Rally of Great Britain : WRC - not All Black (and white)…

WRC - not All Black (and white)…

2006 Wales Rally GB

www.worldrallypics.com

2 September 2007, 9:19 pm

This weekend’s Rally New Zealand witnessed the closest-ever finishes in WRC history when Ford’s Marcus Gronholm secured victory by 0.3 of a second.

The popular Finn was locked in a three-day battle on the island’s fast flowing gravel roads with Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb, eventually achieving a record-making fifth win – to become the most successful driver in the events 38 year history.

World Championship leader Gronholm cast off illness to deliver an incredible performance which, apart from his closest rival, Loeb, left the rest of the field in his wake.

This result puts a slightly increased gap of 10 points between Gronholm and Loeb, but with just four rounds between now and the beginning of December, all eyes will be on the forest stages of Wales, as the principality prepares to host what is increasingly looking like one of the closest World Championship finales in years.

Gronholm's win in New Zealand moves the BP-Ford World Rally Team further ahead in its quest to retain the FIA World Rally Championship manufacturers' title with its sixth win of the 2007 season. It now leads by 46 points with five rounds remaining.

BP-Ford team-mates and fellow Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were third in another Focus RS to seal the team's seventh double podium of the season. They remain third in the drivers' Championship.

Britain’s Matthew Wilson, driving for the Stobart M-Sport Ford RT, secured the 10th place overall.

Final positions:

M. Gronholm/T Rautiainen	FIN	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3.52:53.9
S. Loeb/D. Elena	F/MC	Citroen C4	3.52:54.2
M. Hirvonen/J. Lehtinen	FIN	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	3.54:36.7
C.Atkinson/ S.Prevot	AUS/B	Subaru Impreza	3.55:26.2
J-M Latvala/M Anttila	FIN	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	3.55:30.8
D. Sordo/M.Marti	E	Citroen C4	3.56:35.9
P Solberg/P Mills	N/GB	Subaru Impreza WRC 2007	3.56:48.6
U.Aava/K.Sikk	EE	Mitsubusihi Lancer	4.02:10.2
H.Solberg/K.Menkerud	N	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	4.02:48.5
M Wilson/M Orr	GB	Ford Focus RS. WRC 06	4.03:13.8

Sebastien Loeb has won Rallye Monte-Carlo for a sixth time following a dominant performance behind the wheel of the Citroen DS3 WRC he shares with Monegasque co-driver Daniel Elena.

Of the 74 starters who began Wales Rally GB in Llandudno on Thursday 10th November, 40 were classified at the end of the four-day,1860 kms rally which featured 23 timed special stages as it wound its way from the North coast to the ceremonial finish in Cardiff.

As this year's Wales Rally GB - the final and deciding round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship - draws to a close, Business Minister, Edwina Hart has announced a funding package of £1.4 million for the 2012 event.