Pit stop: Star plans test drives in NZ during October

By BOB PEARCE

Sebastien Loeb, the new star of world rallying, is likely to drive in New Zealand in October, even though Citroen are not contesting Rally New Zealand.

The 27-year-old Frenchman finished first in Monte Carlo, the opening round of the world championship, but was then disqualified for a breach of tyre rules which his team insisted gave him no advantage.

Citroen will contest only seven championship events this season in preparation for a full programme next year. Loeb will compete in all seven and do the reconnaissance for the others including the Propecia-sponsored Rally New Zealand from October 3 to 6.

Gary Upson, chief executive of Rally New Zealand, has just returned from the Swedish Rally where Citroen officials told him Loeb would not only do the reconnaissance but also test a rally car out of competition.

"One of their other drivers, Thomas Radstrom, has already competed here for Ford, so it makes sense for Loeb to take every chance to learn the roads."

Upson was in Sweden to collect the award New Zealand won with Sweden for best rally of last year. He found all the teams enthusiastic about coming back.

Peugeot were dominant in Sweden, with Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera first and second. But there were also promising signs for Hyundai and Skoda, who will be in New Zealand in force for the first time in years.

Freddy Loix seems to find the Hyundai suits him better than a Mitsubishi and despite driving with a broken ankle ran as high as fourth until forced out by mechanical failure.

Rally New Zealand seems likely to receive an entry boost from the new format of the world championship for production cars. Competitors have to register at the start of the season and nominate six of the eight rounds in which they wish to score points.

Of the 27 mainly European competitors registered, 24 nominated New Zealand as one of their scoring rounds.

Upson is confident that the championship organisers will allow New Zealand to continue this year with three service parks despite a general directive to cut back to one.

"I think they realise that the service parks at Raglan, Ruawai and Te Kauwhata suit our style of rally and the teams prefer them.

"But we may have to consider a change in the future."

Rally New Zealand is discussing extended live cover with its new television partner, TV3. The Maramarua stages on the final day are obvious contenders but cannot be confirmed until the logging programme in the forest is fixed.

Max Mosley, president of the FIA, world motorsport's governing body, has warned that stages will be cancelled this year if spectators are not in safe positions, and officials here intend to continue their programme of education and controls.

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Northland rally driver Reece Jones, who has campaigned a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer for the past three years in selected world championship events, will this year concentrate on the Asia-Pacific championship.

Jones, who is sponsored by Falken Tyres of Japan, will have a new co-driver, Jeff Judd of Christchurch, who is an experienced driver and co-driver.

They will begin their campaign in May in Canberra and contest rounds in New Caledonia, Rotorua, Japan, China and Thailand.

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Scott Dixon and new team-mate at PacWest Racing Oriol Servia both had times in the top 10 when more than 20 Champ Cars tested over two days in the Sneak Preview at the Laguna Seca course.

Fastest over the weekend was Brazilian Cristiano da Matta from the Newman-Haas team ahead of Patrick Carpentier and Bruno Junqueira, whom Dixon beat for the rookie of the year title last season. Da Matta's new engineer, Rocky Rocquelin, previously worked for the PacWest team.

The first race of the season is in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 10. This season the fuel rules have been relaxed to reduce driving for economy and split groups for qualifying have been dropped.

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Two of the Auckland-designed and built BSL bikes are expected to run at the Paeroa Battle of the Streets on Sunday.

The 500cc racer was no longer eligible for the national road-racing championships when organisers opted for production superbikes as the major class. But the BSLs are eligible for the open class at Paeroa and will be ridden by Stephen Briggs and Scott Buckley.

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Mack Peach, the V8 tourer driver suspended for three months for assaulting Craig Baird at Timaru, has had a year added to his suspension.

A Motorsport NZ executive committee has confirmed the ban and $5000 fine imposed by the Timaru officials and extended the ban to May next year. A condition of Peach's return to the sport will be an anger management course.

In another ruling, Upper Hutt driver Karl Warmouth has been declared winner of the Mini Seven championship. The provisional winner, Wayne Timms of Christchurch, lost points for having an unsealed engine at the Timaru round.

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Fabian Coulthard, leader in the Formula Ford championship, will be in Melbourne next month to take on the Aussies in support races to the Australian Grand Prix.

With two rounds to go, Coulthard leads the championship by 87 points from Brady Kennett of Palmerston North.

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Aucklander Wade Cunningham should be the driver to beat in the senior ICA class at the CIK Trophy karting meeting in Palmerston North this weekend.

The 17-year-old winner of this class at Asia-Pacific level will be tested by Hamilton 15-year-old Chris Van der Drift from Team Kiwi and fellow Aucklanders Tim Edgell and Josh Franklin.

In the junior division, another Team Kiwi member, 16-year-old Taryn Kugener from Nelson, could strike a blow for the girls. Among her challengers will be Aucklander Mark Russ and Grant Crosby from the Bay of Plenty.