Rally New Zealand 2000
LEG ONE
The Rally of New Zealand started in cold but unusually dry conditions with an eight stage leg driven on the roads south of Auckland. All factory teams except Skoda participated in the event that is also a part of the Asia Pacific series.
On the first stage of the rally the Peugeots showed their strength as Francois Delecour was fastest and Marcus Gronholm second. They were followed by the three Fords of Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, and Petter Solberg. The event started all wrong for Seat's Toni Gardemeister. First he had a puncture and changed the tire on the stage, then he crashed heavily 14 kilometers into the first stage, totalling the Seat Cordoba.
Ford's 'junior driver' Solberg won the second stage, followed by Sainz and the Peugeots. Marcus Gronholm was fastest on SS3 and second was Delecour, who was leading overall by 1.4 secs over his team-mate. On the dry conditions there was once again a lot of loose gravel on the roads, which made them slippery for the first cars on the road. The championship leaders lost some time because they had to sweep the road.
This was shown clearly on stage 4 where Solberg was again fastest, followed by the two Hyundais of Kenneth Eriksson and Alister McRae. Eriksson was 5th overall, with such names behind him as Colin McRae, Juha Kankkunen, Richard Burns and Tommi Makinen. Makinen, running 9th, also reported handling problems in his Mitsubishi all through the early stages.
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| Francois Delecour / Daniel Grataloup (Photo by Peugeot Sport) |
The competition in the top three was hard. On SS 5 Solberg passed Gronholm into the second position, while Delecour increased his lead slightly by winning both SS 5 and SS 6. Kankkunen moved past Eriksson to 5th place.
The final two stages of the day were driven on the Manukau super special track. Both super specials were won by Colin McRae, who also passed Eriksson. The situation in the top three remained thrilling as Marcus Gronholm in third place was only 13 seconds behind the leader. Sainz in 4th was already half a minute behind and Kankkunen more than 50 seconds behind the leader.
Situation after stage 8 of 24:
1. Francois Delecour (FRA) Peugeot - 1.16.36,2
2. Petter Solberg (NOR) Ford +9,7
3. Marcus Grönholm (FIN) Peugeot +13,2
4. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Ford +30,1
5. Juha Kankkunen (FIN) Subaru +51,9
6. Colin McRae (SCO) Ford +59,6
7. Kenneth Eriksson (SWE) Hyundai +1.00,1
8. Richard Burns (ENG) Subaru +1.06,7
9. Tommi Mäkinen (FIN) Mitsubishi +1.24,6
10. Possum Bourne (NZL) Subaru +1.42,0
11. Didier Auriol (FRA) Seat +1.42,2
12. Alister McRae (SCO) Hyundai +1.46,0
