Podium still as a target for Rovanperä

NZ 2nd leg: Harri dropped 4th

Loose gravel and wrong tyre choises
Harri Rovanpera made a few mistakes on saturday, notably in his tyre
choices. The result is rather costly: Harri was in second place after 1st
leg, only 5,0 seconds behind the leader and after 2nd leg Harri is in
fourth position, more than 45 seconds away from Solberg.

Top 3 still open!
- These stages weren't so good for me so far: there was a lot of loose
gravel on the road and we seemed to be sideways a lot of time! I think we
also could have chosen softer tyres, which would have given us more
grip. But the car is feeling fine, and this afternoon should be a lot better
for us, as we are driving the stages for the second time and the roads
will be cleaner.

Rally New Zealand (4/16), April 15-18. 2004
Leg 2, 8 special stages, 138,84 stage km
(total of the rally 23 SS / 395,5 km)
Positions after SS 17/23
1. Petter Solberg, Subaru 2 h 42´ 11,4" (103,9 km/h)
2. Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, + 00´19,5"
3. Markko Märtin, Ford, + 00´24,2”
4. Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot + 00´45,1"
5. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01´01,3”
6. Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 02´ 10,8 "
7. Francois Duval, Ford, + 02´ 29,2”
8. Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 02´48,3”