At the end of the opening day of Repco Rally New , BP Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen leads the challenge. With the exception of the first stage, the Finn has led throughout and takes a 27.8 second advantage over Sébastien Loeb (Citroën Total). Third place is held by Dani Sordo in the second registered Citroën C4.

The gravel roads on the North Island are widely regarded as some of the best rally stages in the world, their fast and flowing nature inviting drivers to attack. A very wet winter brought about some late changes to the route, but drier and sunnier weather this week has resulted in a mix of conditions with plenty of slippery loose gravel on the surface of the roads.

Jari-Matti Latvala set the early pace this morning, winning the first stage. However, it was team-mate Hirvonen who then took control of the field for the rest of the day. He and Loeb have been closely-matched, but going into the penultimate stage the Finn’s lead was extended from seven tenths of a second when Loeb had an electrical problem and picked up 30 seconds of lateness penalty. The Frenchman was also lucky early this morning, narrowly avoiding a roll in the first stage.

Latvala has run well throughout the day, experiencing no problems, but he and Sordo have been battling hard for third position. The Spaniard overhauled the Finn in the closing super special stage at Mystery Creek but they remain split by one tenth of a second. François Duval, replacing Gigi Galli in the Stobart Ford, holds fifth with Urmo Aava (Citroën C4) in sixth. Subaru’s Petter Solberg is seventh after steering problems earlier in the day. Suzuki drivers Per-Gunnar Andersson and Toni Gardemeister are eighth and ninth respectively, Gardemeister losing a minute off the road in the first stage. The leading retirement of the day was Chris Atkinson, the Subaru driver rolling in the fourth stage.

Rally New Zealand - Results after Day 1

1 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 34 min 44.3sec
2 Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 35 min 12.1sec
3 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 35 min 14.3sec
4 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 35 min 14.4sec
5 François Duval/Patrick Pivato Ford Focus RS WRC 1 hr 36 min 12.2sec
6 Urmo Aava/ Kuldar Sikk Citroën C4 WRC 1 hr 36 min 45.6sec
7 Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 1 hr 37 min 10.1sec
8 Per-G Andersson/J Andersson Suzuki SX4 1 hr 37 min 34.8sec