Ford World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg started today in fourth but a trouble-free day saw the Norwegian leap-frog fellow Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Evgeny Novikov to finish third. Solberg now lies 1m26.9s adrift of second-placed Hirvonen.
“We’ve had a good battle with Mikko [Hirvonen] today,” said Frenchman Loeb. “It’s been difficult this afternoon, very slippery and I really don’t like that Girls High School stage. It’s very technical and I lost about eight seconds there this morning. It’s exciting to have a battle with Mikko and tomorrow I will have to push to keep him behind.”
Factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala battled back after yesterday’s off-road excursion to claim two fastest stage times. The driver is eighth going into the rally’s final day.
"Today has been okay - we have been working with the set-up of the car and the last two stages have been a lot better for me,” explained 27-year-old Latvala. “Unfortunately my situation is not so great at the moment, but that’s rallying sometimes and I now need to get things together and continue with a positive outlook."
M-Sport Ford driver Ott Tanak is fifth after a polished performance at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta RS WRC whilst Citroen Junior driver Thierry Neuville won a cat-and-mouse game with MINI WRC Team’s Dani Sordo to hold sixth. The 24-year-old Belgian now leads Sordo by 18.7s going into day three.
“We had a good fight with Dani, and tomorrow I must concentrate on keeping him behind us. Everything has been working well for us today - the car is feeling a lot better now and we have really enjoyed these stages,” said Neuville.
Portugal’s Armindo Araujo holds ninth at the wheel of a MINI John Cooper Works WRC despite losing time throughout the day with damper-related problems.
Rounding off the top ten is Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block who is positively glowing on his return to the WRC. “These are absolutely my favourite stages anywhere in the world,” said the American Gymkhana star at the end of Stage 15.
The final day of Rally New Zealand will challenge the WRC crews with seven special stages that cover 61.33 competitive kilometres. The day will commence with the Burnside/Wech Access test, due to go live at 8:08hrs local time.
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