Rally New Zealand 2007

 Rally New Zealand 2007

Racing data
11th of 16 races in the 2007 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally New Zealand
Date:	August 31 - September 2, 2007
Begin:	Hamilton
Exams:	18 tests over 353.56 km
Distance:	1255.98 km
Covering:	gravel
Podium
First:	Marcus Grönholm Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
Second:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
Third:	Mikko Hirvonen Ford Abu Dhabi WRT

The 37th Rally New Zealand was the eleventh of 16 FIA World Championship races in 2007. The rally consisted of 18 special stages and was held between August 31 and September 2.

Marcus Grönholm in the Ford Focus RS WRC

Race report

After three days of rally and 353.56 kilometers of special stages, Marcus Grönholm (Ford) was able to win the New Zealand Rally with a minimal margin of 0.3 seconds .

In the last special stage of Saturday, Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) ousted Grönholm, who had been leading until then, from the front. The two rivals started the last day with a time difference of 1.7 seconds. In the first special stage of Sunday (SS12), Grönholm was able to set the best time and he went all the way up with 0.1 seconds ahead. Loeb did not give up yet and countered. In SS13 he set the fastest time, took the lead again and had a lead of 0.5 seconds. In SS14 Grönholm got shoulder problems, couldn't attack properly and lost 2.9 seconds. Loeb took the lunch break as overall leader. In the afternoon, Grönholm started a race to catch up. He won three special stages in a row and reduced the gap first to 2.3 and then to 0.2 seconds. In the penultimate special stage (SS17), Grönholm took the lead back from Loeb. The decision had to be made in the 3.14 kilometer long final stage "Mystery Creek 2". Grönholm had to go first on the track. At the finish he had the fastest time, then we had to wait and see what Loeb does. In the meantime it looked like he could intercept Grönholm again. The decision had to be made in the last few meters. Loeb crossed the finish line with the best time, but he was only 0.4 seconds faster than Grönholm, so Grönholm still had exactly 0.3 seconds left, which was enough for him to win. In the drivers' world championship, Grönholm was able to easily expand its lead to ten points.

Classifications

Bottom line

Item	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points
WRC
1	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 52: 53.9		10
2	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 52: 54.2	00: 00.3	8th
3	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 54: 36.7	01: 42.8	6th
4th	Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 55: 26.2	02: 32.3	5
5	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Ford Focus RS WRC	3: 55: 30.8	02: 36.9	4th
6th	Daniel Sordo	Marc Marti	Citroën C4 WRC	3: 56: 35.9	03: 42.0	3
7th	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC	3: 56: 48.6	03: 54.7	2
8th	Urmo Aava	Kuldar Sikk	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC	4: 02: 10.2	09: 16.3	1
PCWRC
1 (13)	Toshi Arai	Tony Sircombe	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4: 13: 35.8	20: 41.9	10
2 (14)	Niall McShea	Gordon Noble	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4: 13: 38.4	20: 44.5	8th
3 (15)	Richard Mason	Sara Randall	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	4: 14: 46.0	21: 52.1	6th
4 (16)	Gabriel Pozzo	Daniel Stillo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 14: 48.9	21: 55.0	5
5 (17)	Fumio Nutahara	Daniel Barritt	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 14: 55.7	22: 01.8	4th
6 (18)	Armindo Araujo	Migue Ramalhol	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 15: 16.0	22: 22.1	3
7 (19)	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 15: 46.9	22: 53.0	2
8 (22)	Martin Rauam	Kristo Kraag	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	4: 16: 15.2	23: 21.3	1

Special stages

Day	WP number	Start NZST	WP name	length	driver	automobile	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1 Aug 31	WP1	09:18	Pirongia West 1	18.30 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	13: 40.5	80.29 km / h	Marcus Grönholm
	WP2	10:21	Waitomo 1	43.88 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	28: 47.8	91.43 km / h
	WP3	14:07	Pirongia West 2	18.30 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	13: 32.4	81.09 km / h
	WP4	15:10	Waitomo 2	43.88 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	28: 20.4	92.9 km / h
	WP5	17:03	Mystery Creek 1	3.14 km	Chris Atkinson	Subaru Impreza WRC	2: 56.2	64.15 km / h
Day 2 Sep 1	WP6	09:03	Port Waikato	17.21 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	9: 33.2	108.09 km / h
	WP7	09:41	Possum	13.88 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	10: 38.2	78.3 km / h
	WP8	10:19	Franklin	31.57 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	21: 15.7	89.09 km / h
	WP9	12:32	Mystery Creek 2	3.14 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 54.7	64.71 km / h
	WP10	14:58	Te Akau South	31.92 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	18: 25.0	103.99 km / h
	WP11	15:41	Te Akau North	32.36 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	16: 59.8	114.23 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
Day 3 Sep 2	WP12	09:03	Maungatawhiri 1	5.34 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 41.3	119.18 km / h	Marcus Grönholm
	WP13	09:31	Te Hutewai 1	11.22 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	7: 54.3	85.16 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP14	09:59	Whaanga Coast 1	29.81 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	21: 00.8	85.12 km / h
	WP15	11:38	Maungatawhiri 2	5.34 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	2: 39.7	120.38 km / h
	WP16	12:06	Te Hutewai 2	11.22 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	7: 43.0	87.24 km / h
	WP17	12:34	Whaanga Coast 2	29.81 km	Marcus Grönholm	Ford Focus RS WRC	20: 32.1	87.1 km / h	Marcus Grönholm
	WP18	14:18	Mystery Creek 3	3.14 km	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën C4 WRC	2: 52.5	65.53 km / h

Source:

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Grönholm wins with a margin of 0.3 seconds! , accessed December 30, 2015
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: 37th Rally New Zealand 2007 , accessed December 30, 2015

Web links

Commons : World Rally Championship 2007  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website