The battle for podium positions among the outright contenders at Rally New Zealand might have been pedestrian today, with Marcus Gronholm, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg content to hold onto their overnight placings across the final five stages and 113 competitive kilometres, but the Group N contest was full of drama, going right down to the wire.

While overnight leader Toshihiro Arai, was clear at the front of the field, Australia's Cody Crocker and Argentina's Marcos Ligato became involved in an intriguing fight that saw the two separated by just 4.4 seconds at the end of the three day, 403 kilometre, contest.

Crocker went out this morning just 14.3 seconds behind Arai, the two Subaru Impreza WRX STis well clear of the rest of the production class cars. But Crocker lost time on the first two stages to find himself 34.3 seconds behind with the final group of four consecutive stages remaining. Still, at the end of SS18 he was comfortably second, one minute 7.6 seconds ahead of Ligato in third.

But with six kilometres remaining on the next stage, Crocker copped a right rear flat tyre and dropped forty seconds getting to the finish line. With no service, he and co-driver Greg Foletta were forced to make a change, and tackle the final three stages without a spare. Their buffer over Ligato was now just 23.3 seconds.

The Impreza made it through SS20 and SS21 without further problems, and with a slightly increased margin, now 25.6 seconds.

But just 600 metres into the final stage, a re-run of SS21, they got another flat tyre, with ten kilometres remaining. Remarkably they were only 23 seconds slower than their earlier unhindered run over the stage, but this was cutting things fine. Not only was their buffer effectively gone, they had to make it 28 kilometres back to service with just three good tyres They made it, with just ten seconds to spare, despite having to revert to their original flat with six kilometre remaining to the service park control point.

Adding to the drama was the usual running order on the final day of Rally New Zealand. Crocker was in the first group with the World Rally Cars and had completed both final stages well before Ligato had even started them. The wait was nail biting, but in the end satisfying, the Australian pair beating the Argentineans home by 4.4 seconds.

By the time the result came through, Crocker and Foletta were exhausted.

"What a day," said Foletta. "Both Cody and I are exhausted. We're just coming down the other side of the adrenalin hill."

Crocker agreed that it had been one of the most difficult days of his career.

"We went out pretty conservatively on the first two stages and lost time, but we felt very comfortable in second place," Crocker said.

"We were 13th on the road today behind the WRC cars and the first of the cars with our wheelbase. We probably went for a tyre that was too hard and too wide because there was a lot more gravel around today, and we had one wheel on the clean of the road and the other in the loose stuff. But even so, we still had a minute over Marcos (Ligato)."

The first flat was bad enough but the second one, so close to the start of the stage, was a shocker. It is remarkable that we only lost the 23 seconds."

"The drive back to the service park was the longest 28 kilometres of my life. It was such a relief to make it and even better when we found out that we'd held on to second despite it all."

"Second in a WRC event is good, I've got to be happy with that. We were locked in a fantastic battle with Toshi (Arai) for the first two days and this has given me a lot of confidence. So I'm really looking forward to Canberra now, which is only a fortnight away."

"The car once again performed brilliantly, so the boys haven't got too much to do to have it in top shape for Canberra."

Crocker and Foletta finished second in Rally New Zealand two years ago, but were disqualified on a technicality. The result today, behind fellow Subaru driver, Taosh Arai, was their best international result.

The Subaru Rally of Canberra,a round of the Asia Pacific Championship, commences on Friday April 25 and finishes on Sunday April 27. Crocker will be joined in Subaru Rally Team Australia by Possum Bourne, in the MY03 Impreza WRX STi that took him only to SS5 in New Zealand, and Dean Herridge.

Group N Results - 2003 Rally New Zealand

1 T Arai (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 4hrs 03 mins 30.3 secs

2 C Crocker (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 4.05.36.1, +2:05.8

3 M Ligato (Mitsubishi Lancer) 4.05.40.5, +2:10.2

4, H Al Wahaibi (Oman) (Mitsubishi Lancer) 4.06.17.3, +2:47.0

5 M Rowe (GB) (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) 4.06121.9, +2:51.2