From the World Rally Championship
Hirvonen took the lead on the second stage of the Rally New Zealand and capitalised on a more advantageous road position than his title rival Sebastien Loeb to build a 9.4 sec lead over the Frenchman by the midday point.
But Loeb was quicker in the afternoon and narrowed the gap to less than one second before collecting a 30-second penalty when his car had trouble starting before the penultimate stage.
Whether Loeb deliberately took the penalty or not remains unclear, but it added an unexpected twist to a day which many thought would end with Hirvonen deliberately dropping back to ensure a better road position than his rival on Saturday.
After struggling for grip as the first car through Friday's stages Loeb acknowledged he would be in a better position on day two, but maintained his SS6 incident was purely due to a faulty starter motor. "For one time the regulations went in the right way to help me," said Loeb.
Third placed Dani Sordo said he was delighted to have ended the day in the final podium spot.
Jari-Matti Latvala holds fourth overnight - just one-tenth of a second behind Sordo - but with Saturday's road positions determined after SS6, he will be third on the road. The Finn had tried to drop behind Sordo on the penultimate stage, but miscalculated his pace by a fraction and ended up four-tenths ahead.
Hirvonen took the lead on the second stage of the Rally New Zealand and capitalised on a more advantageous road position than his title rival Sebastien Loeb to build a 9.4 sec lead over the Frenchman by the midday point.
But Loeb was quicker in the afternoon and narrowed the gap to less than one second before collecting a 30-second penalty when his car had trouble starting before the penultimate stage.
Whether Loeb deliberately took the penalty or not remains unclear, but it added an unexpected twist to a day which many thought would end with Hirvonen deliberately dropping back to ensure a better road position than his rival on Saturday.
After struggling for grip as the first car through Friday's stages Loeb acknowledged he would be in a better position on day two, but maintained his SS6 incident was purely due to a faulty starter motor. "For one time the regulations went in the right way to help me," said Loeb.
Third placed Dani Sordo said he was delighted to have ended the day in the final podium spot.
Jari-Matti Latvala holds fourth overnight - just one-tenth of a second behind Sordo - but with Saturday's road positions determined after SS6, he will be third on the road. The Finn had tried to drop behind Sordo on the penultimate stage, but miscalculated his pace by a fraction and ended up four-tenths ahead.