Ott Tanak is still determined to spoil Kalle Rovanpera’s party. Despite his slim mathematical chances of snatching the title from the young Finn, the Estonian does not give his arm to twist and leads the standings after the first stage of Rally New Zealand. A crazy day in which there have been four changes of leadership and a lot of action.
Taking a look at the itinerary, with six stages and 158 timed kilometers without any intermediate assistance, the ‘roller coaster’ of changes was foreseeable in this devastating initial stage. It started with the stage victory of Gus Greensmith and the lead of Craig Breen, who later gave it up to Elfyn Evans, who in turn was dethroned by Sebastien Ogier. But in the end Tanak lay down on the head.
Breen went out and gave Ford a new dislike, and Ogier caressed to lead the test at the end of the day. But the Frenchman gave a touch and left his Toyota without a wing in the penultimate special, which made him lose a lot of time in the fast final stretch and give up the lead to a Tanak who seems to have it in his power to prevent Rovanpera from being crowned in the antipodes. Yes indeed, the Finn ended up glued to the three with a header after a stage in which he has had the ‘brown’ of opening the track in many sections in the rain.
Only two tenths separate Tanak from Evans, while Ogier is 6.7 seconds behind and Rovanpera at 7.2. Therefore, the fight is still totally open and a nice battle is foreseeable in the two remaining days.
Classification
1. Tanak-Jarveoja (Est/Hyundai), 1h 36m 48.6s
2. Evans-Martin (GBR/Toyota), 0.2
3. Ogier-Veillas (Fra/Toyota), at 6.7
4. Rovanpera-Halttunen (Fin/Toyota), at 7.2
5. Greensmith-Andersson (Gbr/Ford), at 43.8
