The 2002 World Rally Championship hits the Southern Hemisphere this week, with the Propecia Rally New Zealand, starting on Thursday evening.
Just two weeks after the last event in Italy, round 12 of the Championship starts in Auckland when 81 cars are expected to start.
The Subaru World Rally Team will revert to a two-car entry for the rally. Team regulars, four-times World Champion Tommi Makinen, and Petter Solberg will each contest the event in a Subaru Impreza WRC2002.
Makinen has previously contested this event nine times and won in 1999. He will be looking to get another victory under his belt to boost his overall drivers championship standings.
Solberg, still fresh from his podium finish in Sanremo, will be aiming to build his experience on this rally, which he has contested just once before in 2001. He finished seventh, collecting manufacturers points for Subaru.
The event is famed for its popular loose surface gravel stages, which run through lush countryside. Last year proved a tantalizingly close contest - after a total of 381.45 competitive kilometres, the top five drivers were separated by less than a minute.
Previously covering both the North and South Islands, Rally New Zealand now takes place in a more concentrated area around Auckland on the North Island.
The event comprises 26 special stages and covers 414 competitive kilometres - including the huge 59 kilometre Parahi test on Leg Two.
Rally HQ is situated at the famous Sky City complex which, measuring 168 metres, is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.
In 2001 Propecia Rally New Zealand was named the FIA Rally of the Year, jointly with the Swedish Rally. The award was presented by all the FIA registered teams in recognition of the high standard of the rally and its popularity with the drivers.
With just three events remaining this season, the drivers' championship is promising a thrilling climax with Marcus Gronholm, Richard Burns, Colin McRae and Gilles Panizzi all remaining in contention for the 2002 crown.
Driver Quotes
Tommi Makinen: "Obviously it was very disappointing not to be able to get a result in Sanremo after how well the pre-event test went - but there are positives and you can see the step we took forward by the speed we had on asphalt. We must now concentrate on New Zealand. We did a very good gravel test in Finland last month for five days where we made some positive steps forward. We should be very competitive in New Zealand and I am really looking forward to it."
Petter Solberg: "I am very happy after the result in Sanremo and I am so ready for New Zealand. My confidence is good because we had a clean run and the car felt very good. We have done a lot of work and I am hopeful that the car will perform as well on the gravel as it did on tarmac so that we can really challenge the Peugeots. I hope we will have a good rally. Even though I am happy with the Sanremo result there are still two places higher to get and now I just want to improve more and more."
Team principal David Lapworth said: "In many ways New Zealand is the purest rally of the year and is quite similar to Finland. You don't get jumps like in Finland but the rally features the best roads of the Championship and the cars, generally, do not get damaged. The roads are properly constructed, not just tracks across the mountains like, for instance, in Greece.
"A big factor to be prepared for is road clearing. If the weather is good and dry it is vital to get a good road position to avoid sweeping the gravel from the road at the head of the field. If you are caught sleeping on the first day you will pay the price for the next two days. If the weather is wet then it will be a far more level playing field and it may even be advantageous to run at the front of the field.
"Looking at the car, we've continued to refine the set up of the Impreza following changes we identified in Finland. We had a very good development test in September where we used roads representative of New Zealand.
"I think the team has had a confidence boost following Petter's result in Sanremo. We were able to compete with the Peugeots on one of their strongest events and that gives us confidence on the gravel in New Zealand, which has always been one of our strongest rallies."
Event Timetable (New Zealand is GMT +12hrs)
Thursday 3 October
Start 1915 Auckland
Friday 4 October
Total leg 1 distance 611.24km (competitive 117.16km, liaison 494.08km)
Saturday 5 October
Total leg 2 distance 760.49km (competitive 206.69km, liaison 553.80km)
Sunday 6 October
Total leg 3 distance 421.50km (competitive 90.19km, liaison 331.31km)
Total event distance 1793.23km (competitive 414.04km, liaison 1379.19km)
Competitive to Overall km ratio 23%
Data File - The Season So Far
Number of Starts
1: Peugeot 37
2: Ford 35
3: Skoda 32
4: Hyundai 30
5: Subaru 26
6: Mitsubishi 24
7: Citroen 17
Fastest Stage Times
1: Gronholm 37
2: Burns 33
3: Panizzi 29
4: Solberg 22
5: Loeb 19
6: Makinen 15
Podiums
1: Peugeot 17
2: Ford 7
3: Subaru 5
4: Citroen 4
Did Not Finish
1: Ford 20%
2: Peugeot 22%
3: Mitsubishi 38%
4: Citroen 41%
5: Skoda 44%
6: Subaru 50%
7: Hyundai 60%
Current Driver Standings
1: Gronholm 57pts
2: Burns 34pts
3: McRae 33pts
4: Panizzi 31pts
5: Sainz 26pts
6: Solberg 23pts
=7: Loeb 18pts
=7: Rovanpera 18pts
9: Makinen 15pts
10: Martin 12pts
Current Manufacturer Standings
1: Peugeot 131pts
2: Ford 86pts
3: Subaru 46pts
4: Mitsubishi 9pts
5: Skoda 8pts
6: Hyundai 6pts