Wilson: Leader faces disadvantage

Despite heavy rain and localised flooding - which has caused the Rally New Zealand organisers to cut Friday's Waitomo test in half, so they can fix a road which has been washed away by the rain - the Briton says the deep level of gravel on the roads near the Tasman Coast will cause problems.

"The gravel's probably the worst we've seen this year," he said. "Running first will be really difficult. It's so deep, it's not going to start to sweep [clean] for a good three or four cars.

"It's quite strange, we were all expecting loads of mud around, but because the roads are close to the sea, the wind has dried them off quickly."

The risk of being forced to run first on the road and sweep the surface clean of the loose gravel is likely to be enough to force leading teams Ford and Citroen into considering employing team tactics in order to place their lead driver in the most favourable road position for each leg.

The weather forecast for the roads south of Auckland is mixed for the coming days, but Wilson says it would take a repeat of the torrential rain to change the running conditions over the weekend.

Wilson's recce for Rally New Zealand was interrupted by mechanical problems on his Volvo recce car, forcing the 21-year-old Cumbrian to switch recce cars three times.

"We had some trouble with the power steering on one car and the engine on the next," he explained. "It didn't cost us any time, though - and it won't affect us on the rally."

Wilson says he is determined to be quick out of the blocks in New Zealand, adding: "If you're up there and in the fight on the first couple of stages, that gives you the momentum to keep the times up there and to stay right on it. We dropped time on Friday last time, but we speeded up and were quick on Saturday and Sunday - I want the confidence to be on it from the start this time."