Schedule Sunday 31 August: Day 3 Hamilton - Hamilton Serv F Mystery Creek (15 mins) 07.45 SS12 Te Hutewai 1 11.23km 09.23 SS13 Whaanga Coast 1 29.72km 09.51 RSZ G Raglan (15 mins) 10.57 SS14 Te Hutewai 2 11.23km 11.28 SS15 Whaanga Coast 2 29.72km 11.56 SS16 Mystery Creek 3 3.14km 14.00 Serv H Mystery Creek (10 mins) 14.18 Finish Mystery Creek 15.00 Total 85.04km Rally total 353.04km |