Austrian wanted ‘burn off’ finish

Press, 13 July 1988, Page 68

Austrian wanted ‘burn off’ finish

PA Auckland Sepp Haider, the Austrian winner of the New Zealand international rally, was last evening disappointed about one aspect of his victory. After holding off the four-wheel-drive opposition on the slippery Bay of Plenty roads he had been looking forward to burning them off with his front-wheel-drive Opel Kadett on the smooth King Country roads yesterday. Such was his lead, however, that he had what he called “a fun day.” He finally won by over 18

I minutes from Ray Wilson, of Papatoetoe. r For Haider and co--1 driver Ferdi Hinterleitner, ; their first world championship win was something of a surprise. > “I didn’t know how fast the New Zealand drivers r were, but after the first 1 two days I thought we > could win,” Haider said. 3 “But on the third day, 1 when the conditions were i so bad, I thought I should be happy to be third.” The four-wheel-drive opposition faded, howj ever, and he was rather > presented with victory. j “I would like to come

back next year and have competition on those fast roads.” he said. The 32-year-old hotelkeeper will be competing in the Deutschland Rally. Wilson’s second placing in his Mazda 323 was just reward for a sterling firstday performance. Even if he inherited the position, third was Malcolm Stewart, of Dannevirke, in his Audi Coupe Quattro. The Australian David Officer, fifth last year, finished fourth yesterday in his Mitsubishi Starion. Ross Meekings, of Hamilton, was a splendid fifth

in his 1600 cc Toyota Corolla, while sixth was Marty Roestenburg, of Rotorua, in a Toyota Starlet. It was Roestenburg’s first international. The first Group N, less modified cars, was the Daihatsu Charade driven by the Aucklander Dave Strong, ninth over-all. The last car to finish was the stock standard Skoda driven by John Coker, of Pakuranga. It was three hours, 17 minutes, 46 seconds behind the winner. Twenty-four cars, just under half the field, finished the event.

Final leading results:— S. Haider/F. Hinterleitner (Austria), Opel Kadett, 7hr 38m 395, 1; R. Wilson/S. Lewis, Mazda 323, 7hr 57m 16s, 2; M. Stewart/J. Kennard, Audi Coupe, Bhr 2m 255, 3; D. and K. Officer (Australia), Mitsubishi Starion, Bhr 4m 20s, 4; R. Meekings/S. March, Toyota Corolla, 8h 5m 6s, 5; M. Roestenburg/P. Norris, Toyota Starlet, Bhr 21m 2s, 6; J. Mcandrew/M. Wilkin, Toyota Starlet, 8h 29m 18s, 7; T. Sano/T. Henmi (Japan), Toyota Celica, 8h 29m 545, 8; D. Strong/J. Grove, Daihatsu, Bhr 38m Bs, 9; M. Walker/N. Harris, Suzuki Swift, 8h 39m 335, 10.