Gronholm reigns while Mason first NZer in rally

HAMILTON
Rallying and relaxing don't normally fit hand in glove but flawless Finn Marcus Gronholm had the luxury of virtually turning into a Sunday driver along the Waikato coastline yesterday.
Gronholm was able to take his foot off the gas, although only marginally, as he cruised to his fourth New Zealand rally title, a victory instrumental in ending 27 years of frustration for Ford.
Although Frenchman Sebastien Loeb had already retained his world rally championship driver's title despite missing the last three rounds after breaking an arm, the constructor's crown was still a coveted consolation prize for the BP-Ford team this weekend.
While Gronholm calmly pulled up his sturdy Ford Focus after crossing the finish line on the picturesque Whaanga Coast to complete an emphatic 56-second victory, the mood was less restrained inside the team compound at Mystery Creek as Ford celebrated their first major rally team success since 1979.
Gronholm eventually returned to base to join the party, the champagne associated with his sixth win of the season tasting sweeter than ever.
"It's a great feeling to win the rally and secure the world title on the same day," he said.
"The manufacturer's title was always on my mind, I thought a lot about not making a mistake and looking stupid."
Gronholm need not have worried as the pre-race favourite justified his billing with a dominant performance in ever-changing weather conditions.
Despite puncturing after hitting a fence post during the first stage at Pirongia on Friday he still won the sector easily and steadily built his buffer until the conclusion of the 360km slog this afternoon.
Gronholm led by more than 30sec over teammate Mikko Hirvonen at the end of leg one and extended his advantage to 50.3sec yesterday despite atrocious conditions before easing off the throttle during today's final half dozen speed tests.
"Maybe it looked easy but you still have to drive and go fast," said Gronholm, who claimed all but four of the rally's 17 stages.
"The first day I was pushing it like normal. Then we had a small gap to Mikko and he was not really attacking too much because we wanted to take the points from here.
"After that we were looking at how the others were going and waiting for the finish. It was quite easy because we had no problems with the car."
Hirvonen, who won his maiden WRC race in Australia last month, was happy to take the back seat and keep an eye on Loeb's Kronos Total Citroen team.
BP-Ford's only challenge to the manufacturer's title, the French outfit had to be content with fourth and fifth placings to Xavier Pons and Dani Sorbo respectively, giving their English-based rivals an unassailable 25-point lead with only next month's Great Britain rally remaining.
Australian Manfred Stohl, of OMV-Peugeot Norway, filled the final rung of the podium after finishing two minutes 39.3 seconds down on Gronholm while locals crowding the presentation area reserved their biggest cheer for reigning national champion Richard Mason.
The Masterton-based driver finished 10th overall in his Subaru Impreza, the best finish by a local since the late Possum Bourne's sixth placing in 2000.
Competing as a guest driver in the production car class (P-WRC), Mason was delighted to crack the top-10, particularly after he lost time today after puncturing on a rock.
"I'm over the moon, it's just a dream come true.
"We were hoping to get a good result but you don't really know until you see how quick the guys from overseas are," said Mason. who trailed Gronholm by 20min 20sec.
Northland's Kirsty Nelson, 16, was also relieved to complete her assignment in 31st place, almost an hour behind Gronholm.
"Part of me would like it to go another day but I'm also glad it's over. I need a good sleep," she said.
Rally drawcard Valentino Rossi also justified the hype generated by his guest appearance by climbing from 24th to 11th overall in his matt black Impreza.
"I'm satisfied I arrive at the end without problems and no damage," he said.
Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah won the P-WRC title race despite pulling out with engine trouble on stage 13.
His only challenger, Japan's Fumio Natuhara, had to finish third in the class yesterday to deny the Qatari but only managed fourth.
NZ RALLY RESULTS/STANDINGS
Results after the 17-stage, three-day rally of New Zealand in the Waikato yesterday:-
Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Ford 4hr 02min 30.7sec 1, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford 4:03.26.7 2, Manfred Stohl (Austria) Peugeot 4:05.10.0 3, Xavier Pons (Spain) Citroen 4:05.26.8 4, D Sordo (Spain) Citroen 4:05.51.4 5, Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru 4:07.27.8 6, Luis Perez Companc (Argentina) Ford 4:13.22.3 7, Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Subaru 4:18.53.1 8, Juho Hanninen (Finland) Mitsubishi 4:20.00.9 9, Richard Mason (NZ) Subaru 4:22.50.7 10, Valentino Rossi (Italy) Subaru 4:23.09.5 11, Henning Solberg (Norway) Subaru 4:23.48.6 12, Matthew Wilson (Britain) Ford 4:24.31.7 13, Dean Sumner (NZ) Mitsubishi 4:28.46.4 14, Stewart Taylor (NZ) Mitsubishi 4:31.18.1 15, Alexander Dorosinskiy (Russia) Subaru 4:34.39.9 16, Takuma Kamada (Japan) Subaru 4:35.39.2 17, Mirco Baldacci (San Marino) Mitsubishi 4:37.45.1 18, Loris Baldacci (San Marino) Subaru 4:39.44.5 19, Brent Taylor (NZ) Mitsubishi 4:40.08.2 20, Fumio Nutahara (Japan) Mitsubishi 4:41.37.1 21, Malcolm Stewart (NZ) Mitsubishi 4:42.14.3 22, Emma Gilmour (NZ) Subaru 4:44.04.0 23, David Ayling (NZ) Subaru 4:44.44.5 24, Kevin Shaw (Ireland) Mitsubishi 4:45.50.5 25, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) Subaru 4:47.41.9 26, Richard Ive (Britain) Subaru 4:52.45.4 27, Greg Stevenson (NZ) Mitsubishi 4:54.57.2 28, Nigel Heath (Britain) Mitsubishi 4:54.58.3 29, Toshihiro Arai (Japan) Subaru 4:55.16.9 30, Kirsty Nelson (NZ) Subaru 4:55.38.6 31, Akira Bamba (Japan) Mitsubishi 4:59.53.4 32, Patrick Malley (NZ) Mitsubishi 5:00.28.8 33, Michael Kahlfuss (Germany) Mitsubishi 5:01.38.5 34, Andrew Hawkeswood (NZ) Mitsubishi 5:13.32.8 35, Matt Shinnors (Ireland) Mitsubishi 5:15.40.2 36, Nakita Stevenson (NZ) Mitsubishi 5:22.15.2 37, Dermott Malley (NZ) Mitsubishi 5:32.40.8 38, Glenn Inkster (NZ) Mitsubishi 5:35.54.6 39,
Retirements: Aki Teiskonen (Finland) Subaru electrical (day one) SS1, Chris West (NZ) Subaru rolled SS8 (day two), Chris Atkinson (Australia) Subaru left front suspension SS9 (day two), Natalie Barratt (Britain) Mitsubishi gearbox SS14 (day three), Leszek Kuza (Poland) Subaru withdrawn SS14 (day three)
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World championship standings
Drivers: Sebastien Loeb (France) 112 points, Marcus Groenholm (Finland) 101, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) 65, Daniel Sordo (Spain) 47, Manfred Stohl (Austria) 46, Petter Solberg (Norway) 34, Xavier Pons (Spain) 28, Henning Solberg (Norway) 25, Toni Gardemeister (Finland) 20, Chris Atkinson (Australia) 17.
Constructors: BP-Ford WRT 185 points, Kronos Citroen 160, Subaru WRT 97, OMV-Peugeot 80, Stobart-VK Ford WRT 39, RedBull-Skoda 23. ? NZPA