Go-slow tactics could see competitors left in dust

Rally New Zealand officials and the WRC rally teams have joined Northland farmers in watching the heavens for signs of rain before Rally New Zealand gets under way here on Friday.
Event officials are paying close attention to the condition of Northland's roads after the long and dry summer. The roads were checked again on Saturday but RNZ's Lance Martin said they were still too dry.
"Given the drought experienced by much of the upper North Island this summer, we are particularly mindful of road conditions for both competitors and residents," Martin said.
"If there is no rain before the rally, dust could be an issue for competitors ... To be fair the recent rain has helped us out a bit but we'd still like a little bit more - but not too much, the perfect scenario would be a little bit of rain on Thursday night to dampen the dust down and then a nice fine day," he said.
"Visibility is a big issue for the drivers and also it affects the composition of the gravel, so you want some moisture in it to bind the gravel rather than it being completely loose, so the cars in front have to sweep it away," he said.
The roles of sweeper is a disadvantage to the first car (and sometimes when it is particularly dry, cars) on the Kaipara and Whangarei roads - just ask Australian Cody Crocker - the Asia Pacific Rally champion for the past three years. He has never won a Rally of Whangarei - a fact he puts down to always starting off as the first car on the road.
"If it remains dry then you could see some tactics in the teams with some drivers perhaps taking penalties to affect the start order for the following day ... similar to what happened in the Rally of Jordan," Martin said.
Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena won their second successive event in Rally Jordan, ahead of Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, a victory aided by various tactical moves by the leading team that altered the event's running order.
Loeb, the six-time champion, was helped by tactics such as stopping or slowing in a stage and incurring time penalties to change the following day's starting order - and they paid off.
The ploy at the end of the penultimate day altered the results to place Loeb second on the road for the final day behind Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier - despite dashing the young driver's hopes for a podium finish.
Latavala led early in the rally through the hard-base roads north of Jordan.
However playing road-sweeper on the second day dropped the Finn down the order, time he wasn't able to make up on the final day.
If the rain doesn't fall then there may be similar tactics employed on Friday.