Rally Wrap-Up

Marcus Gronholm has won the Rally New Zealand over Peugeot teammate Richard Burns. Subaru’s Petter Solberg took home third, almost two minutes off Marcus’ pace.

It was an odd Rally New Zealand, with many retirements (including all of Hyundai and Ford’s Markko Martin). Skoda had a fine rally, with Toni Gardemeister finishing fifth, and Didier Auriol taking eighth. Tommi Makkinen’s seventh place pulled Subaru closer to Ford for third place in the manufacturer’s championship. The new Ford Focus was quick, with Martin setting a hat trick of fastest stage times on day 2, but Martin was forced to retire when he couldn’t restart the car after a spin on a later stage. Francios Duval has similiar problems on day one, leaving to fight for a place in the points. Nothing for Ford to be concerned about though…just the typical bugs that accompany releasing a new car.

With Skoda’s intended release of the new Fabia, this leaves Subaru as the sole manufacturer running a larger car (even the Mitsubishi Lancer is smaller). While Solberg had a decent rally, he wasn’t setting any fastest stage times (which he did quite a bit last season), and Tommi Makkinen struggled all rally with his Impreza. Is it time for Subaru to go back to the drawing board. The newest WRC cars are small and nimble, and while the Impreza is still one of the lightest cars, it’s just bigger than everything but the Skoda Octavia. Could change be in the air?