Richard Mason Motorsport - FINAL WRC ROUND RESULTS CONFIRM SIGNIFICANCE OF MASON’S RALLY NEW ZEALAND PERFORMANCE

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FINAL WRC ROUND RESULTS CONFIRM SIGNIFICANCE OF MASON’S RALLY NEW ZEALAND PERFORMANCE

By Chris Grant

5th December, 2006

The results by two young Flying Finns on last weekend’s season-ending WRC Wales Rally GB provide further evidence of just what double New Zealand Rally Champion Richard Mason and Sara Randall achieved with their top ten finish in the BNT Subaru on Propecia Rally New Zealand last month.

Apart from the far more powerful World Rally Cars, these two latest Finnish rally prodigies were the only drivers to beat the top Kiwi crew in New Zealand’s round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship [WRC] .

By finishing eighth overall in New Zealand, 21 year old Jari-Matti Latvala - who rallies under the guidance of four-times World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen - won the Production car World Championship [P-WRC] round with Mason second, while Juho Hanninen (25)- Runner-up in the 2005 Finnish Group N Championship - finished 9th in his Mitsubishi after trading places with Mason throughout the three day event.

For Rally GB Latvala drove the latest 2006-spec Ford Focus WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Manufacturer Team and recorded a career-best 4th place outright that saw him finish ahead of the likes of Subaru’s Chris Atkinson and both the Citroen works cars. At the end of the seventeen slippery treacherous stages, covering some 350 kilometres, he was just two and a half minutes behind rally winner Marcus Gronholm and over seven minutes ahead of his teammate Mathew Wilson.

“This was a very important rally for me, if I think about my career. This [4th overall] will make my life a little bit easier for next year. I have screwed up three times this year with the Stobart cars, but finally we were able to come through it.” Latvala told www.bfgoodrich.com.

Hanninen got behind the wheel of a Super 1600 class Citroen C2 [front wheel drive only] for the first time at Rally GB, in what is only his fifth ever World Rally Championship [WRC] event, having won Group N on debut in Sweden and again in Italy. He then got to drive a Mitsubishi WRC in Finland where he was eleventh after the first day, only to be excluded from the event for failing to wear the mandatory flame proof underwear.

Last weekend he again showed his class by finishing in twentieth place overall (out of 95 finishers from the 109 starters), just one and a half minutes adrift of the British and American Champion David Higgins in a Group N Mitsubishi, and most significantly over 2 minutes in front of the Junior World Championship [J-WRC] round winner Estonian Jaan Molder in the latest Suzuki Swift.

Through the Propecia Rally New Zealand Scholarship Richard was provided with a Guest Entry into the P-WRC field for Rally NZ. His second place finish fully justified his selection as this result proved to be the best by any such driver in both the J-WRC and P-WRC in 2006.

In fact Richard is the only one of the P-WRC Guest Drivers to actually complete their round in full, as all the others either retired, were excluded or were classified as finishers only via the SupeRally rejoin rules.

And the 8 points he earned for finishing second in NZ means the Masterton Flyer is officially classified 9th out of the 27 drivers in the P-WRC series for this year – all achieved in a five year old model of Subaru that no-one else has used in the P-WRC since 2002.

