KEY POINTS:
Tactics as much as speed have set up an intriguing Rally New Zealand finale, as world championship rivals Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen avoided the role of frontrunner going into tomorrow's final day.
Instead, Hirvonen's Finnish compatriot and BP Ford Abu Dhabi teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala, leads going into the remaining five special stages in and around Hamilton.
Latvala will thus be the first driver away, a role that carries the disadvantage of being the sweeper on the gravel roads, while the drivers that follow get a cleaner racing line.
Defending world champion Loeb showed how little he wanted the job by purposely slowing down on this afternoon's last stage to ensure he didn't end up on top of the standings.
The Frenchman had begun the morning second overall, 27.8 seconds behind Hirvonen, and had identified a margin of around 20sec as being what he would need if he were to lead going into the final day.
He progressively closed the gap on the Finn, before hitting the front by 4.2sec after the penultimate Te Akau South stage.
He further increased his margin on split times during the ensuing Te Akau North leg, but not by what he had targeted as necessary.
Near the end, he took his foot off the accelerator and crossed the finish line 4.0sec behind Hirvonen on total elapsed time.
At 9.3sec and 13.3sec respectively behind Latvala, Hirvonen and Loeb are now well placed to launch their challenges.
So, too, is Loeb's Citroen Total teammate, Spaniard Dani Sordo, who is fourth overall, 15.7sec off the lead.
The quartet have opened up a significant gap over the rest of the field, with fifth-placed Belgian Francois Duval at 1min 40.9sec down.
Loeb, seeking his fifth consecutive world title, holds a slim four-point lead over Hirvenon at the top of the WRC driver standings with four events to go after New Zealand.
He admitted he had eased up on purpose, but said he had no option under the present road position rules, which were changed from last year.
He argued for a return to the old format, where the top 15 from the previous day started in reverse order.
"I decided at the end to slow down," he said.
"It's the only way with these regulations."
Loeb had also conceded the lead yesterday, when he was penalised 30s for getting to a start line late, but had said that incident was caused by a genuine problem with starting his engine.
Hirvonen explained his loss of 15s to Latvala on the final stage by saying that he had a hiccup just after the start when he went wide off the road.
He picked up the pace, but couldn't maintain it during a difficult stretch near the end.
"I was doing really fast," he said.
"In the end, where it was more twisty, I couldn't keep up the speed."
Norwegian Henning Solberg impressed by winning four of the day's six stages.
But the Ford driver remained 9min 42.5sec in arrears, his hopes of a good finish having effectively been ended by steering problems yesterday.
- NZPA
