Rally New Zealand 2007

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flag of New Zealand.svg 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: United KingdomUnited Kingdom Marcus Grönholm Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
United KingdomUnited Kingdom
Second: FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
FranceFrance
Third: United KingdomUnited Kingdom Mikko Hirvonen Ford Abu Dhabi WRT
United KingdomUnited Kingdom

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 FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm FinlandFinland Timo Rautiainen Ford Focus RS WRC 3: 52: 53.9 10
2 FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb MonacoMonaco Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 3: 52: 54.2 00: 00.3 8th
3 FinlandFinland Mikko Hirvonen FinlandFinland Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 3: 54: 36.7 01: 42.8 6th
4th AustraliaAustralia Chris Atkinson BelgiumBelgium Stéphane Prévot Subaru Impreza WRC 3: 55: 26.2 02: 32.3 5
5 FinlandFinland Jari-Matti Latvala FinlandFinland Miikka Anttila Ford Focus RS WRC 3: 55: 30.8 02: 36.9 4th
6th SpainSpain Daniel Sordo SpainSpain Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 3: 56: 35.9 03: 42.0 3
7th NorwayNorway Petter Solberg United KingdomUnited Kingdom Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 3: 56: 48.6 03: 54.7 2
8th EstoniaEstonia Urmo Aava EstoniaEstonia Kuldar Sikk Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 4: 02: 10.2 09: 16.3 1
PCWRC
1 (13) JapanJapan Toshi Arai New ZealandNew Zealand Tony Sircombe Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4: 13: 35.8 20: 41.9 10
2 (14) United KingdomUnited Kingdom Niall McShea United KingdomUnited Kingdom Gordon Noble Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4: 13: 38.4 20: 44.5 8th
3 (15) New ZealandNew Zealand Richard Mason New ZealandNew Zealand Sara Randall Subaru Impreza WRX STI 4: 14: 46.0 21: 52.1 6th
4 (16) ArgentinaArgentina Gabriel Pozzo ArgentinaArgentina Daniel Stillo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4: 14: 48.9 21: 55.0 5
5 (17) JapanJapan Fumio Nutahara United KingdomUnited Kingdom Daniel Barritt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4: 14: 55.7 22: 01.8 4th
6 (18) PortugalPortugal Armindo Araujo PortugalPortugal Migue Ramalhol Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4: 15: 16.0 22: 22.1 3
7 (19) FinlandFinland Juho Hänninen FinlandFinland Mikko Markkula Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 4: 15: 46.9 22: 53.0 2
8 (22) EstoniaEstonia Martin Rauam EstoniaEstonia 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 FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 13: 40.5 80.29 km / h FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm
WP2 10:21 Waitomo 1 43.88 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 28: 47.8 91.43 km / h
WP3 14:07 Pirongia West 2 18.30 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 13: 32.4 81.09 km / h
WP4 15:10 Waitomo 2 43.88 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 28: 20.4 92.9 km / h
WP5 17:03 Mystery Creek 1 3.14 km AustraliaAustralia Chris Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRC 2: 56.2 64.15 km / h
Day 2
Sep 1
WP6 09:03 Port Waikato 17.21 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 9: 33.2 108.09 km / h
WP7 09:41 Possum 13.88 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 10: 38.2 78.3 km / h
WP8 10:19 Franklin 31.57 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 21: 15.7 89.09 km / h
WP9 12:32 Mystery Creek 2 3.14 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 2: 54.7 64.71 km / h
WP10 14:58 Te Akau South 31.92 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 18: 25.0 103.99 km / h
WP11 15:41 Te Akau North 32.36 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 16: 59.8 114.23 km / h FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb
Day 3
Sep 2
WP12 09:03 Maungatawhiri 1 5.34 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 2: 41.3 119.18 km / h FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm
WP13 09:31 Te Hutewai 1 11.22 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 7: 54.3 85.16 km / h FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb
WP14 09:59 Whaanga Coast 1 29.81 km FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb Citroën C4 WRC 21: 00.8 85.12 km / h
WP15 11:38 Maungatawhiri 2 5.34 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 2: 39.7 120.38 km / h
WP16 12:06 Te Hutewai 2 11.22 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 7: 43.0 87.24 km / h
WP17 12:34 Whaanga Coast 2 29.81 km FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm Ford Focus RS WRC 20: 32.1 87.1 km / h FinlandFinland Marcus Grönholm
WP18 14:18 Mystery Creek 3 3.14 km FranceFrance 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