AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 18 April 2004 — World champion Petter Solberg retained the lead after three days of the Rally of New Zealand yesterday although three-time winner Marcus Gronholm won four of the day’s eight stages. Norway’s Solberg, driving a Subaru, won only the last stage of the day — the 17th of the rally’s 23 stages — to lead by 19.5 seconds from Gronholm. Solberg has led after each of the rally’s three days but he gave himself a small degree of comfort when he won the 10-mile “Brooks” stage yesterday by almost five seconds. Gronholm, leading Peugeot’s charge for the title, won the first, second, fifth and sixth stages of the day to place Solberg’s overnight lead under desperate pressure.
