Advertisement- Tapper finishes ninth in production category
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Tapper finishes ninth in production category
15 June 2009 04:12pmNew Zealand driver Mark Tapper finished ninth in the production category and a creditable 21st overall in the world rally championship (WRC) round in Greece which ended this morning.
Tapper was just one of two drivers in the Pirelli Star programme to bring his car to the finish line achieving it despite driveline failure in the gruelling three-day 350km Acropolis Rally.
Notoriously tough, the Acropolis Rally got the better of several WRC heavyweights this year with five-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Petter Solberg and Dani Sordo all succumbing to the conditions early on.
Tapper was 19th overall and the leading Pirelli Star driver at the start of the second day but the broken driveshaft to his Mitsubishi in the second last stage halted their steady progress.
"We broke a driveshaft and that bent the steering so we had to retire for the day, which is disappointing because we were trying to look after the car," said Tapper who dropped down the leaderboard after copping a 10-minute time penalty so as to start the third day.
