NEW ZEALAND RALLY - 1st LEG
 

At the controls of their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII in the colours of Repsol and the RACC Automobile Club and superbly prepared by Calm Competició, Sergio Lopez-Fombona and Guifré Pujol finished in 12th position in the Production Class at the end of the first stage of the New Zealand Rally, the third round of the World Rally Championship.

The RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi maintained its position achieved after the first two opening stages of the Rally, the two 2.10 kms Super Stages of Manukau held yesterday.

Sergio has been regularly gaining positions in the top ten so his provisional position of 12th is no disappointment considering this Rally is new to him. The only error for the Asturian driver was on the penultimate stage, Manukau Super 3, a small "off" resulting in a time of 1:50.8 and 16th position. Sergio threw off this disappointment to finish the second running of the stage some 15 seconds faster. The Lancer has so far suffered from no major problems with the Team attending to it after each stage.
   
     RESULTS
 
1st Leg: Thursday 15 April - Friday 16 April 2004
SS1 MANUKAU 1 (2.1 km)
SS2 MANUKAU 2 (2.1 km)
SS3 WAIRERE 1 (18.89 km)
SS4 CASSIDY (15.77 km)
SS5 BULL (31.72 km)
SS6 WAIRERE 2 (18.89 km)
SS7 POSSUM (48.2 km)
SS8 MANUKAU SUPER 3 (2.09 km)
SS9 MANUKAU SUPER 4 (2.09 km)
Click on the links above to see the results.
PWRC CLASSIFICATION (GROUP N)
1
 Stohl
 MIT
1:30'38"7
2
 Ligato
 SUB
+0'13"6
3
 Solá
 MIT
+0'47"5
4
 Arai
 SUB
+0'57"8
5
 Passonen
 MIT
+1'25"4
6
 Singh
 PRO
+1'26"7
7
 Higgins
 SUB
+1'46"4
8
 Pons
 MIT
+2'10"2
9
 McRae
 SUB
+2'13"9
10
 Al Attiyah
 SUB
+3'18"6
11
 McShea 
 SUB
+3'49"7
12
 Fombona 
 MIT
+5'51"2
13
 Roman
 SUB
+6'10"4
14
 Geradzhiev
 MIT
+8'49"1
15
 Vollak
 MIT
+13'52"8
16
 Trivino
 MIT
+17'09"9
Sergio is already 12th overall.
(Jean-Marc Pastor)
Information from RACC Prensa
 
   IN SERGIO'S VIEW
 
"I am not attacking too much and that is the reason why the times do not surprise me. I want to learn and not make any errors but also I must say that this is a faster rally than the others we've been on. The "Mille Piste" system is being used, this makes the drivers have a single pass through stages in reconnaissance and the second run each morning before the competition stages later in the day. I am very tired, because we must stay up late to make notes about the events of the day."
 
   
 
Top