“Xevi proved in Australia he fully deserved to drive the number one Xsara,” confirmed van Dalen. “He completely fulfilled our expectations and accepted the team orders for securing his position to prevent Marcus Gronholm from climbing onto the podium. He did exactly what he was asked to do and was extremely happy to help.”
Pons despite having to play it safe and take fourth insisted that he wasn’t frustrated in the slightest: “Not at all! It was exactly the opposite! When I experienced some problems in the dust on Friday night in ‘Flynns’, Manfred Stohl was catching us up and was only eight seconds behind us. At the end of the leg, I had a conversation with Marc van Dalen and we took the decision to secure the fourth place and not to take any risks [and go for the final place on the podium],” he explained. “My feeling is that I am young and I will have other possibilities to be on the podium. If I could help Seb and
Citroen a bit by finishing fourth, it is an honour for me.”
As for this weekend’s event, Xavier has competed in New Zealand twice before, taking the runners-up spot in the Group N class in 2005: “In NZ, the stages are very fast. I enjoyed a lot driving there the past two years. For me, it would surely have been easier if nothing had changed. But on another hand, to be a good driver, you have to be capable of posting fast times with only two passes in recce. This is the reason why I will particularly focus on the recce to try and set one more good result to finish the season on a good note. Since Cyprus, I have a very good feeling.”
