Stage Reports
SS1: 0933hrs Pirongia West 1 (20.38km)
A tough start to Rally New Zealand for all the crews, because overnight rain had left the roads on the fringes of Pirongia Forest Park extremely wet and muddy. Running first on the road, Marcus Gronholm set the quickest time, 5.9s ahead of his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, despite hitting a marker pole and knocking his steering out of alignment. The two Subaru drivers suffered from a lack of grip, not helped by a tyre choice that was made with the longer second stage in mind, and proved too hard for the conditions on SS1. Petter Solberg’s time was 15m 51.2s, while Chris Atkinson completed the test in 16m 28.7s. Atkinson also had a small spin early in the stage. Among the other leading crews, Henning Solberg complained of hot water spraying into the cockpit of his Peugeot 307 WRC. MotoGP ace Valentino Rossi, driving a privately-entered Impreza WRC2005 for this rally, was extremely careful in the difficult conditions and set a time of 17m 46.9s. Many drivers found it particularly difficult in the technical section towards the end of the stage.
Fastest Time: Marcus Gronholm (Ford) 15m 09.7s
SS2: 1031hrs Te Koraha 1 (43.88km)
Plenty of mud on SS2, which took the crews south from Pirongia Forest Park towards the Waitomo Caves. At the front, Gronholm continued to set the pace on the longest stage of the rally, while Hirvonen consolidated his second place ahead of Peugeot driver Manfred Stohl. Petter set the fifth fastest time of 30m 23.1s, and was also fifth in the overall standings. The Norwegian finished the stage with smoke pouring from the right rear. A bent brake component had fouled the rear wheel, which eventually wore through and punctured the tyre. Chris’s time of 31m 06.9 moved him up to tenth place, but he said, “I’m still having to take it a bit easy.” Citroen’s Dani Sordo held fourth place despite picking up a left-rear puncture in the final few kilometres of the test. Prior to the start of the stage, mechanical wizard Henning Solberg had carried out repairs to his Peugeot and fixed his water leak. Xavier Pons was in sixth position despite an overheating Citroen Xsara. Rossi was taking things very steadily, but enjoying himself. He said the tough conditions on this stage were “just like getting to the airport at Bologna!”
Fastest Time: Gronholm 29m 44.7s
Driver Quotes - From service A (after SS2)
- Petter Solberg:
- “It’s not been a good morning; clearly we’re a long way off the pace. We didn’t have enough grip or traction on the stage and there wasn’t anything we could do. After the overnight rain the roads are very slippery, and the mud here is different to the type we had in Turkey. In service we are going to alter the set-up to make it closer to the settings we had in Turkey – perhaps that will help to improve our speed this afternoon.”
- Chris Atkinson:
- Not the best start to Rally New Zealand for us unfortunately. We had a small spin on the first stage, there was no damage to the car, but the time would have been slow anyway. The main problem is a lack of confidence in the handling, which means we couldn’t push. We’ll have a look at the car in service and see what we can do. We need better grip – perhaps there are some things we can do with the set-up to improve the situation for this afternoon’s repeated stages.”
SS3: 1450hrs Pirongia West 2 (20.38km)
It was much drier as the crews left the first service halt for their second pass through Pirongia West, so much so that the cars threw up trails of dust as they powered through the stage. Despite the earlier wet conditions, ruts weren’t a major problem because the base layer of the road is quite hard under the loose gravel. Gronholm was again fastest through the stage, ahead of Hirvonen. Both Subaru drivers were much closer to the pace, proving that the set-up tweaks made at first service had improved the car. Petter’s 15m 11.9s effort was the seventh fastest through the stage, while Chris was ninth quickest with a 15m 23.0s time and moved one place up the order to ninth overall. Manfred Stohl held third in his Peugeot ahead of Sordo and Pons. Further back, Rossi continued to play himself in steadily and set 20th quickest time.
Fastest Time: Gronholm 14m 53.6s
SS4: 1548hrs Te Koraha 2 (43.88km)
Second time through the longest stage of the rally, Petter had a much stronger run and was fourth fastest. His 29m 19.4s effort meant he was still within striking distance of Pons in the overall classification. The Norwegian was happy with his pace through the fast sections, but still felt he was losing a little time through slower corners. Chris sliced more than one minute off the time he set on his first run through the stage, but said he was still searching for more grip. Gronholm and Hirvonen continued to lead the rally. Manfred Stohl dropped time with an off-road excursion, but just held on to third place ahead of Sordo. Rossi was 20th fastest again and looked on course to achieve his goal of getting to the end of leg one without problems. After the stage, the remaining crews headed back towards the rally base at Mystery Creek for the final stage of Rally New Zealand’s opening leg.
Fastest Time: Gronholm 29m 10.2s
SS5: Mystery Creek Super Special 1 (3.14km)
The Subaru team ended the day strongly in front of a huge crowd: Chris set the second-fastest time through the short, tight stage which looped around the rally service area, 0.4s behind Gronholm, and Petter was half a second behind his Australian team-mate. Sordo moved ahead of Stohl into third position, while Gronholm and Hirvonen continued to lead.
Fastest Time: Gronholm 2m 59.8s
Team Quotes
Richard Taylor, Subaru World Rally Team Managing Director
“The conditions today have been especially tricky, particularly this morning when the overnight rain made the roads very slippery. On the first loop of stages we misjudged the tyre choice which affected our times and the confidence of the drivers. This situation improved in the afternoon, particularly for Petter, and the drivers were able to set much more competitive times and be closer to the pace. Clearly, we still have some work to do on the car, but we are hopeful that we will see further improvement in our speed over the weekend and both cars will move up the leaderboard.”
Petter Solberg
“The day improved as it went on, and the last two stages were better than when we ran them in the morning. We made some changes to the car at the midday service and on the high-speed sections of SS4 we were the fastest out there, but we’re still losing time on the twisty sections, and that’s what we need to concentrate on now. Tomorrow the character of the stages is a little bit different, hopefully they should suit us better, we’ll have to see.”
Chris Atkinson
“We just haven’t had the speed today, for whatever reason. We’re working on that, but I don’t feel confident to push so I’m not taking any risks and I’m just making sure I get through the stages. The car felt better in the afternoon but the conditions were very different, so it was difficult to compare and get any useful information. For tomorrow a lot will depend on the weather and our road position; if it’s dry and we’re first on the road then it’ll be very tough, if it’s wet then it should be better. We’ve given away a lot of time today, but we’ll do all we can to improve our position tomorrow.”
Starters
