KEY POINTS:
Marcus Gronholm again extended his overall lead in the Rally of New Zealand after claiming a sixth consecutive stage win in atrocious conditions at Port Waikato today.
Gronholm took the first of six stages on leg two today -- an 18km stage north of Hamilton -- by just
0.2 of a second from Citroen's Xavier Pons.
By taking the stage by the slenderest of margins the BP-Ford team spearhead still managed to increase his overnight advantage from 31.2sec to a neat 35sec after teammate an compatriot Mikko Hirvonen finished third, 3.6sec behind Gronholm.
The World Rally Championship (WRC) competitors were tested to the limit on a stage making its debut, and their task was further complicated by low cloud, fog and driving rain.
Many teams, including BP-Ford, were not expecting rain today but leaden skies soon proved their climatic experts wrong -- though not before several drivers were equipped with hard compound, dry weather tyres.
Class still compensated for the oversight though as Gronholm negotiated the tricky conditions slickest in 10min 25.3 sec.
"I'm not on the right tyres but it's not catastrophic," he said.
Hirvonen remained secure in second place overall while leading Citroen driver Dani Sordo (Spain) stayed third, 47.9sec behind Gronholm.
The Subaru World Rally Team, blighted by handling gremlins yesterday again experienced problems, this time with communications, after Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson reported difficulties hearing their co-drivers' instructions.
"The wipers were on full and I lost the intercom halfway through," said the ninth-placed Australian.
Norwegian Solberg, who was anchored in sixth, also had intercom troubles and more with the right back wheel which was spewing smoke again, following on from yesterday's fire.
Meanwhile, Japanese driver Toshihiro Arai, fourth overnight in the Production class of the WRC, had to sit out today's second leg after he was too slow getting his Subaru to the start ramp at Port Waikato after a botched gearbox change.
A new gearbox was installed overnight but Arai still had problems this morning and missed the reporting deadline at the start of the sixth stage by 67 seconds.
Arai, whose demotion provisionally improved New Zealand national champion Richard Mason's standing to 5th in the P-WRC, will be given estimated times for today's stages and has the option to rejoin the rally tomorrow.
Stobart-Sport Ford Rally team driver Matthew Wilson (England) was back in action after dropping out late yesterday with engine trouble.
German Michael Kahlfuss also presumed racing today, less than 24 hours after his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO6 plunged 50 metres down a bank, near Otorohanga.
- NZPA