Luis Perez Companc meanwhile will again drive the number two car and the Argentine is eager to exploit his third go in the 2006-spec Focus following an equally disappointing Rally Australia.
“Australia didn't quite go to plan for me,” he admitted. “There was a mistake on the first day and then some tricky conditions. I had some good time in the car, though and I feel ready for New Zealand. The car felt fantastic – and what I really like are the faster roads. In Australia, in the quicker stages, everything felt good. I am sure I can keep this feeling for this week. I did New Zealand last year, but it was in a different place, so I will have to make some new notes this time. It's going to be interesting.”
Red Bull Skoda:
[Harri Rovanpera, car #11 and Andreas Aigner, car #12]
The Red Bull Skoda tean will miss this event, as it is not one of their ten nominated rounds - their next and final event will be the Wales Rally GB, when Harri Rovanpera and Andreas Aigner will return to the fold in their Fabia WRC cars.
Production Car WRC:
In the Production Car World Rally Championship category, 13 drivers’ will be eligible to score points’, with current PCWRC points’ leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fumio Nutahara the only two still in contention to take the title.
Al-Attiyah, who did not compete on the last event in Australia, as it was not one of his nominated PCWRC rounds, will start the event with 38 points, while Nutahara has 32, six behind. The Japanese driver is not giving up though, far from it: "In Australia I had a problem, but I still got two points. I want to run without giving up [in NZ] until the end of the last stage," he pledged. "A rally is not finished until the final test."
