Rally New Zealand returns to the WRC with an epic battle

working day The excitement experienced on this first leg of the New Zealand rally, 2022 is the final date for the World Rally Championship. With the drivers’ and constructors’ titles still open, the maritime event has once again allowed for a big spectacle after a decade. Many pilots are the best on the planet. Rain, Sébastien Ogier’s return, minimal differences and practically all the competitors are under a lot of pressure to get a result that helps their structures reach the set targets or secure a place for next season.

The same pressure and demand for results Clearly represented in Craig Breen, he suffered a new abandonment He also took his personal tally to four in the last five rallies. The leading Irishman tried to speed up his chances on the well-known Whanga Beach in the first stage of the afternoon and saw Colin McRae go off the track in the same place he was. In the edition held two decades earlier, he crashed while driving a Focus WRC for M-Sport Ford.

Even so, Breen managed to get his car out of the jam, with great effort, help from fans and a loss of more than 18 minutes. Within, within The whole act of pulling the Ford Puma Rallye1 out of the ditch had already hurt the clutch badly, The last one that forced him to make the decision to withdraw was the first abandonment among the competitors in the absolute category, which occurred in the longest stage of the rally.

However, it won’t be because there aren’t any difficulties along the way. If not, let me know In Theory New, author of two consecutive spins That left him more than 40 seconds behind in the second and third specials of the morning loop. With just one tire change section between the two sections of the stage, the Belgian had to accept the loss of time and settle for a respectable sixth behind Gus Greensmith and Oliver Solberg and Takamoto Katsuda. action.

At least the pilot The British M-Sport got off to a promising start, earning a scratch (Achieving his second WRC) The first pass through Wanga Coast and Richard Millaner and Malcolm Wilson were dreaming of their best performance in Kiwi territory, although only two official cars and a third unit were privateer, the son of Lorenzo Bertelli, one of the founders of prestigious fashion brand Prada, the task. Unable to participate in the Safari rally due to the weather, he had his first experience with the new WRC hybrid machinery.

The most interesting thing is that the three Toyota drivers are very serious and focused in the fight for the top four places. Oat Tunak, who could be on top at the end of the match day with a two-tenths advantage over Elfin Evans. Even so, provisional classification after SS7 Has four drivers in 7.2 secondsToyota finds itself in a dangerous situation, with all its rivals starting tomorrow from Hyundai to Estonian, which favors the dirt roads being cleared on the track, so the i20 N Rally1 meets some more grip.

If that’s not enough, Evans and Sébastien Ogier are ahead of World Cup leader Calle Rowenber, who has defended himself all day, but who sees how he will be at a much greater disadvantage tomorrow than his main rival for an injury that left the continent… his teammates’ positions also contribute to that. In WRC2, Hayden Baden is the sole leader of the division.