There were some big names that finished the 2012 Brother Rally New Zealand, the last time the FIA World Rally Championship was here in NZ. Sebastien Loeb, Petter Solberg, Mikko Hirvonen, Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo, Jari-Matti Latvala and crowd favourite Ken Block. Also competing was our own Hayden Paddon in the Super 2000 WRC.
First Kiwi crew home were Hayden Paddon and John Kennard competing in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship class. They won this with a margin of 33 minutes to second-placed SWRC finisher P-G Andersson (Proton).
At the time, Paddon commented, “We were out to show our pace on roads we know well so it was particularly frustrating for the rear suspension to break in the first stage this morning just when we were about to try and chase down Manfred Stohl in a WRC Ford who started the day just in front of us in eleventh place overall.”
The final day of Brother Rally New Zealand took competitors to Puhoi and Kaukapakapa north of Auckland for some high speed stages as well as two quick blasts around the narrow tarmac roads around the magnificent Auckland War Memorial Museum and Auckland Domain.
It was Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena who won the rally outright, after leading from the end of the first day. The win marked only the third time that the Citroën Total World Rally Team stars have secured victory in a New Zealand round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
It was a Citroën 1-2 finish with the crew of Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen finishing in second place, just 29.6 seconds behind Loeb and Elena.
The Ford World Rally Team crew of Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson finished third, just over a minute behind Hirvonen.
In the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, powered by Brother (NZRC) field, Richard Mason, from Masterton, took a commendable 13th place overall and a strong win . After battling with Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour throughout the first two days, Mason was able to extend his winning margin over Gilmour on the final day largely due to Gilmour having limited brakes during the early stages.
Gilmour then holed her radiator and elected to drive conservatively over the final stages to be sure of completing the rally to secure her best-ever result – 14th – in the WRC event. Christchurch’s Matt Jansen came home third in the NZRC field and 15th overall.
2012 Brother Rally New Zealand results: top-ten overall
Pos., No., Driver/Co-Driver, Country, Vehicle, Time
1, 1, Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, France, Citroen DS3 WRC, 4:04.51.2
2, 2, Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen, Finland, Citroen DS3 WRC, +29.6
3, 4, Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson, Norway, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, +1:36.4
4, 6, Evgeny Novikov/Denis Giraudet, Russia, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, +2.13.6
5, 7, Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul, Belgium, Citroen DS3 WRC, +2:42.4
6, 37, Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio, Spain, Mini John Cooper Works WRC, +3.03.1
7, 3, Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila, Finland, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, +4:52.9
8, 12, Armindo Araujo/Miguel Ramalho, Portugal, Mini John Cooper Works WRC, +9:36.4
9, 43, Ken Block/Alex Gelsomino, USA, Ford Fiesta RS WRC +10:30.3
10, 10, Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor, Austria, Ford Fiesta RS WRC +11:26.3
Comments