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Results from New Zealand 7th - 9th May 2010Latvala sneaks Ford's 75th win at the last gasp
On Sunday all the drama came at once - all the top four made major mistakes, Petter's being the only terminal one. Loeb's jaunt into the undergrowth took him out of contention so all Ogier had to do was trickle to the finish to take his first win on his first ever Rally New Zealand, but he spun just three corners from the end, allowing Latvala to fall over the line, taking his third win by just two seconds despite not winning a single stage. In the process Ford became the most successful WRC manufacturer of all time, surpassing Lancia's previous record of 74 rally wins. SWRCIn the SWRC, Jari Ketomaa led from start to finish. From wrc.com: Jari Ketomaa and co-driver Mika Stenberg have won round four of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship. The Finns led the category from the outset to beat fellow Ford Fiesta pair Xevi Pons and Alex Haro by almost one minute. The victory was Ketomaa's first in the S-WRC and makes up for a disappointing debut on the Jordan Rally last month when he retired from the first two days of the event and needed SupeRally to reach the finish. Although Ketomaa's triumph in New Zealand was richly deserved, it took the intervention of his Shanghai FCACA Rally Team mechanics to repair a faulty cam sensor, which had threatened to ruin his rally when it began to malfunction on Friday. "We didn't feel much pressure but it wasn't easy either," said Ketomaa. "Although we had some problems with the car on Friday we always had the performance but I still need more confidence before I can really push. But I am really happy with the result, especially for my team." Second place for Pons has enabled the Spaniard to increase his grip on the inaugural S-WRC crown following back-to-back victories in Mexico and Jordan. Pons conceded that he was under a degree of pressure on the final morning when Martin Prokop posted a succession of rapid times in his Fiesta. However, Prokop was unable to dislodge Pons from second place. "I had to concentrate a lot when Martin started to close but it wasn't really a problem," said Pons. "This is a great result for me because it really helps with the championship." Prokop added: "It was fast but slippery like hell this morning. We lost too much time on the medium- fast hairpins and although this is a good result we need to start winning if we are to challenge for the championship." Patrik Sandell was the highest Skoda Fabia finisher in fourth overall with Nasser Al-Attiyah fifth in a similar car. Both drivers spun on the final stage but were able to make it to the finish with their Fabias largely unscathed. Unable to test before the event, Sandell never truly recovered from a scary moment on Friday's second stage when he struck a giant bird when it flew into his path. The resulting damage to his Fabia's windscreen restricted his vision and lowered his confidence. Al-Attiyah dropped time when he overshot a junction on the Te Akau Coast stage on Saturday morning after leaving his braking too late. The Qatari also admitted that his team's lack of spare parts meant he couldn't push as he would have liked in the event of damaging his car. Janne Tuohino inflicted considerable damage to his Fiesta when he rolled on Friday's sixth stage. Following extensive repairs, Tuohino rejoined on day two under SupeRally regulations but withdrew before the finish. Albert Llovera's bid to restart his Fiat Abarth Grande Punto on day three faltered due to damage sustained to his engine on Saturday. PWRCwrc.com has this to say: Mitsubishi driver Hayden Paddon overcame a final-day clutch problem to take his maiden Production Car World Rally Championship victory on Rally New Zealand. Paddon has dominated the P-WRC class for the duration of the Auckland-based event, winning from Emma Gilmour by more than three minutes. Gilmour's Subaru was in the top two stage times through today's action, centred on Raglan, south-west of Auckland, and fastest outright on the concluding test - a second run through Whaanga Coast. Kingsley Thompson retired from the event on the final stage, but thanks to the Superally rules the Mitsubishi man will be classified third, ensuring a podium lock-out for the Kiwis. But top New Zealander at home was undoubtedly Paddon. "It's been a great event," he said. "On the first morning, we were just playing ourselves in. The plan was to attack in the afternoon stages on Friday. But with the problems Richard [Mason] and Toshi [Arai] had, we didn't really have to. For the last two and a half days, we've been able to drive without taking any major risks." Paddon added that the clutch problem which hit his Lancer Evo IX today had been an irritation more than a major issue. "It started to come last night," said the 23-year-old. "The clutch wasn't slipping or anything like that, we just started to lose the pedal. In the last couple of stages, I didn't use the clutch at all. You can do that with this gearbox, but it took some time to get used to doing it." Paddon added that, after the drama which had unfolded at the front of the main field in Whaanga Coast, he was pleased he hadn't had to push in the day's long stage. "It's so tricky in there," he said. "It's a great road, but it can be really tough." Second-placed Gilmour was pleased with her event, adding: "I'm the top female finisher, which is great. The car seemed a bit down on power. The boys made some changes to the car last night. It wasn't so good this morning, but it felt better in the afternoon when there was a bit more grip around. This is a great result for the Kiwis." Behind the all-NZ top three, Subaru driver Arai made a great comeback to fourth place. "This is not such a bad result after our retirement on Friday," said his co-driver Daniel Barritt. "We've pushed quite hard today and we've gone really well in the twisty sections. It's just a shame we had those problems on the first day, otherwise it could have been a really good event. Hayden's had it to himself a little bit this time." Arai passed Gianluca Linari, also in an Impreza, on the penultimate stage - both drivers also moving up one place further when Chaodong Liu stopped late in the day.
WRC final standings
Other WRC finishers (2 points each)
Number of stage wins (10 points for the first, 1 point for all others)
Points contributions by WRC driversWRC drivers contribute double championship points, plus 1 point for each stage win (10 for the first), plus 2 points for a finish, all multiplied by their weighting at the start of the rally.
WRC team pointsWRC teams score the average of the nominated drivers' unweighted points (which is the same as adding them up and halving the result), multiplied by the team's weighting. BP Ford's nominated drivers were Hirvonen/Latvala, Stobart's were H Solberg/Wilson. (Citroën Total's are always Loeb/Sordo). Citroën Juniors only had one driver (Ogier).
PWRC final standings
Other PWRC finishers (2 points each)
PWRC stage wins (10 points for the first, 1 point for all others)
Points contributions for each PWRC driverDriver's contribution = double championship points, plus one point for each stage win (10 for the first), plus 2 points for a finish, all multiplied by the weighting at the start of the rally.
SWRC final standings
Other SWRC finishers (2 points each)
SWRC stage wins (10 points for the first, 1 point for all others)
Points contributions for each SWRC driverDriver's contribution = double championship points, plus one point for each stage win (10 for the first), plus 2 points for a finish, all multiplied by the weighting at the start of the rally.
Next race - Portugal - 28th MayThree weeks until round five in Portugal, which hosts round 2 of the JWRC and round 5 of the SWRC. Teams will be frozen from midnight GMT on the night of Thursday 27th May. |
New Zealand was one of the most dramatic rallies in years. With road position being a major factor on the loose gravel,
Petter Solberg, Jari-Matti Latvala, Sebastien Ogier and Dani Sordo all led at some point on Friday.
Loeb smacked a bridge running first on the road and lost 80 seconds, seemingly putting him out of the running, but no.
He got all 80 seconds back. On Saturday. Junior buddy Sebastien Ogier stayed 5 seconds ahead at the end of Saturday,
after having a barney with his co-driver for ballsing up the delaying tactics at the end of Friday.
