Sergio López-Fombona and his co-driver, Guifré Pujol, will compete on the third event counting towards the PWRC, the New Zealand Rally, to be held from the 16th to the 18th of April. New Zealand is a very special race, given its extremely fast stages and the RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi Team with its drivers Sergio Fombona and Xevi Pons will continue there with its formation and international promotion program which has been planned for this season.
Things couldn't have started better for both young drivers. On the start of a learning campaign and after only two races, both RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi drivers have already scored points, one in each race, first Sergio López-Fombona after being 8th in Sweden and then Xevi Pons with his 5th place in Mexico.

Photos RACC and Jean Marc Pastor

Reliability, the main Mitsubishi advantage
The season continues and both Pons and Fombona are happy with how the Mitsubishis provided by RACC-Repsol and Calm Competició are performing. In a learning season like this one, their first at WRC level, having reliable machinery is very important. For New Zealand, a rally with very fast stages but very good surfaces, the setup of both Lancer Evo VIIs will be radically different from Mexico.

Josep Calm says: "It's a rally where the cars must be as fast as possible and have a good balance. It's usually a rally for long gears, high revs and high speed sweeps, so we are setting up the suspension lower and stiffer than usual". Calm continued "New Zealand is maybe the easiest rally for us but one of the most difficult for the drivers".

Pace notes, that essential element
If the coordination between driver and codriver reaches that special magic when the pace notes are good, then it is at its best on fast stages.
Both RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi crews will sample NZ for first time and on such a complex rally, given the speeds and the dangerous gravel ruts produced by the passing cars, will be a factor to be dealt with.

Oriol Julià, Xevi Pons' co-driver, says "We are working day after day to improve the pace notes. Xevi is very focused on it and on each pass we improve a little bit". They reckon "Mille Pistes" system, to be utilised by first time in NZ, will favour the "rookie" drivers, although according to Oriol "The drawback will be the bigger physical and psychological cost". Anyway, for a driver looking to be a "professional" to run in NZ is a challenge to be faced sooner or later.

New Zealand the far away rally
The New Zealand rally will consist of 1.413,56 kms of which 395 will be timed during 23 stages, once again the eye-catching Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIIs in their Repsol and RACC Automóvil Club liveries should allow Xevi Pons and Sergio López-Fombona to fight again for the points. Fast, flat, nice and difficult, these are adjectives suitable for this rally so far away from Spain. Both RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi Lancers will be the same as already rallied in Mexico, they have been repaired, set up and totally cleaned, ready for NZ, given how unwilling the government is to accept muddied cars because they could hide viruses and diseases from other parts of the world.