SS1 1925hrs (Thurs) Manukau Super 1 2.10km New Zealand's biggest annual sporting event got off to an electrifying start at the super special stage at Manukau City, 20 minutes south of Auckland. Thousands of spectators flocked to the floodlit stage and were thrilled by head-to-head sideways action as the World's leading drivers put the state-of-the-art cars through their paces on the tricky figure of eight course that included a jump and water splash. Markko Martin was fastest, with Marcus Gronholm second and Francois Duval third. Fastest Time: Martin (Ford) 1:24.5 SS2 1955hrs (Thurs) Manukau Super 2 2.10km A second run through the crowd-pleasing super special brought more close racing from the leading WRC drivers. Competing in his Impreza WRC2004, Petter Solberg was fastest with Marcus Gronholm second while Mikko Hirvonen, Harri Rovanpera and Markko Martin all stopped the clock at the same time to tie third. SS2 brought bitter disappointment for the Mitsubishi team, when both of their Lancer WRC04 entries developed an identical electrical problem that prevented their engines starting before the stage. Unable to make it to the line, drivers Gilles Panizzi and Kristian Sohlberg retired from the rally. Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 1:22.4