---

FIA RALLY: The Propecia Rally of New Zealand gets underway

14 July 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

The Propecia Rally of New Zealand gets underway tonight (Thursday) with a ceremonial start from Auckland but with no special stages. The first special stage starts tomorrow at 8:18am (GTM +12).

Rally New Zealand 2000 may be the furthest round of the FIA World Rally Championship from the registered manufacturer teams' European bases, but it is most likely to be one of the closest fought events in the 14-round series. Six of the regular teams have made the trans global trek to Auckland (only Skoda is absent this time) and between them they boast every winner of the New Zealand Rally for the last decade. Of those drivers, Championship leader Richard Burns and his closest rival, fellow Briton Colin McRae, have taken four wins. On current form these two drivers would appear to be the likely pace setters, but there are many other drivers lined up to try to topple the British duo. Following last year's successful move of the rally base to Auckland's Sky City (where the spectacular 328 metre Sky Tower dominates the city skyline) the rally has stayed in town and, after this year's Propecia-backed rally, will carry named sponsorship from Sky City over the next three years.

Subaru (58 points)

Subaru's run of gravel wins was broken in Greece last month so the Banbury team is eager to get back to its successful ways and extend its Championship lead. FIA Drivers Championship leader Richard Burns can be considered one of the favourites for the event but admits: There are five very good drivers behind me and they'll all be pushing to close the gap. I'll be giving it 100% as this is a good chance to score a maximum 10 points." Team mate Juha Kankkunen was second here a year ago and the veteran Finn loves the rally. "It's got the kind of flowing stages I like," he said. "We've had a good test in Finland for these kind of roads and I think the Impreza is ideally suited to the conditions."

Ford (47 points)

The lack of reliability in the Ford Focus was a problem that threatened to end the team's chances of the title before half distance, but Ford has recently appeared to have found the answers. A dominant 1-2 result in Greece last month brought Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz right back into the hunt and the Scot believes that he can close the gap even further. "I think the tide is turning now that we've found reliability and consistency," he said." Sainz has the best win total for this event among the drivers on this year's event, with four victories to his credit and it's no surprise that he likes the rally. "It's a pure driving event and the roads are fantastic," he said. "They're quick, flowing and the camber encourages you to go quickly. You can really concentrate on your lines and car control." A third, non-registered, Focus has again been entered for the rapidly developing Norwegian driver, Petter Solberg, who is making his New Zealand debut.

Peugeot (31 points)

"This is a rally where outright speed counts for everything and the only realistic tactic is to go flat out," said Finland's Marcus Gronholm before the start. "It's without a doubt one of my favourite events of the year." Team mate Francois Delecour agrees. "The event uses the best roads in the world and it's always a pleasure to compete here." Gronholm will need to use every ounce of that speed as he must look to this event and next month's Rally Finland to capitalise on a flying start to the year before he moves onto events where he and the Peugeot team are considered to be handicapped by a relative lack of experience. We made mistakes in Monte Carlo and Catalunya that might have cost us 20 points," admitted team boss Jean-Pierre Nicolas. "We've used up both our jokers and we can't afford any more mistakes. New Zealand should suit the styles of our drivers which will make up for our own lack of experience here."

Mitsubishi (29 points)

Reigning FIA World Champion Tommi Makinen claimed his first New Zealand win a year ago and appears to be fully confident of a repeat this time out. "We found good suspension settings last year and so I know very well what I have to do to make the car work properly," he said. He's likely to find the Lancer a little slower than the Finnish air force jet fighter he recently rode in. "It was an incredible experience," he said before the rally. "The problem was that I know want a lot more power in my rally car because it feels very slow in comparison!" Team mate Freddy Loix as had a tough season so far but everyone in the team is hoping that he can put that behind him and live up to his 'Fast Freddy' nickname. "It was a difficult event last year because I didn't know the stages but now things are a lot better for me. It's important to have the suspension just right for this event though."

SEAT (7 points)

Last year Toni Gardemeister stepped aboard a works SEAT Cordoba for the first time on a WRC event and cam away with third place behind fellow Finns Tommi Makinen and Juha Kankkunen. Not surprisingly he is hoping for better things this time. "This event is quite similar to my home event and so I'm quite confident. It suits my style and, as many of the stages haven't changed since last year, I will be able to drive flat out all the time." Perfectionist Didier Auriol is also happy and did just two test runs at the pre-rally shakedown before declaring that the car was fine and needed no more work before the event. This is the final event for the current E2 version of the Cordoba WRC before SEAT debuts the E3 option in Finland next month.

Hyundai (1 point)

Kenneth Eriksson can claim an impressive record on this event as the only driver among the leading pack to have finished every New Zealand Rally he has started. He is hoping not only to extend that record but also that the Accent WRC can start setting times consistently in the points-scoring positions. "It's quite a smooth event which will be easier on the car than in Greece," he said. "We've tested well and so I'll be trying very hard." Alister McRae agrees with the Swede's comments and added: "This is a rally where our car's relatively undeveloped specification - like not having active transmission for example - shouldn't put us at a disadvantage. I'm really looking forward to it." McRae's co-driver, David Senior, warns that crews will have to stay sharp and concentrate hard on SS12, the marathon Parahi/Ararua stage. "It's the longest in the Championship at 59kms and it will mean we are driving for a long time. If concentration drops then you find yourself with a very slow time at the end of it."

Other teams

The New Zealand Rally is unique in that it is the only round of the FIA World Rally Championship to also count for the FIA Asia-Pacific series this year. This means that there is additional interest in the private battle between top Kiwi Possum Bourne (Subaru) and Asia Pacific series leader Karamjit Singh (Proton) with Bourne just one point adrift of Singh at this stage of the series. The FIA Teams Cup entries feature two Subarus, one for rapid Japanese driver Toshihiro Arai (Spike Subaru Team) and Omani ace Hamed Al Wahaibi (Arab World Rally Team).Manfred Stohl (Austria) and Gustavo Trelles (Uruguay) on their Mitsubishis, lead the Group N competition.

SPECIAL FACTS

There were many delays bringing the containers carrying team equipment from Rally Argentina. The freighter originally hired was rescheduled, a second boat (travelling the other way round the world) had an accident, a third had engine trouble and was then delayed by storms in Sydney. Finally the freighter arrived in Auckland lunchtime 6th July and within three hours the containers were released by Customs authorities. Shipping problems upset teams' pre-event testing plans. Ford and Mitsubishi started testing three days before the reconnaissance started but Peugeot had to wait until their containers arrived. The organisers have asked the FIA for permission not to make attendance at the official Shakedown test mandatory, if the teams tests are behind schedule for this reason. Rally NZ in 1990 (ten years ago) was the first world championship rally which four times champion Tommi Makinen finished. His Group N victory was the first of many successes to come. 20 years ago the world championship Rally New Zealand was held in the South Island. On that occasion it was a wet rally, noted for a remarkable number of deep river crossings. In recent weeks the North Island has been subjected to torrential rains as well! 100mm of rain recently fell on the stages to be used on the Saturday - in one day. The 59km long stage 12 is the longest stage held in world championship rallying since the stage-shortening measures introduced in 1986.

Local curiosity: although 12 local drivers are entered with Mitsubishis in Group N and another five with Subarus, New Zealand is unusual as many drivers enter near-production specification cars in Group A. Morrie Chandler, not only the event Clerk of the Course but also President of the New Zealand National Sporting Authority, explained: "Our national championship encourages people to run with more powerful cars, and this is the best way for them to do this. There are hardly any World Rally Cars in our country."

Text provided by FIA

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.