World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb set a blistering pace in the afternoon on day one of Propecia Rally NZ, winning three consecutive stages to finish the day 23.1 seconds ahead of the field in his Citroen Xsara.
Not only did Loeb win the stages, he did so by a considerable margin in dry and hot conditions, leaving others trailing at the end of Leg One after what Loeb described as a good tyre choice.
“This afternoon it was a very good tyre choice and I was pushing very hard and the car was perfect,” said Loeb. “Now we have a good lead. The second pass of the stages were very clean and for the moment everything is going well, but it's a very difficult rally and very fast in places. You're always on the limit.”
Marcus Gronholm is second in his Peugeot 307, closely followed by the second Citroen of Francois Duval. For Gronholm though it was a bad choice of tyre that cost him time.
“Second place is OK but we took the wrong tyre,” said the Finn. “I think all the Pirelli people did. We lost quite a lot, maybe too much. The problem is I don't know the Pirelli tyres. Tomorrow it all depends on the weather.”
Group N
Subaru Impreza WRX driver Toshihiro Arai and New Zealand co-driver Tony Sircombe lead Group N and overall sit a creditable 13th, 4:31.8 down on the overall rally leader. Their lead in Group N is a narrow one however, with just 4.6 seconds back to Australian Dean Hedge in another Subaru.
Subaru driver Chris West is the leading Kiwi in sixth place in Group N and 19th on overall classification, 5:23.8 behind the leader.


Tags: new-zealand, propecia, sebasiten, loeb, gravel,