“In Finland things went very well and we learnt more about the set-up of the car that works for me. Another important thing was my pacenotes as they got better as I got more experience of the fast gravel roads.
“All of these improvements will help but it will still take time before I can push hard. The other drivers have pacenotes from last year but we will have to make new ones. The roads are fast with good camber but they can catch you out easily as well, especially on the loose gravel and if it rains it will be very slippery.
“It will be easy to drive too fast on this rally and I think I need to be careful. I will try not to push too hard from the start but build my speed up throughout the rally. The main aim for me is to get to the finish and gain more experience of these fantastic roads,” he concluded.
Production Car WRC:
Arai in control or is he?
The Rally New Zealand is the fifth round in the
FIA Production Car World Championship and currently the standings are led by Toshi Arai, who has notched up 29 points to date.
Mark Higgins, who has not nominated NZ as one of his six scoring events, is the Japanese drivers’ nearest rival - although he is 14 points adrift, while Kristian Sohlberg is third on 12 points and Mirco Baldacci has 11 points.
Like Higgins, Sohlberg will not be in action this weekend, as he has not been able to raise the necessary money to compete, and as such his slot has been taken up by New Zealand Rally champion, Richard Mason.
Two other Kiwis will also be in action in the PWRC category - under the Rally New Zealand scholarship programme, namely Hayden Paddon and Emma Gilmour, both are entered as ‘wild cards’.
In total, 22 drivers’ will be able to score PWRC points in NZ, and other notable names include Fumio Nutahara, Juho Hanninen, Loris Baldacci and Britain’s Niall McShea and Stuart Jones.
PWRC regulars Riccardo Errani, #40 and Red Bull’s Andreas Aigner, #47 will skip this event, just like Higgins, as it is not one of their nominated rounds.
