KEY POINTS:
Yesterday's shakedown before the official start of the Rally New Zealand doesn't really have that much bearing on the rally. It's more about the drivers making sure their cars start, stop and go in the direction they're pointed.
However, there is a certain amount of kudos in having
the fastest car straight out of the box and that honour went to Gigi Galli's replacement, Francois Duval. Rounding out the top five quickest were Jar-Matti Latvala, Mikko Hirvonen, Petter Solberg and Daniel Sordo.
Duval is happy to be fastest out of the gate and says that although it's a long time since he has driven a Ford Focus on gravel, he is comfortable in the car.
Sordo said: "The shakedown went good and at the moment the car is very good and I am happy. The shakedown track is not really like the rally roads so I'll have to see, but they are drying out and there's a lot of gravel so going first is not very good."
Finally the weather has come right after two months of rain and it looks as if the 11th round of the WRC will at least start in sunshine today.
"We're really happy with the last three days and the next three days are supposed to be the same," said rally chairman Chris Carr. "The roads are drying out and it's looking good for a really great event."
In the run-up to the event, four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb wasn't concerned at having to start first, as in the mud it's not too much of a disadvantage. But if the weather holds, starting first in the gravel is about the last place a rally driver wants to be.
"I am leading the championship so I am happy to start first," said the Frenchman with an enigmatic shrug.
The Subaru team and Chris Atkinson are keen to emulate Subaru's last win in New Zealand 15 years ago and Atkinson knows he can't just drive around admiring the scenery.
"We're going to have to push it to get a result here because Jari-Matti [Latvala] and Dani [Sordo] are fast here," he said. "I also want to fight with the other guys as well. The biggest problem is the shakedown area is not representative of the roads themselves. You only need a couple of kilometres of road to set the car up, which we've got, but you really need the stages to get it right."
Hayden Paddon leads the Kiwi charge as points leader in the New Zealand Championship and as a result of winning a Rally NZ scholarship is also competing in the P-WRC round.
"By the time the world rally cars had cut it all up [shakedown stage] it was pretty rough," said Paddon. "It was good to blow the rust out and get myself back in the groove. I would like to be in the top five of the P-WRC at the end of today and my priority is to make my mark in the P-WRC rather than concentrate on the New Zealand championship because that's where I see my future."
