Shakedown today up at Auckland Domain, 4,8kms from the servicepark. Stage is 1,50kms and all tarmac. Shakedown day is a bit different from other events, as they start today at 0900 with recce, and then come back with the rally car at 0930.

Shakedown times;
Latvala 1.07,3
Hirvonen 1.07,6
Petter 1.07,7
Henning 1.07,8
Sordo 1.07,8
Loeb 1.07,9
Ogier 1.08,3
Wilson 1.08,5
Villagra 1.08,5

On Thursday there will be a Crew Raft Race in the inner Viaduct harbour here in Auckland. Each team are invited to attend with a self made raft. Rules are simple; you are only allowed to use what you have inside your service park, and only one man can operate the raft. The PSWRT crew will of course go flat out to win!

- We did about 115kms testing yesterday, and I’m now confident that we have the information we need before starting this rally. I could feel it all ready at the first run that this car is really fast!

Another thrilling day is finished in New Zealand – and Petter ended 4th in the overall classification. – It has been a tough rally, and we should be happy with the fourth position after this weekend. The car was even better today, we set some good time times along the day, and we are learning a lot. But, we are here to win and will not be satisfied until we are on the top, Petter said after the finish-ceremony.

Sebastien Loeb is the winner of the 2008 Repco Rally New Zealand. He started his final day being third on the road, with both Latvala and Hirvonen in front. Maybe because of the tactic yesterday.. But anyway, a clean run through the day, and winning the rally shouldn’t be too difficult for Loeb. But, a spin on the opening stage didn’t bring him closer to the others, it made him loose 10 seconds. On this stage, Petter drove in to 4th fastest time. After the next two stages, Loeb said it was impossible to catch up with Hirvonen, and that there was nothing more he could do. On SS15 Petter ended with third fastest time. And we know that the other drivers are driving as fast as they can, so this is good news for Subaru. Well – back to the battle between Loeb and Hirvonen. On SS17 – the battle is over for all the Fords. Latvala stops on the stage with an engine oil leak. Hirvonen picks up a puncture and a spin and looses more than 50 seconds, and finally Duval retires from the rally. And suddenly Loeb is the winner, another Citroen, Sordo, is second. And Hirvonen drops down to third. Henning climbed from 45. position on Friday and up to 9th. And managed to grab one manufacturer-point for the Muchis.

There will be a short break in the WRC now, next event is Rally Spain, 3. – 5. October.

Overall classification Rally New Zealand 2008

1.  Sebastien Loeb, Citroen    3.59.18,9
2.  Dani Sordo, Citroen    +17.5
3.  Mikko Hirvonen, Ford    +41.5
4.  Petter Solberg, Subaru    +2:48.9
5.  Urmo Aava, Citroen    +3:30.7
6.  PG Andersson, Suzuki    +7:37.4
7.  Toni Gardemeister, Suzuki    +7:54.9
8.  Federico Villagra, Ford    +8:35.0
9.  Henning Solberg, Ford    +9:15.2

Tactic on the final stage of the day, send Latvala on top of the leader-board, when day 2 finishes. But Hirvonen and Loeb are only seconds behind, and it will be a thrilling third day on Sunday. Petter is still holding 7th position.

Henning, who lost a lot of time yesterday with power-steering problems, really took advantage of his road-position today. He is now 13 in the overall classification, and set the fastest time on 5 of Saturday’s stages.

- Things has been a lot better today. We are fighting on the fast and flat sections, but cannot push on the twisty parts. It’s all about grip, Petter says from New Zealand. But, we are learning a lot here, and are improving all the time.

Rally New Zealand continues with 5 more stages Sunday.

Overall classification, day 2 Rally New Zealand

1.  Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford    
2.  Mikko Hirvonen, Ford     +9.3
3.  Sebastien Loeb, Citroen     +13.3
4.  Dani Sordo, Citroen     +15.7
5.  Francois Duval, Ford     +1:40.9
6.  Urmo Aava, Citroen     +2:49.8
7.  Petter Solberg, Subaru     +2:52.8
8.  Per-Gunnar Andersson, Suzuki    +4:31.0

Petter is number 7th overall, when the first day of Rally New Zealand is completed. Mikko Hirvonen is leading the rally, 27 seconds ahead of Sebastien Loeb. Henning Solberg is 28th, after he lost more than 3 minutes on the first stage when he lost the power steering.

