After the opening day of competition in Rally New Zealand, Jari Ketomaa holds the overnight lead in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship class, despite a few scares aboard his Ford Fiesta.

The Finn has topped the division throughout day one and returned to service in Auckland tonight 22.5 seconds in front of Xevi Pons. But Ketomaa’s day hasn’t gone entirely to plan.

His car’s crank sensor began to fail during the third stage and stopped working altogether ahead of Friday afternoon’s five stages which restricted engine performance. At the completion of stage four, his Fiesta’s engine refused to fire up and Ketomaa and co-driver Mika Sternberg spent 15 minutes on the phone to their Shanghai FCACA Rally Team obtaining instructions to get the engine restarted.

Ketomaa has remained upbeat, however, and said: “The gap is okay, we have had some problems, including with dust, but we are quite happy. We are leading but we now have some work to do to the car.”

In contrast Pons, who heads the S2000 title standings following back-to-back wins in Mexico and Jordan in a similar Fiesta, reported no major problems. He said: “The car has been good but I made some mistakes this morning. I have just tried to concentrate more this afternoon and it has worked.”

Martin Prokop completes a Fiesta podium lockout but was unable to explain the time loss he has experienced today. “The car feels okay and I am happy with my driving but we are losing lots of time and I don’t understand why.”

Prokop has now slipped into Nasser Al-Attiyah’s clutches. The Qatari trails the Czech driver by 7.7 seconds. Although Al-Attiyah is being forced to ease off to preserve his car due to a lack of available spare parts for his Skoda Fabia, co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini said they were confident of catching Prokop. “The confidence is getting better and better all of the time,” said the Italian.

Patrik Sandell’s challenge has been hampered by a partly smashed windscreen, which was caused when his Skoda struck a bird on the second stage. “We had some problems with the reflections because of the screen but once I understood the distances I had to the corners it got better,” said the Swede.

“We made some changes in service to improve the traction so I am a lot happier with the car because I struggled to find the perfect rhythm this morning. I am confident now for tomorrow.”

Albert Llovera completes the S-WRC classification following Janne Tuohino’s retirement this afternoon. Llovera, who was paralysed from the waist down in a skiing accident more than 20 years ago, uses hand controls in his Fiat Abarth Grande Punto. “My fingers are now tired but I have had a very good day with no problems,” said the Andorran. “This is my first time here and it is a very special rally. I really like it.”

Full reports, videos, photos and more on www.wrc.com

Photo Credit: Willy Weyens ©willyweyens-rallyworld



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