|
Third consecutive disaster for Rovanperä in New Zealand
Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen were full of confidence when starting their third world championship rally of the season. The incidents of Sweden and Turkey were all forgotten and ahead was one of their favourite events. Third place from year 2001 and last year's second place created a good starting point for competing among the top. The result, however, was the third retirement in a row. It would be high time to open the points score in Rally Argentina at the beginning of May.
Start number advantage down with rain
Before the race it had been estimated that those starting in front would suffer from loose gravel. For that reason, Rovanperä with his zero championship points was thought to benefit from his starting position on the first leg. All the teams were prepared for rallying in dry conditions, but there were heavy rains instead.
Peugeot's Marcus Grönholm took the reins right from the start (SS 1, Batley 1, 19,8 km) and Ford's Markko Märtin clocked the second fastest time. Harri Rovanperä with his Peugeot finished third, even if he had suffered a flat tyre and limped to the finish with a tyre half off the rim. Already after the second stage (SS 2, Waipu Gorge 1, 11,2 km) Harri dropped down to fifth as he hit a downpour when on stage. Having finished third on stage 3 (Brooks 1, 16,0 km) and second on stage 4 (New Cassidy, 21,6 km), Rovanperä found his way back to fourth overall. His team mate Grönholm had already develop a difference of 24,8 seconds, the second of the race, Märtin, was 6,4 seconds ahead, and Subaru's Petter Solberg in third overall had an advantage of 5,3 seconds over Rovanperä.
The rain created puddles on the roads and transformed the road surface into mud. On the following stage (SS 5, Paparoa Station 1, 11,6 km) Rovanperä finished only ninth. He kept his fourth overall, though, and further consolidated it by clocking the third fastest time on the following stage (SS 6, Batley 2, 19,8 km). Stage number seven (Waipu Gorge 2, 11,2 km) was a repetition of stage 2, and again the rain was so heavy while Rovanerpä was on the road that he was only able to finish ninth, even if he had been level with his team mate at the halfway time control. On the penultimate stage of the first leg (SS 8, Brooks 2, 16,0 km), Rovanperä posted the fifth quickest time and was forced to give the fourth place overall to his other team mate, Richard Burns, by a margin of 2,2 seconds. To finish with the day, there was the rerun of the fifth stage (SS 9, Paparoa Station 2, 11,6 km). On that last of the leg, Rovanperä was left seventh, but remained fifth overall.
- It certainly wasn't our day. The rain was so heavy at times that it was almost impossible to see anything. There were so many puddles that the car just started to hydroplane at some places. On too many stages the rain was at its heaviest just when it was our turn to run, so this time our starting position did nothing but harm. The grip was getting worse car by car, naturally, and for us already it was quite muddy at some points. Our only hope is that it will get drier or that there will be the same amount of rain for everybody, Rovanperä told, disappointed with his day.
Leg 1, 9 special stages / 139 stage kilometers, situation after SS 9/22
1. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, 1 h 18'25,5" (106,4 km/h))
2. Markko Märtin, Ford, + 00'38,1"
3. Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 00'43,6"
4. Richard Burns, Peugeot, + 00'55,0"
5. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 01'03,6"
6. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01'26,2"
7. Tommi Mäkinen, Subaru + 01'29,4"
8. Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 01'47,2"
Chase of podium finish started well but ended too soon again
Saturday began with the longest stage of the entire course (SS 10, Parahi-Ararua, 59,0 km). The Peugeot triplet took the first three positions there. On the following three stages, it was Markko Märtin who posted the wins, thus consolidating his second place overall. On the second stage of the day (SS 11, Mititai Finish, 20,1 km), the order of Peugeot pilots behind Märtin was Grönholm, Rovanperä and Burns. Also on the next stage (SS 12, Tokatoka, 10,2 km), the three Peugeots occupied the places behind Märtin. Rovanperä finished fourth and succeeded in passing Petter Solberg to fourth overall.
- Today everything has gone well. I'm really pleased with the set-ups of the car now and we are attacking strongly so we are still very much in pursuit of the second place, Rovanperä commented at the service break of the day.
Two long stages were run next. On the first of them (SS 13, Parahi, 25,2 km), the places behind Märtin were taken by Burns and Rovanperä, as the third Peugeot driver, Grönholm, capsized his car on its side losing over half a minute in the incident. The top four were all within just over a minute again.
Situation after special stage 13/22
1. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, 2 h 20'14,9" (108,5 km/h))
2. Markko Märtin, Ford, + 00'26,2"
3. Richard Burns, Peugeot, + 00'45,9"
4. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 01'08,1"
5. Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 01'31,4"
6. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01'59,8"
7. Kristian Sohlberg, Mitsubishi, + 03'56,3"
8. Toni Gardemeister, Skoda, + 04'32,8"
The situation was dramatically changed, though, already on the stage to come (SS 14, Ararua, 31,8 km). The race ended for Harri Rovanperä into an old oak tree and Markko Märtin was forced to retire after an engine failure.
- We had been driving with the same set of tyres for 25 km already and stage 14 was over 30 km long. The tyres were quite worn-out by the time we reached a crest about 26 km from the start of the stage. The chassis of the car touched the road rather heavily in the hollow after the crest. It was marked in our pace notes to turn to the right over the crest. However, the car wouldn't turn to the right after touching ground, and we ended up into the woods. I stepped on the gas, anyway, even though I couldn't see a thing there under the branches, because the idea was to get back onto the road. Finally, after we had barbered the woods for about 70 meters, the car crashed onto a stout old oak and that was the end of the race, Rovanperä regretted.
Halfway through the stage, Rovanperä had been driving the third best time after Marcus and Markko, proving that he had recovered the pace leading onto the podium, when everything it was all ruined at one blow, once again.
- I think the car was somehow damaged when it hit the road, because it was impossible to make it turn the way it should. Together with the engineers we are trying to examine all the related data in order to find out what actually happened. I do hope this series of three retirements will eventually be interrupted in Argentina. We really ought to start scoring points there at last, so as not to spoil our season completely, Rovanperä planned.
Leg 2, 7 stages / 149 stage kilometers, situation after SS 16/22
1. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, 2 h 42'43,7" (106,7 km/h))
2. Richard Burns, Peugeot, + 01'00,9"
3. Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 01'50,7"
4. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 02'23,7"
5. Freddy Loix, Hyundai, + 05'51,6"
6. Alister McRae, Mitsubishi, + 06'28,8"
7. Toni Gardemeister, Skoda, + 06'33,5"
8. Didier Auriol, Skoda, + 07'45,7"
Final results
Leg 3, 6 stages / 119 stage kilometers, final results after stage 22/22
1. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, 3 h 45'21,2" (107,4km/h))
2. Richard Burns, Peugeot, + 01'08,7"
3. Petter Solberg, Subaru, + 02'09,8"
4. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 04'15,4"
5. Toni Gardemeister, Skoda, + 08'13,8"
6. Alister McRae, Mitsubishi, + 09'14,2"
7. Tommi Mäkinen, Subaru, + 09'50,2"
8. Didier Auriol, Skoda, + 10'08,6"
|
