Update - June 24 : Day 3 [Finals] The day turned out to be a new challenge, as overnight rains had left the stages wet and the teams/drivers...
Update - June 24 : Day 3 [Finals]
The day turned out to be a new challenge, as overnight rains had left the stages wet and the teams/drivers without any / much of soft tires left for the fight over the stage wins. However, 'Loeb the master' proved to be untouchable with his tire management skills who had two soft tires at spare!
He managed to snatch the win as the team orders was placed within the Citroen WRT, and also Mikko had not any soft compound tires left to tackle the wet stages. Yes, the soft tires are used for the wet stages which grips well in wet conditions and each WRC car is limited to only 10 tires per compound per car!
Update - June 23 : Day 2
The second leg of the rally dancing was pretty much over dry surfaces as the rains had receded overnight and was only left with few damp patches in some sections on the rally stages. However, Petter Solberg was again with the wrong tire choice, i.e., on soft compound for the morning loop but didn't prove it to be a bad choice this time. Later on the mid-day remote service, he put on a hard sets for the remaining stages of the day! Loeb held his top position at the end of the day, Mikko in 2nd and Petter to 3rd!
Update - June 22 : Day 1 [Opening]
It was Mikko who opened the first stage of the rally and clocked a wonderful time to set a bench mark, however Latvala beat him later! Latvala couldn't keep his position for the later stages onwards and slipped to 3rd. It was in SS7 that he had a spin while cutting a left right corner and went off the road and got his car entangled in the fencing wire and lost over 4mins until a farmer cut the wire loose allowing the Finn to continue his attack, which was very dis-appointing as he reported.
Latvala slipped to 9th due to this error. His team mate, Petter Solberg was on a wrong choice of tires [hard compound] and kept loosing time stage-after-stage and slipped to 5th on the leaderboard. Loeb later dominated the day, demoting his team-mate to 2nd position. Russian Novikov was on 3rd at the end of the day!
[foto courtesy: best-of-rallylive.com]
Update - June 21 :
The free practice and qualifying was held on Thursday for the WRC round of New Zealand Rally competitors.
Jarri.M.Latvala in his Ford Fiesta WRC came out the fastest through the qualifying stage and was closely followed by his compatriot Mikko Hirvonen in works DS3 was second followed by Petter in his works Fiesta WRC. Latvala choose from the lowest starting order with 13th for Day 1 (Saturday), while second quickest Mikko choose to be first followed by Petter on third. Loeb was fourth quickest in the qualifying and choose to be 3rd on the road on the opening stage of the rally.
The full start-order position selected for Day 1, is as follows:
- Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen DS3 WRC)
- Petter Solberg (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
- Sebastien Loeb (Citroen DS3 WRC)
- Ott Tanak (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
- Dani Sordo (MINI John Cooper Works WRC)
- Jari Ketomaa (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
- Evgeny Novikov (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
- Manfred Stohl (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
- Ken Block (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
- Armindo Araujo (MINI John Cooper Works WRC)
- Paulo Nobre (MINI John Cooper Works WRC)
- Thierry Neuville (Citroen DS3 WRC)
- Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta RS WRC)
The New Zealand Tv broadcast on the event special.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Update - June 16 :
We are now in Auckland readying for the 7th round of the 2012 WRC. Rally HQ and primary service-park are located at the harbour in Auckland. There are about two remote services scheduled, one in north and other in south on the island on initial two days. Total of 22 stages on gravel, with some asphalt sections is what is on for breakfast, and lunch for the much eagerly awaiting for the drivers coming week[end] This exciting fast gravel rally gets its flag off with the Qualifying Stage scheduled on Thursday morning.
Itinerary Rally New Zeland 2012 (local times) is as follows,
Day 1 : Thursday 21 June
- 10:33 QS Inland Road 5,06km
Day 2 : Friday, 22nd June
- 08:28 SS1 Te Hutewai 1 11,18km
- 08:51 SS2 Whaanga Coast 1 29,67km
- 10:24 SS3 Te Akau South 1 31,82km
- 11:07 SS4 Te Akau North 1 32,13km
Remote Service Raglan (15 mins)
- 13:33 SS5 Te Hutewai 2 11,18km
- 13:56 SS6 Whaanga Coast 2 29,67km
- 15:29 SS7 Te Akau South 2 31,82km
- 16:12 SS8 Te Akau North 2 32,13km
Flexi Service Auckland Viaduct Events Centre (45mins)
Day 3 : Saturday, 23rd June
- 09:13 SS9 Batley 17,61km
- 10:01 SS10 Mititai 1 23,22km
- 10:34 SS11 Girls High School 1 26,99km
Remote Service Whangarei (15mins)
- 14:02 S12 Waipu Gorge 11,38km
- 14:25 SS13 Brooks 13,60km
- 15:08 SS14 Mititai 2 23,22km
- 15:41 SS15 Girls High School 2 26,99km
Flexi Service Auckland Viaduct Events Centre (45mins)
Day 4 : Sunday, 24th June
- 08:08 SS16 Burnside/ Wech Access 1 7,30km
- 08:26 SS17 Puhoi 1 17,94km
- 09:44 SS18 Auckland Domain 1 2,05km
Service Auckland Viaduct Events Centre (30mins)
- 11:28 SS19 Auckland Domain 2 2,05km
- 12.36 SS20 Puhoi 2 17,94km
- 13:09 SS21 Ahuroa 6,75km
- 13:40 SS22 Burnside/ Wech Access 2 7,30km
Final Results, Podium and Prize Ceremony!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Earlier pre-event announcement, dtd: 01-June-2012
Seventh round of WRC season 2012 is to be held from 21-24 of June, at the twisty gravel roads of New Zealand.
Citroen WRT started to test for this round last weekend on Italian gravel roads.
Loeb did his testing,
while Mikko also did it, but couldn't quite save his test car.
Luckily both Mikko and Jarmo were unhurt, also underwent a brief hospitalization to get checked for any injuries. Citroen said, they were done with their testing for the next round.
Dani Sordo also tests Mini WRC ahead of the Rally New Zealand!
No comments