Story: Evan Rothman
Pictures: Red Bull Rally and M-Sport
Rally New Zealand was a successful outing for Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport outfit. Powered by Ford, M-Sport’s latest creations the Ford Fiesta S2000 powered to victory not only in the premiere WRC class, but swept to a one-two-three victory in the S2000 World Rally Championship category too.
After a fierce battle last weekend, it was Jari Ketomaa and Mika Sterberg who topped the leaderboard at the end of the three-day long rally. Ketomaa surprised all to beat Xavier Pons (Ford Fiesta S2000) to the finish, as Pons has claimed three victories thus far in the S2000 Championship this season.
With the rally returning to its northern home of Auckland for this year, it allowed the organisers to reintroduce more of the fast, flowing and rhythmical stages from 2005’s edition. These roads are regarded as some of the best rally roads in the world, and the drivers all attacked them with abandon and relished in the cambered corners. It also enabled the event’s organisers to throw in remote service areas, as well as four new stages. The central service park was based at the Queen’s Wharf in Auckland’s lovely harbour.
For the New Zealand round, seven S-WRC entrants made the long trek to the start. Day One saw eight fast stages on the gravel roads of Whangarei and Kaipara. Janne Tuohino (Ford Fiesta S2000) and Ketomaa struggled from grip on the opening loop of stages, but it was Tuohino who suffered the most: on SS5 he rolled his car out of the rally.
The Skoda Fabia S2000 of Patrik Sandell and Emil Axelsson suffered poor luck too on the opening day: they hit a large bird on SS2, shattering their windscreen and robbing the pairing of confidence throughout the remainder of the New Zealand rally.
In SS3 Ketomaa’s crank sensor failed, and he also reported engine problems in SS4. Luckily, his mechanics were able to remedy the problems in the service after SS4. This, however, didn’t slow him down: at the end of Day One he led the S-WRC runners by 22.5s. Pons finished the day in second place, followed by Martin Prokop (Ford Fiesta S2000).
Day Two’s rally action took place in and around Franklin and Northern Waikato, with a Super Special Stage set in Hampton Downs Motor Race Circuit.
Under SupeRally regulations, Tuohino returned on to the New Zealand roads. Ketomaa dominated proceedings, however, that Pons and Prokop were unable to respond to and reel in. By the end of Day Two, Ketomaa extended his lead to over a minute…
Day Three’s rally action consisted of four stages over the somewhat slightly wet roads as a result of overnight rain. The mighty Whanga Coast Stage (SS19 and repeated as SS21) proved as challenging as in previous years.
Having carried out progressive set-up changes to his Skoda, after being unable to carry out any pre-rally testing, Sandell managed to set the fast stage time for the final stage of Day Three.
With Ketomaa to far in the front to catch, Prokop attacked for Pons for second place. At the end of SS20, Prokop was 16,4s behind Pons, and was closing in fast. Janne Tuohino, whose rally weekend was fast becoming a nightmare, saw his rally come to a final stop in the last stage: after 6km of SS21, his car’s engine started to tighten after running on three cylinders. It was an end to a frustrating weekend for the Finn.
At the end of SS21, the final stage of the Rally New Zealand, Ketomaa finished first with a lead of 54,1s over Pons and Prokop. Prokop was unable to catch Pons, as Pons was able to set a quick time through the final stage.
Patrik Sandell and Emil Axelsson (Skoda Fabia S2000) finished fourth overall, over a minute ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernachinni’s Skoda Fabia S2000.
• YouTube video link: M. Prokop in New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J9-NdOmRT8
• YouTube video link: S-WRC Day 2 – New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fobbbszYWcA
Overall Classification:
01) J. Ketomaa/M. Sterberg
Ford Fiesta S2000 – 04h 14m 29,1s
02) X. Pons/A. Haro
Ford Fiesta S2000 + 54,1s
03) M. Prokop/J. Tomanek
Ford Fiesta S2000 + 01m 14,0s
04) P. Sandell/E. Axelsson
Skoda Fabia S2000 + 01m 39,4s
05) N. Al-Attiyah/G. Bernachinni
Skoda Fabia S2000 + 02m 14,8s
Drivers’ Standings:
01) X. Pons – 68 pts
02) M. Prokop – 48 pts
=03) P-G. Andersson – 40 pts
=03) E. Brynildsen – 40 pts
05) P. Sandell – 34 pts
06) J. Ketomaa – 33 pts
07) N. Al-Attiyah – 22 pts
08) J. Tuohino – 18 pts
09) M. Kosciuszko – 15 pts
10) A. Llovera – 10 pts
Teams’ Standings:
01) Nupel Global Racing – 68 pts
02) Czech Ford Team – 51 pts
03) Skoda – Rene Georges Rally – 42 pts
04) Red Bull Rally – 39 pts
05) FCACA – 35 pts
=06) Janpa – 25 pts
=06) Barwa World Rally Team – 25 pts
08) Dynamic World Rally Team – 15 pts
09) Team Ford/Quinta do Lorde – 10 pts