NEW ZEALAND RALLY - 3rd LEG
 

Sergio López-Fombona and Guifré Pujol (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII) finished ninth in the Production class, very close to repeating the point scoring position already achieved in Sweden.
In New Zealand, the 2004 season of the RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi Team has picked up another good result, for the third rally in a row one of its drivers has scored points in the PWRC championship and this time at an event as difficult as New Zealand. In Sweden (8th) it was Sergio López-Fombona and at Mexico (5th) and now at New Zealand (6th) has been Xevi Pons. According to Aman Barfull, RACC sporting director, these results "make us very happy, because the targets of both ourselves and Repsol are to allow our young drivers to develop but in addition we are obtaining some results that were difficult to imagine at the beginning of the year".
   
     RESULTS
 
3rd Leg: Sunday 18 April 2004
SS18 TE HUTEWAI 1 (11.14 km)
SS19 TE PAPATAPU 1 (16.62 km)
SS20 WHAANGA COAST 1 (29.60 km)
SS21 TE HUTEWAI 2 (11.14 km)
SS22 TE PAPATAPU 2 (16.62 km)
SS23 WHAANGA COAST 2 (29.60 km)
Click on the links above to see the results.
PWRC CLASSIFICATION (GROUP N)
1
 Stohl
 MIT
4:18'53"3
2
 Ligato
 SUB
+1'16"3
3
 McRae
 SUB
+1'35"0
4
 Passonen
 MIT
+1'50"8
5
 Arai
 SUB
+1'58"8
6
 Pons
 MIT
+4'27"1
7
 Al Attiyah
 SUB
+8'40"6
8
 Singh
 PRO
+8'59"9
9
 Fombona 
 MIT
+14'36"4
10
 Geradzhiev
 MIT
+19'13"0
11
 Trivino
 MIT
+32'09"3
Sergio takes 9th place in his class.
(Jean-Marc Pastor)
Information from RACC Prensa
 
   IN SERGIO'S VIEW
 
"In general I'm happy because it has been quite an experience. Each of the three days were very different for me. On the first day I wasn't comfortable and it showed in my times; on the second I became more relaxed and times improved, whilst on the third, today, I tried to go faster but some little problems and the road conditions, which were worse then the previous days, didn't allow it and we even spun sometimes.
The "Mille Pistes" recce system didn't please anybody because it's quite tiring and it didn't fix anything. The race pace in this kind of rally is simply astonishing, without any doubt it's quite shocking for rookies like us. To follow the right line without putting a wheel on the loose and not making mistakes is a big challenge."
   
 
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