Repco Rally New Zealand 2008 Preview: Loeb want’s this one to make up for last year’s disappointment
Sebastien Loeb wants to win the New Zealand Rally this year to put last year's memories aside as he was beaten on the last stage to lose the rally by 0.3s from Marcus Gronholm in the closest ever WRC finish. Loeb is disappointed he can't have his revenge this year, as Gronholm is retired, but he will still be aiming for his 44th career victory on an event famed for having the best rally roads in the world.
One interesting ingredient for the rally is Francois Duval replacing the injured Galli in the Ford Stobart VK squad. Duval, considered a tarmac expert, could get a good result here as he likes events in the southern hemisphere and has contested NZ several times. As for the BP boys, well, they have to make a really good impression this weekend otherwise it could be goodbye to both championships.
Hirvonen must win and while he has matured greatly as the team #1 he has lacked pace to seriously challenge Loeb this year. As for Latvala, it's all gone to pieces really, and he needs a steady drive to instill confidence for himself and more importantly Malcolm Wilson. With the knowledge that he is being subsituted for the tarmac rounds by Duval, Latvala needs to have a deep introspective think about his current driving style.
Subaru arrive here celebrating their 200th WRC event bouyed by the S14 being slightly more competitive but a lot more reliable than the previous model. Subaru's first event was the 1990 Acropolis where every conceivable problem hit the team. With Markku Alen driving the car, it actually was quickest on the first stage but it was all downhill from there as Alen broke almost everything on the car as he pushed and pushed to an inevitable retirement and he didn't exactly ingratiate himself with the team but with hindsight it was the right thing to do as it pushed the (at the time) largely inexperienced team, many of the crew were from Prodrive's various racing teams with no rally experience.
The rally is also a round of the PWRC and Juha Hanninen will be hoping to make up ground on Andreas Aigner as the two go head to head, though this event has a very strong PWRC field so predicting a winner is very difficult.
The rally kicks off on Friday with some minor route changes for SS2 and SS4 caused by storm damage at the end of July but the forecast for the rally suuggests it will be OK.
2007 Gronholm v Loeb
1983 New Zealand, great rare footage
1986 shakedown
1997 Sainz meets a sheep
Event Itinerary:
Thursday 28 August Cars in action (UK BST)
Shakedown at Mystery Creek Event Centre 8.00am - 12.00noon (9:00:00am - 12:00pm 27/08/2008 - Wed)
Ceremonial Start, Hood St, Hamilton 6.30pm - 7:30 pm (7:30:00am 08:30pm 28/08/2008 - Thu)
Day 1 Friday 29 August - Pirongia/Waitomo
SS1 Fusion Pirongia West 1 9.18am (10:18:00 pm 28/08/2008 - Thu)
SS2 Castrol Waitomo 1 10.21am (11:21:00 pm 28/08/2008 - Thu)
SS3 Fusion Pirongia West 2 2.07pm (3:07:00 am 29/08/2008 - Fri)
SS4 Castrol Waitomo 2 3.10pm (4:10:00 am 29/08/2008 - Fri)
SS5 Mystery Creek Super Special 1 5.03pm (6:03:00 am 29/08/2008 - Fri)
Day 2 Saturday 30 August - Franklin /Te Akau
SS6 Ryco Port Waikato 9.08am (10:08:00 pm 29/08/2008 - Fri)
SS7 Possum 9.46am (10:46:00 pm 29/08/2008 - Fri)
SS8 CRC Franklin 10.24am (11:24:00 pm 29/08/2008 - Fri
SS9 Mystery Creek Super Special 2 12.37pm (1:37:00 am 30/08/2008 - Sat)
SS10 ACL Te Akau South 3.03pm (4:03:00 am 30/08/2008 - Sat)
SS11 Champion Batteries Te Akau North 3.46pm (4:46:00 am 30/08/2008 - Sat)
Day 3 Sunday 31 August - Raglan
SS12 BP Ultimate Te Hutewai 1 9.23am (10:23:00 pm 30/08/2008 - Sat)
SS13 Whaanga Coast 1 9.51am (10:51:00 pm 30/08/2008 - Sat)
SS14 BP Ultimate Te Hutewai 2 11.28am (12:28:00 am 31/08/2008 - Sun)
SS15 Whaanga Coast 2 11.56am (12:56:00 am 31/08/2008 - Sun
SS16 Mystery Creek Super Special 3 2.00pm (3:00:00 am 31/08/2008 - Sun)
Ceremonial Finish, Mystery Creek Events Centre 3.00pm (4:00:00 am 31/08/2008 - Sun)
SS2 Castrol Waitomo will now be SS2.1 and SS2.2 and SS4 Castrol Waitomo will now be SS4.1 and SS4.2. However the official results system will show consecutive stage numbering with the regular stage number in brackets.
Entry List:
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC M
2. Daniel Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC M
3. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 07 M
4. Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC 07 M
5. Petter Solberg Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2008 M
6. Chris Atkinson Subaru WRT Impreza WRC 2008 M
7. Gigi Galli Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC 07 MT
8. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC 07 MT
9. Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07 MT
10. Henning Solberg Munchi's Ford Focus WRC 07 MT
11. Toni Gardemeister Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC M
12. Per-Gunnar Andersson Suzuki WRT SX4 WRC M
14. Conrad Rautenbach PH Sport-Citroen C4 WRC A8
15. Urmo Aava PH Sport-Citroen C4 WRC A8
31. Toshi Arai Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
32. Mirco Baldacci Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
33. Martin Prokop Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
34. Gianluca Linari Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
35. Evgeny Novikov Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
37. Spyros Pavlides Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
38. Stewart Taylor Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
39. Nasser Al-Attiyah Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
41. Andreas Aigner Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
42. Bernardo Sousa Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
43. Evgeniy Vertunov Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
44. Gabor Mayer Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
46. Jari Ketomaa Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
47. Giorgio Bacco Subaru Impreza P
50. Armindo Araujo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
51. Subhan Aksa Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 P
52. Juho Hanninen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 P
54. Ken Block Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
55. Patrik Sandell Peugeot 207 S2000 P
56. Fumio Nutahara Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 P
57. Martin Rauam Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
58. Naren Kumar Subaru Impreza WRX STi P
59. Hayden Paddon Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
60. Chris West Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX P
61. Richard Mason Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
62. Andrew Hawkeswood Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VII A8
63. Mark Tapper Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX N4
64. Callum McInnes Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
65. Glen Inkster Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6.5 A8
66. Nathan Thomas Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VII A8
67. Emma Gilmour Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
68. Cao Dong Liu Subaru Impreza WRX STI N4
69. Sloan Cox Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII N4
70. Malcolm Stewart Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6.5 A8
71. Brad Ayling Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
72. Grant Barber Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
73. Andre Meier Subaru Impreza N4
74. Kirsty Nelson Subaru Impreza N4
75. Tony Green Subaru Impreza WRX STI N4
76. Bruce Fullerton Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII N4
77. Brent Taylor Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII N4
78. Masahiro Nakajima Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
79. Georg Reitsperger Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX N4
80. Allan Geddes Subaru Impreza N4
81. Trevor Taylor Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX N4
82. Brendan Reeves Ford Fiesta ST N3
83. Patrick Malley Ford Fiesta ST N3
84. Ben Jagger Ford Fiesta ST N3
85. Tomoki Ohashi Subaru Impreza WRX STi N4
86. Dermott Malley Ford Fiesta ST N3
87. Motoharu Kaseya Ford Fiesta ST N3
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