But, it has been a drama-filled first day of the rally. Sebastien Loeb it all when he went of the road on the first stage. He managed to get back and continue and didn’t loose much time. At start of SS6, the launch control didn’t work and they ended up being 3 minutes late, and got a 30 seconds penalty. Everybody were talking about tactic, to avoid being first on the road tomorrow, but both Loeb and Citroen denied everything.

Not the best day for any of the Subaru’s either. They have both been struggling finding both speed and rhythm. On SS5 Chris slid off the road, after breaking in a downhill. He managed to get back and continue, but 500 metres before the finish-line the engine said stop. Petter says he tried to do his best all day, but that he can’t do more than this.

Rally New Zealand continues with 6 more stages Saturday.

Overall classification, day 1 Rally New Zealand

1.  Mikko Hirvonen, Ford    
2.  Sebastien Loeb, Citroen    +27.8
3.     Dani Sordo, Citroen    +30.0
4.     Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford    +30.1
5.  Francois Duval, Ford    +1:27.9
6.  Urmo Aava, Citroen    +2:01.3
7.  Petter Solberg, Subaru    +2:25.8
8.  Per-Gunnar Andersson, Suzuki    +2:50.5

Rally New Zealand starts Friday morning, local time.

1. Duval: 2:26.0
2. Latvala: 2:26.4
3. Hirvonen: 2:26.7
3. P. Solberg: 2:26.7
5. Sordo: 2:27.2
6. Loeb: 2:27.3
7. Wilson: 2:27.4
8. H. Solberg: 2:28.0
9. Atkinson: 2:28.8
10. Aava: 2:29.0
=11. Villagra: 2:29.1
=11. Gardemeister: 2:29.1
13. Andersson: 2:30.2

Coming up is Rally New Zealand, the 11th event in the 2008 championship. From tarmac-roads in Germany we are crossing the world and heading to the gravel-roads of New Zealand. The rally headquarter and service-park are based in the city of Hamilton, 100km south of Auckland. An indoor service-park is placed at the Mystery Creek Event Centre. Spring is on its way in New Zealand, and all though it has been raining heavily the last days, sun is expected to shine during the weekend.

64 cars are on the entry-list, but this time only two of the drivers are from Norway; Petter and Henning. Francois Duval is replacing Gigi Galli as a Stobart-driver. Galli is still recovering from his accident in Germany.

As always on gravel-rallies, being first on the road is not the best position to be in. The difference between being first or eight on the stage could be as much as 1 second per kilometre. The stages are really fast and the smallest mistake could be crucial. New Zealand is 110 % commitment and a lot of gut.

Marcus Grønholm won this event in 2007, only 0,3 second ahead of Sebastien Loeb, the smallest margin ever in the WRC-history. Petter and Phil ended 7 in 2007, but won here in 2004. Marcus Grønholm also won in 2006, when Sebastien Loeb were following the rally from home, with a broken arm.

Itinerary Rally New Zealand 2008

Friday 29 August – Pirongia/Waitomo                     

0918 SS1        Fusion Pirongia West 1 24,22km
1021 SS2        Castrol Waitomo 1    43,98km
 Service Mystery Creek
1407 SS3        Fusion Pirongia West 2  24,22km
1510 SS4        Castrol Waitomo 2      43,98km
1703 SS5        Mystery Creek Super Special 1 3,14km   

Saturday 30 August – Franklin /Te Akau

0908 SS6        Ryco Port Waikato    17,22km
0946 SS7        Possum       13,78km
1024 SS8        CRC Franklin        31,58km
1237 SS9        Mystery Creek Super Special 2 3,14km
Service Mystery Creek
1503 SS10      ACL Te Akau South   31,92km
1546 SS11      Champion Batteries Te Akau North 32,36km

Sunday 31 August – Raglan

0923 SS12      BP Ultimate Te Hutewai 1    11,23km
0951 SS13      Whaanga Coast 1   29,72km
 Remote Service Raglan
1128 SS14      BP Ultimate Te Hutewai 2    11,23km
1156 SS15      Whaanga Coast 2   29,72km
1400 SS16      Mystery Creek Super Special 3   3,14km