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Rovanperä proved his speed and scored points for the team
Continuation with Peugeot now confirmed
Immediately after the rally, the management of team Peugeot
announced that Harri is going to stay in the team to participate in all the
remaining nine gravel rallies of the season.
307 WRC finally at front running pace
All the Peugeot team had been working really hard on the car ever since
Mexico Rally and they were confident the car had improved. Harri
Rovanperä was cautiously hopeful prior to the rally New Zealand:
- This is my second rally with the 307 and I have learnt a lot about the new
car. I have always enjoyed driving on New Zealand roads, so I am going
to push hard from the very start.
Harri has experience of podium positions in this particular rally, having
finished third in 2001 and second in 2002.
The first moments of the rally showed that the high hopes about the 307
getting more consistent were justified as the two Peugeot drivers both
clocked quick times. With 5 out of 23 special stages run after the third
stage of Friday, Harri was lying third overall right behind the leader, his
teammate Marcus Grönholm, and Subaru’s Petter Solberg.
- I have an OK feeling, but I still haven’t found the final push for every
corner, even if I do trust the car much more than in Mexico, Rovanperä
pondered at the service break of the day.
Harri took the lead after two stage wins
After posting two consecutive stage wins after the service break,
Rovanperä took the lead of the rally. On the longest stage of the rally, the
almost 50-kilometer “Possum”, the Peugeot gave a demonstration of it
being in its own league again. Rovanperä set the fastest stage time and
Grönholm was only 3,3 seconds slower than him, but all the others were
left much further behind. Rovanperä being 11,6 seconds faster than
Solberg on stage 7, he moved into the lead by a margin of one second.
After the short super specials of the evening, he dropped from the lead
but was able to start on Saturday’s leg in second place. Harri was happy
with his first leg performance, having been the stage winner twice, the
second best twice and the third fastest on three stages.
- What a delightful day of rallying after a long time. The car works well. We
were able to drive flat out even on the 48-kilometer stage 7, most of the
time. The only trouble during the entire day was that at the end of the long
day, the safety system of the car dropped the capacity a bit after the
engine had overheated. I really like long stages and it felt great to move
into the lead. We didn’t take any risks on the short super specials, but I
believe we have all the chances tomorrow, even if the leader is now five
seconds ahead. Since the car’s set-up is good now, we are not going to
change anything in it for tomorrow, Rovanperä told at the finish of Friday’s
leg.
Rally New Zealand WRC (4/16), April 15-18, 2004
Leg 1, 9 special stages, 141,92 stage kilometers
(total of the rally 23 stages / 395,5 km)
Positions after SS 9/23
1.Petter Solberg, Subaru, 1 h 25’09,5”
2.Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 00’05,0”
3.Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, + 00’31,0”
4.Markko Märtin, Ford, + 00’31,2”
5.Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 00’48,0”
6.François Duval, Ford, + 00’53,5”
7.Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 01’03,1”
8.Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 01’24,8”
Loose gravel hampered Harri on Saturday
On Saturday’s normal-length stages, Harri Rovanperä had to notice that
he no longer had the advantage his hard compound tyres had given him
on the long stages of Friday. Rovanperä finished Saturday’s stages in
positions 4th to 6th. There was more loose gravel on the roads than on
Friday and at the start of one of the stages the car almost stalled.
Rovanperä, who had briefly been in the lead on Friday, managed to
remain second overall over the first three stages of Saturday, but was
dropped back to fourth after his “record low of the day”, eighth on stage
13.
- There is a lot more loose gravel on the roads today than on Friday and
the car is skidding all too much. We could have chosen a softer tyre
compound. But the car feels good, and I believe that when we run these
same stages for a second time, it will be better for us as the roads have
been swept cleaner, Rovanperä estimated.
On stages 14 to 17, Harri did drive better, being only 3,7 – 8,9 seconds
slower than the stage winners. Among the five fastest drivers, there was
such a battle over the podium positions going on, though, that
Rovanperä’s gap to the front got bigger and he was 21 seconds off even a
podium finish after Saturday’s leg.
Rally New Zealand WRC (4/16), April 15-18, 2004
Leg 2, 8 special stages, 138,84 stage kilometers
(total of the rally 23 stages / 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.François Duval, Ford, + 02’29,2”
8.Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 02’48,3”
Safely to finish and into constructors’ points
- nine more gravel rallies for Harri this season
Harri Rovanperä started the final day of the Rally New Zealand in fourth
overall, and was able to defend his position successfully over a couple of
stages. On the third stage of the day, just before the break, Harri
annoyingly spun his car, which cost him 53 seconds.
- At that point the tyres were already so worn-out that there was just no
grip left at all. Normally I could have straightened by just using the gas,
but not this time, Rovanperä explained at the service break of the day.
Rovanperä drove the rest of the rally very carefully, because his number
one objective was to score constructors’ points for Peugeot.
- It was once again a difficult rally, but I have a good feeling of it, anyway.
We were leading the rally for a while, and when everything worked, we
were able to fight at the front pace. We made a mistake this morning and
spun, which helped Loeb to escape from us, but things like that happen
to everyone. The most important thing was to gain experience of the new
car and take it over the finish line, securing constructors’ points for
Peugeot. Now we can look at the future with confidence, Rovanperä
summed up his feelings at the finish of the rally.
In Rally New Zealand, Harri got a chance to demonstrate his speed.
Among the second drivers of the teams, Harri was the only one who was
able to keep up with the teams’ first drivers. The team was satisfied with
Harri’s final position as well as the points he scored, and announced
soon after the rally that Rovanperä is going to participate in the gravel
events of the remaining season in team Peugeot.
Rally New Zealand WRC (4/16), April 15-18, 2004
Leg 3, 6 special stages, 114,74 stage kilometers
Final results (23 stages / 395,5 km)
1.Petter Solberg, Subaru, 4 h 02’29,5” (97,9 km/h)
2.Marcus Grönholm, Peugeot, + 00’05,9”
3.Markko Märtin, Ford, + 00’25,5”
4.Sebastien Loeb, Citroen, + 01’05,2”
5.Harri Rovanperä, Peugeot, + 02’23,7”
6.Carlos Sainz, Citroen, + 03’08,9”
7.Mikko Hirvonen, Subaru, + 05’42,5”
8.Daniel Carlsson, Peugeot 206, + 13’23,8”
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