Drivers rally to the cause

Kalle Rovanperä might be within a whisker of winning this year’s World Rally Championship, but he faces the prospect of a frustrating few days around Auckland.

Rovanperä, who turns 22 tomorrow but still has the appearance of a 15-year-old, needs to pick up eight more points than Ott Tänak this weekend to take the title.

The Rally started yesterday evening with the ceremonial super special stage through the Auckland Domain when Tänak set the fastest time.

The 1.78km opening stage, at Pukekawa Auckland Domain, was a festival-like start to the rally in front of a sizeable crowd, following an official opening at the War Memorial Museum.

Kiwi ace Hayden Paddon, competing in the WRC2 category in his Hyundai i20N, was fittingly first to go in overcast and slippery conditions on the tarmac after a shower of rain.

His time of 1:52.4 was good enough to be fastest in WRC2, just under two seconds quicker than Supercars championship leader

Shane van Gisbergen, driving a koda Fabia, who recorded a 1:54.2 to be second in the category.

As the tarmac continued to dry, the WRC drivers who went later in the field held a significant advantage following the heavy showers before the opening stage kicked off.

But Ford’s Craig Breen bucked that trend with a lightning-quick 1:46.7 despite going mid-pack of the WRC cars, good enough to finish second.

Hyundai’s Tänak, who was the second last car to run, was almost a full second clear of Breen with his winning time of 1:45.8. Rovanperä, racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing, made a mistake on the Repco donut section to set him back to sixth in the opening stage with a 1:48.4.

Rovanperä has won four of the 10 rallies this season, with two more to go after Rally NZ, in Spain and Japan.

But his lead in the championship will be his biggest disadvantage around Auckland as under WRC rules he’ll be the first car on each stage today and on New Zealand gravel roads, that means sweeping them clean in his Toyota Yaris for the cars behind him.

Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal, Jari-Matti Latvala, who won Rally NZ in 2010, says Rovanperä will be praying for rain, to reduce that cleaning factor.

‘‘It is dependent on the weather,’’ Latvala said. ‘‘Normally in the Raglan area, Whaanga Coast, they have a lot of loose gravel and also on the Te Akau stages.

‘‘When you have to clean the roads, that’s when you lose the most. So Kalle is in a difficult position for sure. If it rains, it

might combine the surface together and it’s better and will be more equal.’’

Rain isn’t scheduled to arrive until after the stages are completed today, while the forecast for tomorrow is atrocious.

Also, there are only 88km of stages tomorrow, compared to 158km today.

Rovanperä had a terrible time in the recent rallies in Belgium and Greece, where he was involved in incidents, but Latvala doesn’t feel his young protégée is suffering from nerves.

‘‘Kalle has had an incredible season up until Rally Finland. I knew that at some point the mistake would happen. It came in Belgium,’’ he said.

‘‘In Greece it was a frustrating situation. Everything had gone wrong in the test, then when we came into the event we didn’t have the performance.

‘‘That wasn’t easy for Kalle and the other drivers. But we’ve learned and know what we did wrong. So here, we should be competitive and that’s why I’m not worried about Kalle’s mental side, he’s very strong mentally.’’

For most World Rally Championship events, spectators will shoot off after the WRC1 cars have gone past on a stage.

They quickly pack up their belongings then head off to the next stage they want to watch.

But at this week’s Rally New Zealand they will be hanging around a bit longer to see the likes of Shane van Gisbergen, Hayden Paddon and Ben Hunt come through in the WRC2 category.

It would be fair to say there is as much interest in how these three Kiwis go at Rally NZ as there is in seeing which WRC1 driver comes out on top.

Van Gisbergen is playing down the prospects, but anyone who’s followed his career knows he’s fast in anything he drives.

‘‘It’s pretty cool to be here and have the car on show with all the team,’’ van Gisbergen said. ‘‘It’s pretty special to be in this line up with these [WRC2] guys and all the WRC1 cars as well.

‘‘It’s pretty surreal, but I’ve got to focus on the driving.

‘‘There’s still a lot to learn. With the notes, you can’t write enough. I don’t know what I need to process yet.

‘‘With Whaanga Coast, I’ve never done that before and I was just taking it in, in the first part of the recce. It’s a pretty tough stage and I wish that was on Sunday when I’m up to speed, because tomorrow it’s going to take me a long time to settle in and build the speed up.

‘‘I’m here to have some fun and make it to the end.’’

Van Gisbergen says one of the obstacles he needs to overcome is to fully trust the pace notes, delivered to him by his co-driver Glen Weston.

‘‘I think I can drive the car pretty fast, when I did Jacks Ridge Rally Sprint I was quite quick, but like today in the first run [at the shakedown] I was six, seven seconds off the pace. That’s where I learn.’’

In Supercars, van Gisbergen is hugely experienced and successful, but in this form of motorsport he does feel like a rookie.

‘‘It’s only my fourth rally or something,’’ he said.

‘‘So I’m trying to be s sponge and keep learning. I’m getting quicker.

‘‘I know it’s going to take time, I have to be patient and not force.’’

There will be more expectation on how well Paddon goes this weekend.

He won’t be able to match the pace of the WRC1 cars, but should have a good battle with Hunt and Kajetan Kajetanowicz for the WRC2 honours.

After being the face of Rally NZ since it was initially put onto the WRC schedule in 2020, Paddon says it will be nice to finally get the event under way.