2007 Rally New Zealand - Final

Final positions

1. M Grönholm/T Rautiainen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 52min

53.9sec

2. S Loeb/D Elena F Citroen C4

3hr 52min 54.2sec

3. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr

54min 36.7sec

4. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 3hr 55min

26.2sec

5. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr

55min 30.8sec

6. D Sordo/M Marti E Citroen C4

3hr 56min 35.9sec

7. P Solberg/P Mills N Subaru Impreza 3hr

56min 48.6sec

8. U Aava/K Sikk EE Mitsubishi Lancer

4hr 02min 10.2sec

9. H Solberg/C Menkerud N Ford Focus RS 4hr

02min 48.5sec

10 M Wilson/M Orr GB Ford Focus RS 4hr

03min 13.8sec

1. BP-Ford

2. Citroen Total

3. Subaru

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

6. Munchis Ford

1. BP-Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen won Rally New Zealand today after a titanic battle with arch rival Sébastien Loeb produced the closest finish in the history of the FIA World Rally Championship. The ice-cool Finns withstood immense pressure inside their Ford Focus RS World Rally Car to win this 11th round of the series by just 0.3sec after more than 350km of blistering driving - a margin which equates to 7.5 metres or less than two car lengths!

Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen: "It was an incredible fight all weekend and this win is fantastic for my championship hopes. It's the closest and best battle in my career and I'm delighted to have won it. There wasn't room for a single missed gearchange. I'm really happy for the team, more so because everyone was able to stand outside and watch the final stage near the service park and share in our excitement when we knew we had done it."

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "I made one wrong tyre choice on Friday and I was out of the battle. I'm not upset with third and I've enjoyed the weekend but I was a little unhappy with my driving and not being able to join Seb and Marcus in the fight for victory. But I feel like I've learned how to drive here and it was important for the team to get the points for third."

2. Citroen Total

Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena and their Citroën C4 WRC came out of their exceptionally fierce threeday fight on the Rally New Zealand to finish just three tenths of a second short of the ultimate winner of the 2007 championship's 11th round.

Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena: "It rarely

comes more frustrating than that! It was reassuring to see that we were able to challenge for victory throughout the rally, though, and that's very encouraging for the rest of the season."

Dani Sordo/Marc Marti: No quote available

3. Subaru

Subaru World Rally Team drivers Chris Atkinson and Stephane Prevot finished Rally New Zealand fourth today, after a thrilling battle with Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala that went right to the line.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "After the service last night the whole chassis felt completely different today. It's working better - still not good enough - but at least it starts to work, you know. It's more like a proper four-wheel-drive car. Whatever the team did has helped, anyway. I did all I could this rally, but I know we can go much faster. The tests we have planned will be very important; we still have a lot of work to do."

Chris Atkinson/Glen MacNeall: "That was a great fight for fourth, and I'm very happy that we came out on top. It's great for the guys in the team too, and it shows we're getting closer all the time. It would have been nice to be on the podium, and hopefully that's no far away. I think we've had enough fourths now - we want some thirds, seconds and firsts! Overall it's been a pretty good rally. We've battled hard all weekend, tried to fight when we could and be cautious when things haven't worked so well. We did our best, and that's all I can do. It's back to asphalt next, and I'm certainly looking forward to that."

Xavier Pons/Xavier Amigo: No quote available

4. OMV Kronos Citroen

It was at least a conciliatory ending for the OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team at the "Rally New Zealand". The third day went mainly according to plan which was mirrored by the times of OMV pair Stohl/Minor. But more than a move up from 16th to 12th place was not possible. Yet, the fourth-best SS overall time on the longest special stage of the third day leaves room for hope.

Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor: "To me the rally was history after the first day.

The second day was more searching rather than driving fast. But I am quite content with the final leg. Nevertheless: I'd expected more from New Zealand. But I somehow have to get used to the fact that this year doesn't go according to plan. When I've got grip than I'm competitive. When not I don't stand a chance. But we definitely won't give up on our efforts. There are still five rallies to go where a lot of points will be awarded. And I want to get some of them."

5. Stobart M-Sport Ford

All three members of the Stobart M-Sport Ford rally team have successfully finished inside the top ten at this weekend's Rally New Zealand, round eleven of the FIA World Rally Championship. Pick-of-the-crop were Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila who were locked in a titanic battle with Australian Chris Atkinson all weekend, finishing up in fifth outright. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud and Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr kept it cool for the team by both finishing in the top ten along with Latvala. After losing several minutes on Saturday, Solberg battled back to pick up ninth while Wilson improved consistently over the three days to take the tenth spot.

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "I was disappointed with how the rally started for me on Friday when I lost all the time and this really put me in a bad position for the rest of the weekend. This meant we were running near the front and cleaning the road and even one or two cars make a difference here with the loose gravel. My pace has been quite good here though and when I had a good feeling with the car then I set some fast times. I was battling with my brother Petter for some of the rally so that shows that I have been going faster. We have also made some good improvements here and things are really starting to go in the right direction with the set-up."

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila: "Obviously I am not very happy with losing the battle for fourth but looking at the bigger picture I can say that this has been my best performance of all year. I was able to consistently set competitive times with the top drivers all weekend and this is a big positive to take away from the rally. We didn't make any big mistakes during the rally and the car and tyres both worked well for me. I changed my style of driving a bit here and tried to be less aggressive and smoother and this made a big difference; it was a great improvement. I have done a good job here and come away with some good points for the championship."

Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr: "It has been great to get to the end of this difficult event and the experience has been fantastic. I'm annoyed with the mistakes from the first day as this really set me back and I was left with a difficult road position for the rest of the rally. The stages were so slippery and there weren't many repeated stages so we were always cleaning the road. But the car has been fantastic and all of our tyre choices have been correct. This is quite a specialised event and the experience I got here is invaluable. Some of my times during the rally were very good and I was beating Stohl, who has much more experience than me, on a few stages."

6. Munchis Ford

Luis Perez Companc / Jose Maria Volta: Quotes not available.

Federico Villagra / Jorge Perez Companc: Quotes not available.

7. Skoda Czech Rally Team

Not entered in NZ.

__________________________________________________________________

Next Event

The championship returns to asphalt next month when Spain hosts Rally Catalunya on 4 - 7 October. Based in Salou, it is the first of two sealed surface fixtures on consecutive weekends.