Disaster for Ford/ Citroën leads 1-2 Day 1 Rally NZ

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

After a disastrous day for Ford, Loeb takes lead from Hirvonen at the end day 1 in Rally New Zealand

After Mikko Hirvonen had his 3.9 second lead going into mid day service. His team mate Loeb decided to turn the screw a little. On the now nearly dry roads of newZealand and the Frenchman cut Hirvonens lead down to just 1.5. But on the following stage Hirvonen fought back on the 2nd running of the Whaanga coast stage, the stage much drier than the fin expected. this extended his lead over loeb to 7.6 seconds. Loeb was very surprised at his team mates pace. ”

It was really muddy at the end of this one. Mikko was again very fast at the end, I don’t know why…”

Jari-Matti Latvala continues in third but only 4th quickest through the stage, losing 10 seconds to Hirvonen. Latvala’s team mate Petter Solberg was much happier this afternoon now that he had the right ‘shoes’ on. Changing to the soft tyre in service., and started to move his way up the leaderboard, “It’s working much better..sorry about this morning, it was really stressful.” Norwegian now in 6th but still 1 minute 34 seconds from the lead.

SS7 it went from a bad morning for Ford, to a disastrous day for Ford. Jari-Matti Latvala went off on Stage 7, the second running of the Te Akau South stage, and he has lost more than 4 minutes and dropped from third to ninth. He explains, “I took a very small cut across the grass, it was boggy, got sucked in, got caught in the fence, spectators had to cut me out… I don’t know what to say…”

Sébastien Loeb was the fastest man on the stage, taking 3.0 from Hirvonen, whose lead is cut to 4.6 with one stage left tonight. This very much turning into Citroën’s rally.

It was on the final stage of the day, the 32km Te Akau North, that Loeb then took control of the rally. The 8 times world champ was 8.6 seconds faster than his team mate Hirvonen, and took the lead over him by 4 seconds. Sebastien Loeb now leads at the end of day 1 on rally New Zealand.

Fords Petter Solberg managed 2nd fastest, and due to Latvala’s problems he now holds 4th overall. Its an impressive position for the man in 3rd. Evgeny Novikov, being the best of the rest and stayed out of trouble. Despite being over a minute off the lead he holds 3rd at the end of day 1. Fords young gun Ott Tanak is sitting in 5th place, the best of the junior drivers, but Citroens Junior, Thierry Neuville is only 31 seconds behind in 6th. Sordo 7th after his gearbox problems and tyre choice from this morning. Latvala sits 9th. Suspected driveshaft problems for Manfred Stohl allowed Ken Block to snatch 10th overall,

New Zealand hero Hayden Paddon completed the stage but is concerned whether or not his Skoda Fabia S2000, which has clutch and gearbox issues, will be make it back to service in Auckland.

Overall results after Day 1 Rally New Zealand

Loeb leads
Hirvonen +4.0
Novikov +1:31.0
Solberg +1:39.3
Tänak +1:47.0
Neuville +2:18.0
Sordo +2:34.3
Araújo +4:36.9
Latvala +4:56.1
Block +6:25.3
Stohl +6:55.5
Paddon +7:45.0
Ketomaa +9:03.3

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Hirvonen leads NZ after SS2

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

Rally New Zealand 2012 kicked off with the 11.18km SS1. And after the Road order decisions, where Citroen and Petter Solberg opted to go for the first few places on the road. Jari-Matti Latvala chose to go last on the road. And as it turned out, it was the best place to be. The Ford man got it right.

Photo:D.Darrall

Latvala went 2.8 seconds faster than anyone on the first stage, betting Citroens Mikko Hirvonen. The earlier rain did dampen the gravel down, but due to the big amounts of gravel in the stages, there was a bit of sweeping effect. Sebastien Loeb was 3rd fastest, 3.5 off the lead. The junior drivers of Citroen’s Neuville and M-sports young gun Tanak but in a good performance. Neuville 4th fastest 8.4 off the leaders pace with Tanak 2 seconds behind. Russian driver Novikov finished 6th quickest.

It was a Disaster for the 2nd Ford Driver Petter Solberg. Almost making the same mistake as he did on the first stage in Portugal by choosing the wrong tyres, opting for hard instead of soft’s. Mini driver Dani Sordo also had problems, He too took the hard tyre, plus the Spaniard suffered GearBox problems and was 19.7 seconds off the pace.

The second stage of the rally was a classic one. The classic Whaanga coast stage. Mikko Hirvonen took the lead after Latvala dropped to 3rd after losing time on the stage. Loeb is now 2nd overall 10.9 from Hirvonen, at stage end the 8 times champ said,”forsure we needed a soft tyre in the morning. i done a good stage. everywhere wet, I think it will be ok.” Solberg on the Hard tyres struggled through the stage and dropped 39 seconds. The Norwegian very much regretting his tyre choice. At stage ended shaking his head in disappointment. Sordo, also suffering with bad tyre choice and gearbox problems came to stage end and described the conditions of the stage, “everywhere is like Rally GB – no grip – but we made the decision with the team…. We lost a lot of time.” He is 8th overall.

Photo:D.Darrall

Results after SS2 Rally NZ

1. Hirvonen

2. Loeb +10.9

3. latvala +11.5

4. Neuville +33.7

5. Tanak +40.0

6. Novikov +40.7

7. Solberg +54.3

8. Sordo +1:09.6

9. Araujo +1:21.1

10. PG Andersson 1:30.6

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Rally NZ road Order

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

The full start position selection are as follows:

1: Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen DS3 WRC)

2: Petter Solberg (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

3: Sebastien Loeb (Citroen DS3 WRC)

4: Ott Tanak (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

5: Dani Sordo (MINI John Cooper Works WRC)

6: Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

7: Evgeny Novikov (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

8: Manfred Stohl (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

9: Ken Block (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

10: Armindo Araujo (MINI John Cooper Works WRC)

11: Paulo Nobre (MINI John Cooper Works WRC)

12: Thierry Neuville (Citroen DS3 WRC)

13: Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)

Photo:D.Darrall

Jari Matti Latvala has opted to go last on road. “We’re heading south tomorrow where there is more loose gravel on the roads than I have seen before. I’m aware that it’s a long day and the road will clean as the day goes on but we want to be further back to try to benefit from the road-cleaning as much as possible at the start of the day,” explained 27-year-old Latvala.

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Latvala fastest on Qualifying in NZ

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Daniel Darrall

Fords Jari-Matti Latvala has set the fastest time in Qualifying on Brother Rally New Zealand, the seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Photo:D.Darrall

The 27-year-old Finn finished with a time of 2m31.8s and has earned the right to select the first starting position ahead of tomorrow’s opening day. Citroen Total World Rally Team’s Mikko Hirvonen finished second quickest in 2m32.2s, a slender 0.2s ahead of factory Ford driver Petter Solberg who was third fastest.

“More than half the competitive distance is on the first day so the start position here makes a big difference. I really tried hard to take the fastest time and this now gives me the perfect position from which to choose where I want to start tomorrow,” explained Latvala.

Deciding the road position could be crucial, as it’s Winter in New Zealand, and the weather conditions could play a big part. Latvala won rally NZ last time out back in 2010. Seb Loeb has only won the event twice in 05 & 08. Petter Solberg won back in 2004. And so many of the top drivers have good experience of this unpredictable event. It could be anyones rally.

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