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Hirvonen to challenge Grönholm

August 29, 2007

For Mikko Hirvonen of the Ford team, the Rally of New Zealand offers a chance to enjoy fast driving. Hirvonen is heading for the competition, to be staged in August-September, in third place in the WRC series. He trails his team mate Marcus Grönholm, who is leading the series, by 17 points, and is 9 points behind Sebastien Loeb.

- The roads are fantastic. They are similar to the roads in Finland, but without the bumps. The gravel roads have a hard surface and camber curves. On these roads, you can drive as fast as you can. The only thing to be aware of are the insides of the curves. There might be some hidden banks that could damage your car, Hirvonen says. 

With his second place in the Rally of Finland Hirvonen proved that on fast gravel roads he is able to give Grönholm a good run for his money and compete with Loeb. Last year Hirvonen was second in the Rally of New Zealand. He has driven the rally three times, and has always reached the finish. His team mate Grönholm is aiming for his fifth rally title.

- My goal is to try to drive as I did in the Neste Oil Rally of Finland. Last year I didn’t lag very much behind Marcus, so now I can try to beat him, Hirvonen says.

The Rally of New Zealand, with 18 stages in total and covering 353.56 km, is driven in the winter, so rainfall might occur during the race. The route is pretty much the same as last year. The rally base is in Hamilton, approximately 130 km to the south of Auckland.

The most challenging stage of the race is the 43.88-kilometre-long Waitomo, driven twice on day one. It is the longest stage of the entire WRC series. The rally begins on 31 August and ends on 2 September.