A mammoth 74-car entry is expected to descend on Auckland this week as the eight round of the World Rally Championship takes the series into its second half.
Coinciding with a round of the
FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, the 30th Rally New Zealand welcomes a tightly-contested drivers' championship where, although Richard Burns knows that he will still leave the southern hemisphere with his position intact, he arrives with just 14 points in hand over his rivals.
The young Englishman has proven to be the class of the field this year, particularly since the introduction of the latest-spec
Subaru Impreza WRC, but his charge towards the championship title was derailed slightly by suspension failure which forced him out of last month's Acropolis Rally. Testing between events has concentrated on solving the problem, which is thought to have been a product of the extreme conditions in Greece, and both Burns and team-mate Juha Kankkunen are confident that they will be back on the pace in New Zealand.
''There are five very good drivers behind me,'' Burns said, ''and they'll all be pushing to close the gap in the championship, but I've got the right car. We've got another new Pirelli tyre coming for this event, and I see it as another good opportunity to score ten points. There will be no question of me relaxing.''
Burns won his first international event in New Zealand back in 1996, following on from successive victories for the man who is now his closest challenger in the world championship,
Colin McRae. The Scot has gone on to add a third win down under since notching up his first pair, and success in a different car this year will further rejuvenate his title challenge.
''Richard still has a fairly comfortable lead in the points,'' McRae admits, ''but, if we can score a similar result in New Zealand to that in Greece, it will show that the tide is really turning. The reliability and consistency of the Ford Focus has improved and that bodes well for the second half of the season.''
