Salonen takes rally in impressive win from Vatanen

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 64

Salonen takes rally in impressive win from Vatanen

By

JOHN HAWKINS,

in Auckland

The Fin, Timo Salonen, aged 33, extended his world championship lead with an impressive Imin 17s win over his Peugeot teammate, Ari Vatanen, on the AWA Clarion Rally of New Zealand, which finished in Auckland last evening.

Although Salonen’s win was never in doubt from the start of the fourth and final leg, the day belonged to Vatanen, who recorded eight wins in the day’s 12 special stages. Soon after the morning’s competition began, Vatanen overcame an unhappy Walter Rohrl to make it Peugeots one and two. Although the fast roads between Rotorua and Auckland were expected to give the powerful Audis a chance to haul back the Peugeots, it was, in fact, the Peugeot drivers who eased away on the final day, giving rise to speculation that they had been pacing themselves to conserve their cars on the first three legs of the rally. Rohrl finally had to concede defeat to the futuristic French cars.

His rally had been plagued by annoying mechanical faults, and his car’s engine had never given full power throughout the event,

being hampered by a mysterious electrical problem which prevented it from producing full revs.

The second Audi driver, Stig Blomquist, was never in contention for outright victory in the event, although his spectacular style made him appear to be the fastest driver on many special stages. Blomquist was lucky to escape with only a minimal loss of time after hitting a bank on the thirty-ninth stage. Stage 39 proved to be the last stage contested by the Finn, Juha Kankkunen, whose Toyota failed to start the next stage because of an electrical fault.

In fifth place, and the first New Zealander, was the privately entered Audi of Dannevirke’s Malcolm Stewart. He drove steadily throughout the last day, his only complaint being that of boredom caused by driving cautiously in an attempt to

conserve the car. Reg Cook, who led the New Zealanders over the first two legs, gained some reward for his hard driving by moving up to sixth position at the end of the rally. Cook’s Nissan was therefore the first conventional rearwheel drive car home, heading past Inky Tulloch’s Pacifica Escort when the Southlander ran off the road in the thirty-eighth stage. Although worried by braking problems throughout the rally, “Possum” Bourne brought his Subaru home ahead of his teammate, Tony Teesdale, and Mike Kirkland to win the group A class. Bourne’s strongest challenger, Paul Adams, withdrew early on leg four when his Toyota Corolla’s engine expired. Thirty-nine of the original 72 starters finished the event and six of the seven South Island entrants were still running at the finish. The highest placed was

Tulloch, who was seventh, while Timaru’s Carl Rabbidge was fifteenth. Brian Stokes (Waikuku) finished eighteenth and Grant Goile (Christchurch) was twenty-fifth over all and third in his class.