KEY POINTS:
Finland's Marcus Gronholm won the rally of New Zealand by a compelling 56-second margin after comfortably completing an all-the-way victory in the Waikato today.
Gronholm's triumph and a second placing for BP-Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen also ensured Ford won the world rally championship (WRC) manufacturer's title for the first time since 1979.
Austrian Manfred Stohl, of OMV-Peugeot Norway, was third, one minute 43.3 seconds down on Gronholm.
Reigning national rally champion Richard Mason was the leading New Zealander, finishing 10th overall, 20min 20sec adrift of Gronholm.
Competing as a guest driver in the production car class of the WRC, Mason was also third in the second tier category won by Jari-Matti Latvala.
The Finn was 3min 57.6sec ahead of the Masterton-based driver at the end of 17 challenging stages.
The overall world production class driver's title was secured by Nasser Al-Attiyah despite the Qatari withdrawing with engine problems on stage 13 today.
His closest challenger, Japan's Fumio Nutahara, needed to finish third to snatch the title but had to settle for fourth.
Meanwhile, Frenchman Sebastien Loeb had already wrapped up the WRC driver's title despite missing three legs, including New Zealand, with a broken arm.
Gronholm, a two-time former champion, was already is confirmed as Loeb's runner-up before nailing his fourth success in New Zealand.
The WRC calendar ends with the Great Britain rally in Wales on December 1-3.
- NZPA
