Rally New Zealands Paparoa Station stage was the scene of Richard Burns’ accident putting him out of contention of the 2002 World Championship.
Richard Burns the 2001 World Champion was heading into the Paparoa Station stage with a comfortable 44.3 second lead over his team mate and leader of the championship Marcus Gronholm. Richard had led the rally since the first stage and was still yet to win a round of the Championship for peugeot. He approached a left hand corner but clipped the inside of it on the approach which sent his Peugeot 206 WRC into a series of rolls with Burns and Robert Reid both lucky to walk away uninjured.
It left Marcus Gronholm with an unassailable lead for the defending championship with him holding a 23 point lead and only 2 rounds remaining. Only Giles Panizzi had an outside chance of challenging for the championship. The 2002 champion, Gronholm, duely went on to win and become the 2002 World Rally Champion.
Richard Burns’ win in New Zealand in 2001, his championship winning year, would sadly be the English mans last ever win.
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