Gaurav overall fastest at shakedown follwed by Katsu.
All the best to GG and looking for another great drive to the podium

Results available herehttp://www.chrissport.co.nz/resultsDetail.php?id_event=91

After 1st loop of Day 1 stages GG is 2nd overall and 2nd in APRC.
SS1 GG 2nd fastest after Hayden Paddon. SS2 3rd fastest after Hayden and Atko. SS3 and 4 2nd fastest again.

3 rallies and he's consistently right up in the front.

Yeah .. Another strong show by him but then again he has some new guy ahead of him !!! Lets hope he can make up that deficit tomorrow while staying away from the lil obstacles along the course .....

GO GG GO ..............

Paddon overnight leader for International Rally of Whangarei

Top Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon has a commendable lead in the International Rally of Whangarei midway through the two-day event.

Paddon, from Geraldine, and his Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard in the Paddon Direct Mitsubishi have a one minute, ten second advantage over Indian Gaurav Gill and Australian Glenn Macneall in the MRF Tyres Mitsubishi. A second Kiwi, Emma Gilmour in her Subaru Impreza WRX, with co-driver Ben Atkinson, complete the top three in the international event which is part of both the Asia Pacific and New Zealand rally championships.

Paddon said he wanted to go hard from the outset, but the 23-year-old two-time New Zealand champion almost went too hard during the event’s opening and longest stage, Mititai, southwest of Whangarei. “We had a bit of a moment about halfway through and pretty much had all four wheels down a bank.”

With the option to use whatever tyres they choose, competitors in this event invest considerable time and effort to get the best possible choice to suit road conditions. Paddon said: “There was a fine line in our tyre choice for this afternoon. If we went back out on a soft [as he used in the morning] it would have been too soft and the medium perhaps a little bit too hard – it’s just a matter of some compromise really. We’d like to find a bit more speed again tomorrow. This is the first time on this style of tyre for us so were getting an idea of how they operate , especially if some wet weather comes [as is forecast] that will probably help us a bit [running first on the road].”

Current Asia Pacific Rally Championship leader and Gill’s MRF Tyres team-mate Katsu Taguchi, from Japan, has had a tough day as the number one seed. From his position at the front of the field, the former APRC champion is struggling in 23rd position with engine problems that the team hopes to fix overnight.

Paddon’s dominance was clear, as he won six of the day’s eight stages. The two other wins, on the 1.5 km Pohe super special stage, went to Taguchi for one and Gill and Gilmour sharing the honours on the second run.

Also featuring during the day’s action were the bright yellow Proton Super 2000 rally cars of former World Rally Championship drivers Scotsman Alister McRae and Australian Chris Atkinson. Atkinson showed pace early on finishing the first two long stages fourth and second but, by the third stage, mechanical woes had again struck the Proton which suffered alternator issues. With the car now repaired, Atkinson is scheduled to restart in eleventh position on Sunday.

McRae has had a better day than his team-mate despite “not flowing 100%” in the earlier stages. McRae made a change in tyre choice during the lunchtime service break, resulting in consistent top five stage times through the afternoon. “We went for a harder compound tyre and made a few suspension changes, so the car is more to my liking now,” said McRae.

With Paddon, Gill and Gilmour heading the overall standings, Paddon also tops the overnight leader-board for the Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship and the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Gilmour and former NZRC title-holder Chris West round out the NZRC top three, while Gill and McRae complete the APRC top three.

The event also features a strong contingent of clubmans’ competitors which has Rotorua’s Ian Wood leading overnight in his Subaru Impreza WRX.

The rally resumes just after 8am on Sunday with Paddon leading the field through another eight competitive stages before the ceremonial finish at Whangarei’s Quayside Town Basin from 3:30pm.

Overall results, Saturday 3 July (day one), International Rally of Whangarei
Position, Driver/Co-driver, Car, Difference to leader
1, Hayden Paddon (Geraldine)/John Kennard, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX
2, Gaurav Gill (India)/Glenn Macneall, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X (+1:10.
3, Emma Gilmour (Hamilton)/Ben Atkinson, Subaru Impreza WRX STI (+1:48.1)
4, Alister McRae (Great Britain)/Bill Hayes, Proton Satria Neo (+1:58.0)
5, Brendan Reeves (Australia)/Rhianon Smyth, Subaru Impreza WRX STI (+2:17.9)
6=, Chris West (Christchurch)/Chris Cobham, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (+2:38.0)
6=, 18 Patrick Malley (Auckland)/Malcolm Read, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (+2:38.0)
8, Glenn Inkster (Auckland)/Glenn Goldring, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (+2:44.6)
9, Dean Sumner (Rotorua)/Paul Fallon, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX (+2:46.0)
10, Glenn Smith (Hawera)/Campbell Ward, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X (+3:19.4)

The world's best drivers agree NZ takes a few outings for visitors do do well. It was a given that Hayden would lead as he's the past winner and local young revelation. But GG has stayed ahead of all the other local drivers who're APRC wild card entries and known to be very good on their own turf, as well as others in APRC. Awesome show by him.
Tomorrow will be the decisive day and GG should stay where he is - and then will lead APRC

Massive effort by Gaurav!! All of India should be proud.

what in the world happened to Katsu ?? can anyone update pls.

katsu seems to be having some sort of engine problems ..... Expect him to be back tom morning firing on all cylinders as they fixing the issue overnight .

Also the leader has another massive advantage and that is of running on WRc SPEC TYRES ALLOWIMG HIM WAY MORE GRIP .

GG seems to have had a HORRIBLE star to Day 2 ...... 2 mins late thus getting 20 seconds + 14 secs slower than the fastest on the stage !! Still holding 2nd position but Alistar on his tail ...

DISASTER it seems for GG ............... something majorly wrong !!!!!!!!!!!!

....Hmmm!!! something seriously wrong with GG's vehicle.....sad, he was goin pretty good yesterday......

dang!!!!

What happened??? Damn!

Day 2

After SS12

Gaurav Gill/Glen Macneall

Basically we�ve broken the gearbox � all we�ve had is second gear since the beginning of the second stage this morning.

After SS16

Gaurav Gill/Glen Macneall

We are just testing our tyres and checking our pace notes really, there is not a lot else we can do.

Bad luck!!!

HARD LUCK ONCE AGAIN ....................