KEY POINTS:
Ford already had the T-shirts printed as Marcus Gronholm and Mikko Hirvonen brought home the world rally manufacturers' title in the Waikato yesterday.
The Finnish pair finished one-two at the head of the field with Gronholm 56s ahead of his young teammate as he recorded his fourth victory
in Rally New Zealand, equalling the record of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
Incredibly, in a sport dominated for years by Ford Escorts, the manufacturers' title was Ford's first since 1979, when the great Swede Bjorn Waldegard won Rally New Zealand on the way to the world drivers' crown.
Two years later Kiwi Jim Donald won his home title in an Escort. Despite the presence at times of world champions Sainz, Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae and Didier Auriol in their ranks, Ford didn't win here again until yesterday. It was an emotional moment for Malcolm Wilson, team principal for 10 years.
Behind Gronholm and Hirvonen, Austrian Manfred Stohl in a Peugeot drove steadily for third as he held off a late charge by Citroen's Xavier Pons and Dani Sordo. Subaru's Petter Solberg was an unhappy sixth.
Gronholm was in command from the start and he won 13 of the 17 stages in pouring rain, sunshine, mud and dust. In the absence through injury of Citroen's world champion Sebastien Loeb, he never had to press too hard.
"Maybe it looked easy," he said, "but still we had to drive hard. The manufacturers' championship was always in my mind. It's easy to make a mistake and I would have looked very stupid to Malcolm."
Local fans could cheer the performance of national champion Richard Mason, who finished 10th overall and second in the World Production Car class in a five-year-old Subaru.
But for a puncture on the last day the Masterton driver and his diminutive 20-year-old co-driver Sara Randall could have threatened the winner of the class, Finn Jari-Matti Latvala. As it was, he helped Subaru win the production car manufacturers' title.
The drivers' title for the season went to Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah even though he dropped out with engine failure yesterday.
"I'm over the moon," said Mason. "I couldn't ask for anything more. Maybe this result will open some doors because it would be good to do the whole PWRC. We need sponsorship and the result shows we can do it."
Much of the publicity for the event surrounded motorcycle superstar Valentino Rossi. He finished 11th, kept his Subaru in one piece and said he had enjoyed the experience.
Sceptics pointed out that he was 20 minutes behind Gronholm, but for his first drive on some testing gravel stages it was commendable and he won many friends for his outgoing personality.
Young Rotorua driver Dean Sumner brought his Mitsubishi home in 14th place and one place behind was Stewart Taylor from Hastings in his first Rally New Zealand. Dunedin's Emma Gilmour was first woman in 23rd and Northland teenager Kirsty Nelson was 31st.
Thirty-nine of the 43 starters finished the event, although several rejoined after dropping out on one of the first two days. Heavy rain on Saturday saw several casualties including Subaru's Chris Atkinson, who won two stages before hitting a rock and crashing out.
Chris West, New Zealand's second representative in the production car championship, crashed heavily on the Wairamarama stage.
Moving the headquarters to Mystery Creek near Hamilton won approval from most of the visiting teams, who also liked the new stages.
