Marcus Gronholm made a dominant start to New Zealand's leg of the world rally championship (WRC) by setting an ominous pace during the first two stages through the Waikato today.
Chasing a record-breaking fifth win in New Zealand, Gronholm led current WRC titleholder Sebastien Loeb by 14.8 secondsafter emerging unscathed from two testing gravel stages through Pirongia and Waitomo.
Gronholm, who leads this year's drivers' standings by eight points from Loeb, built a 7.2sec advantage after the opening 20.38km stage west of Pirongia and then doubled his buffer over the rally's longest route, a 43.88km on farmland in the Waitomo region.
The Finn, who cruised to victory here for the BP-Ford world rally team last November, will return to repeat the morning stages after a service break at Mystery Creek with a handy lead over Citroen-aligned Frenchman Loeb.
Gronholm's compatriot Mikko Hirvonen was third, 33.6sec down on his factory team leader.
Reigning national rally champion Richard Mason was the pick of the New Zealand entrants, ending the formative stages of the three-day, 353km journey in 15th overall, three minutes 33.7 seconds behind Gronholm.
His chances of retaining the domestic crown were also enhanced by current leader Hayden Paddon's mechanical misfortune.
A replacement gearbox installed after a testing mishap on Monday blew about 7km into the second stage, ruling him out of the remainder of to day.
The South Canterbury 19-year-old can continue tomorrow providing repairs can be carried out successfully.
However, as he will be given an assessed time Mason is likely to gnaw into an 18-point deficit providing he stays trouble free.
After a second run around the opening stages today's day programme winds up with a super special stage at Mystery Creek.
