Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila kept their cool while the other front runners in the fifth round of this year’s World Rally Championship in New Zealand made costly mistakes all weekend, securing victory for the Finnish duo and setting a record 75 world championship wins for the Ford team.
Once again it seemed like Citroën’s Sebastien Loeb was going to take top honours, recovering from an error on Friday that saw the defending champion hit a bridge with the side of his C4 and losing precious time trying to fix his door. On a fast charge to the front of the pack, he eventually overtook leader and Citroën Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier on the first stage of day three.
Unfortunately Loeb suffered from yet another off. “We were in a very narrow, twisty section and there was a right-hander that I overestimated a bit. There were a lot of pebbles and the car understeered before hitting a tree. The bodywork suffered but there was no mechanical damage to the car, and we were able to continue after a few repairs in the service park. We were in fourth place around twenty seconds behind the leader so everything was still up for grabs,” said Loeb.
Ogier inherited the lead once more, and held a few seconds over Latvala, who in turn had privateer Petter Solberg at his heels, with Loeb dogging Solberg for the final podium spot.
Ogier held off his Finnish rival until the very last stage, when he spun three turns away from his maiden WRC victory.
“I didn’t think it could happen, it’s the most amazing and beautiful win. Whaanga Coast (the final stage) showed its teeth. I neared the end of the stage and could see a car’s bumper on the road but I didn’t know which car it was from. I didn’t know we had won until three minutes after the finish of the stage and Miikka did the calculations. It’s my best win and makes up for my disappointments,” Latvala said.
“We were so close to our first WRC win,” said Ogier, who took second just 2,4 seconds behind Latvala. “That spin three corners from the finish deprived us of a great result. But that shouldn’t take way anything from the fact that fighting for victory right down to the last stage on our first trip to New Zealand has surpassed all our expectations. It’s very encouraging and I’m looking forward to crystallising all our efforts and that of the team for our first victory.”
It was the same for Solberg, who suffered a retirement, and handed third to Loeb.
“I was really on the pace, going for a win, when this happened. We would have managed to get back on the road, if it only hasn’t been for that pole. I’m sure we would have managed to finish in the top without that,” explained Petter Solberg. “To bad we didn’t make it to the finish line, but we really had some good fun this weekend and today when I realised first place was in reach, I just had to go for it. Securing third were not an option.”
Loeb still leads the championship heading to the next round in Portugal, but now both the Ford drivers are right behind and Mikko Hirvonen will be looking to make up for a disappointing fourth place this weekend and catch his old rival. Rally de Portugal takes place from the 28th – 30th May.