Next.... Photo Album

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Home Meet Richard The Team Our Rally Cars Sponsors Latest News Photos Links Contact Us	FINAL WRC ROUND RESULTS CONFIRM SIGNIFICANCE OF MASON’S RALLY NEW ZEALAND PERFORMANCE By Chris Grant 5th December, 2006 The results by two young Flying Finns on last weekend’s season-ending WRC Wales Rally GB provide further evidence of just what double New Zealand Rally Champion Richard Mason and Sara Randall achieved with their top ten finish in the BNT Subaru on Propecia Rally New Zealand last month. Apart from the far more powerful World Rally Cars, these two latest Finnish rally prodigies were the only drivers to beat the top Kiwi crew in New Zealand’s round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship [WRC] . By finishing eighth overall in New Zealand, 21 year old Jari-Matti Latvala - who rallies under the guidance of four-times World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen - won the Production car World Championship [P-WRC] round with Mason second, while Juho Hanninen (25)- Runner-up in the 2005 Finnish Group N Championship - finished 9th in his Mitsubishi after trading places with Mason throughout the three day event. For Rally GB Latvala drove the latest 2006-spec Ford Focus WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Manufacturer Team and recorded a career-best 4th place outright that saw him finish ahead of the likes of Subaru’s Chris Atkinson and both the Citroen works cars. At the end of the seventeen slippery treacherous stages, covering some 350 kilometres, he was just two and a half minutes behind rally winner Marcus Gronholm and over seven minutes ahead of his teammate Mathew Wilson. “This was a very important rally for me, if I think about my career. This [4th overall] will make my life a little bit easier for next year. I have screwed up three times this year with the Stobart cars, but finally we were able to come through it.” Latvala told www.bfgoodrich.com. Hanninen got behind the wheel of a Super 1600 class Citroen C2 [front wheel drive only] for the first time at Rally GB, in what is only his fifth ever World Rally Championship [WRC] event, having won Group N on debut in Sweden and again in Italy. He then got to drive a Mitsubishi WRC in Finland where he was eleventh after the first day, only to be excluded from the event for failing to wear the mandatory flame proof underwear. Last weekend he again showed his class by finishing in twentieth place overall (out of 95 finishers from the 109 starters), just one and a half minutes adrift of the British and American Champion David Higgins in a Group N Mitsubishi, and most significantly over 2 minutes in front of the Junior World Championship [J-WRC] round winner Estonian Jaan Molder in the latest Suzuki Swift. Through the Propecia Rally New Zealand Scholarship Richard was provided with a Guest Entry into the P-WRC field for Rally NZ. His second place finish fully justified his selection as this result proved to be the best by any such driver in both the J-WRC and P-WRC in 2006. In fact Richard is the only one of the P-WRC Guest Drivers to actually complete their round in full, as all the others either retired, were excluded or were classified as finishers only via the SupeRally rejoin rules. And the 8 points he earned for finishing second in NZ means the Masterton Flyer is officially classified 9th out of the 27 drivers in the P-WRC series for this year – all achieved in a five year old model of Subaru that no-one else has used in the P-WRC since 2002. Next.... Photo Album

More Items 1st September, 2010: BNT MASON MOTORSPORT BACK ON FORM AT NZRC RALLY NELSON - More 22nd August, 2010: MASON SOLID SECOND AFTER DAY ONE OF NZRC RALLY NELSON - More 21st August, 2010: BNT MASON MOTORSPORT ALL SET FOR NZRC RALLY NELSON - More 1st July, 2010: MASONS DETERMINED TO BEAT NORTHLAND 'HOO-DOO' AT RALLY WHANGAREI - More 7th June, 2010: MASON 'Does it for Stace' BY WINNING DUNLOP TARGA ROTORUA - More 6th June, 2010: MASON DOMINATES FIRST DAY OF DUNLOP TARGA ROTORUA - More 5th May, 2010: MASON TO JOIN WORLD CHAMPIONS FOR WRC RALLY NEW ZEALAND PRESS CONFERENCE - More 16th April, 2010: NEW BNT SUBARU A WINNER ON DEBUT AT NZRC RALLY OTAGO - More 8th April, 2010: CHANGES APLENTY FOR BNT MASON MOTORSPORT AT NZRC RALLY OTAGO - More 10th November, 2009: BNT Mason Motorsport segment in New Weekly Motorsport Show - More 10th November, 2009: End of Season - More 14th September, 2009: Coverage of Rally Oz - More 9th September, 2009: MORE HISTORY MADE BY BNT MASON MOTORSPORT AT WRC RALLY AUSTRALIA - More 6th September, 2009: BNT MASON MOTORSPORT FIGHTING HARD AT WRC RALLY AUSTRALIA - More 5th September, 2009: BNT MASON MOTORSPORT LEAD AFTER DAY ONE OF WRC RALLY AUSTRALIA - More


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