Leg 1 Rally New Zealand

Marcus Grønholm is in the lead going in to Leg 2 of Rally New Zealand. The Finn is 13 seconds ahead of Sebastien Loeb in 2. place, and almost 50 seconds in front of his teamcollegue Mikko Hirvonen in 3rd. Overnight rain made it a big advantage for Marcus to start as the first car, and he won the two first stages of the day. Sebastien Loeb had to struggle with to soft tyres on the same stages, but after the service and new tyres, he went out and set the best time on SS3 and SS4. Chris Atkinson was the fastest car on the Super Special at Mystery Creek in the evening. Xevi Pons had to retire on SS3, he went off the road about 3kms into the stage, and was forced to retire.

Petter is in 7th place after day 1. He says he’s been struggling with the car allday. The car feels like a two-wheel-drive and it’s not easy to handle. They are also facing the same transmission problems as in Finland.

Rally New Zealand goes on with 6 more stages on Saturday, at 0903 local time/ GMT +12.

Overall classification Leg 1

1. Marcus Grønholm, Ford
2. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen +13,0
3. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +49,2
4. Chris, Subaru +1.21,4
5. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +1.29,2
6. Dani Sordo, Citroen +1.33,5
7. Petter, Subaru +1.48,5
8. Henning, Ford +2.17,2