Having dominated the event from the outset, there were no surprises that the BP-Ford World Rally Team held their grip on the event to the finish. With the first manufacturer's title in 27 years in its grasp, both Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen adopted a pragmatic approach to the final day and never looked in any doubt as to their result. It didn't stop them poking fun at team boss Malcolm Wilson whenever possible though. The team's one-two means that, subject to publication of the official results by the FIA, Ford is the 2006 FIA World Rally Manufacturer Champion.
For the third day, there was rain overnight and intermittent rain throughout the six stages, meaning that tyre choice was again a major talking point. The two Kronos Total Citroen drivers, Xevi Pons and Dani Sordo were the men on a charge in the morning's loop of stages, pushing hard to try to recoup third place from Manfred Stohl, the position he'd held on Saturday morning.
Stohl had got his tyre choice wrong on the second leg and had lost third to Dani Sordo on too hard tyres for the wet conditions, However, he'd fought back and reclaimed it by the end of the second leg. His job on leg three was to maintain the position for yet another podium finish.
Pons was putting on a major charge in the morning's opening stages, closing in on Sordo but lost his advantage when he spun on the first run through the famous Whaanga Coast stage. However, as the crews headed out to repeat the stages, Pons had the right tyres but Sordo was another driver on too hard tyres and despite pushing as hard as he could, he was unable to hold off Pons, who passed him on the penultimate stage to snatch fourth.
Petter Solberg's final day started badly, when his Subaru Impreza's engine refused to fire at the beginning of the first stage of the day, losing a minute in penalties as a result. He carried on pushing with his trademark determination but again was unable to find the grip he needed on the wet stages and finished the event sixth.
Luis Perez Companc in the first Stobart VK Ford M-Sport Focus had a solid final day, knowing that his seventh place would be safe if he avoided making mistakes. He maintained that position to the end of the event to claim two driver points on his final event of the season.
Henning Solberg, in the second OMV Peugeot Norway 307WRC was another driver who drove to the end of the event, having suffered a roll on the second leg. However, it wouldn't be drama free for the Norwegian, as he lost his brakes on the first run through the Whaanga Coast stage and appeared happy to put the event behind him.
Matthew Wilson impressed on his first visit to New Zealand, despite running first on the road for the final leg. The wet weather made his task easier, as the wet gravel provided better grip than if it were dry but he too suffered a scare towards the end, when his engine temperature warning came on and it went into safe mode. He made it to the finish of the event though.
Valentino Rossi enjoyed another relatively clean day. He admitted to a few spins and mistakes but nothing too dramatic and achieving his goals for the event. The first was to enjoy it, which he did while understanding the nature of a WRC event and a World Rally Car. His performances improved consistently throughout the event and he said he was happy at the end of the event.
But the main celebrations were at Ford. Malcolm Wilson publicly acknowledged the hard work put in by all the M-Sport staff and the drivers in achieving the title. Jost Capito, Director of Team RS, paid testament to the result, saying that he did not expect to win the title with a brand new car.
Final Results:
1 M. GRÖNHOLM 4:02:30.7
2 M. HIRVONEN +56.0
3 M. STOHL +2:39.3
4 X. PONS +2:56.1
5 D. SORDO +3:20.7
6 P. SOLBERG +4:57.1
7 L. PEREZ COMPANC +10:51.6
8 J. LATVALA +16:22.4
11 V. ROSSI +20:38.8
-WRC.com
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