The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team has got its first Rally New Zealand underway following a short super special stage in the host city Auckland.
On the FIA World Rally Championship’s first visit to New Zealand for 10 years, the crews began three days of reconnaissance on Monday, making fresh pacenotes for the iconic gravel stages of the country’s North Island.
Thursday began with shakedown to the north-west of the city. With pre-event testing not permitted outside of Europe, the 3.54-kilometre stage provided the first opportunity for the teams to run their Rally1 cars on New Zealand roads and make any final adjustments before the competitive action began.
Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä posted the fastest time following three runs over the shakedown, with team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans also inside a top six covered by just eight tenths of a second.
The first stage of the rally was held within the Pukekawa Auckland Domain park in the city, where the asphalt roads were made more slippery by rain just before the start. Takamoto Katsuta was the leading GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID driver through the stage in his TGR WRT Next Generation in fourth, just ahead of Evans and Rovanperä with Ogier also close behind in eighth.
Day 1 Results (Thursday):
1/ Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) 1m45.8s
2/ Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +0.9s
3/ Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +1.6s
4/ Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2.0s
5/ Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2.2s
6/ Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2.6s
7/ Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +2.9s
8/ Sébastien Ogier/Benjamin Veillas (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +4.5s
9/ Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +4.5s
10/ Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +6.6s
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