Toshi Arai was ninth, after having missed all of Saturday's action due to a technical problem. He struggled with a broken gearbox on the final road section though and that cost him a place on the leader-board. Nevertheless however, he recorded a string of stage wins on the final day scoring the highest number of stage victories throughout the season and finished top of the PCWRC ‘Sprinter Standings', handing over his PCWRC title to Al-Attiyah in style.
Former New Zealand champion Chris West had a difficult rally experiencing punctures, a soft suspension and losing his place in his notes, and that was all on leg one. Unfortunately his rally came to a premature end after he rolled his
Subaru on the tricky SS8.
Natalie Barratt had a difficult rally with an electrical problem causing the car to stop mid-stage on leg one. She retired on the final day in SS14 after hitting a rock and damaging the gearbox.
“We approached a spot [in SS14] in fifth gear. There was no way to avoid the rock or else we would have found ourselves in the middle of the woods. Thus we hit the rock straight on,” she explained. “I immediately realised that the gearbox had been struck. I wasn't able to change gears and smoke rose from the engine bay. Thus we had to retire. It is a real pity since scoring points would definitely have been possible.”
Polish driver Leszek Kuzaj was also on his first outing in New Zealand, spending much of the event learning. He slipped off the road trying to pass West on leg two and after contesting the tricky Whaanga Coast for experience, he opted to withdraw from the rally.
Following big accidents in both previous rallies in Japan and Australia, Aki Teiskonen's Subaru was not in a healthy enough state to tackle Rally New Zealand and the Finn chose to retire before the start of SS1.
![Propecia Rally New Zealand, 17 - 19 Novembre 2006Nasser Al-Attiya (qa) Chris Patterson (gbr) subaru impreza wrx [PCWRC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/280986.jpg)
