GRONHOLM BARELY EDGES LOEB.(Competition)

Ford's Marcus Gronholm won the Rally New Zealand, round 11 of the World Rally Championship, with the smallest winning margin in series history. After more than 220 miles of competition on the twisty gravel roads of New Zealand's North Island, the Finn's margin of victory over Citroen's Sebastien Loeb was just 0.3 second.

Gronholm stretched his lead over Loeb in the drivers' championship to 10 points with four rounds to go. Three of those rallies will be on asphalt, Loeb's specialty. The title race looks set to go down to the wire.

Gronholm took the lead on the opening day, but he was never ahead of Loeb by more than 15 seconds. He started the last day only 1.7 seconds ahead, but Loeb seemed to have the advantage on the final morning, pulling out to a 2.9-second lead at the midday service stop. However, Loeb opted for tires that were too hard for the final stages, which were affected by intermittent rain.

Gronholm's teammate, Mikko Hirvonen, finished a distant third to increase Ford's manufacturers' championship lead over Citroen.

CORVETTE RACING'S FUTURE

Corvette Racing will confirm its return to the American Le Mans Series GT1 class-as soon as Aston Martin does the same. Steve Wesoloski, General Motors road-racing boss, even suggested that questions about Chevrolet's 2008 plans should be directed to David Richards, boss of Prodrive, which runs Aston racing.

Wesoloski and Corvette program manager Doug Fehan denied that they are trying to goad their rival into returning and distanced themselves from a Corvette ad in the Mosport ALMS race program. A picture of a Corvette passing a solitary Aston team member, who happened to be racing boss George Howard-Chappell, bore the words "Corvette: Turning participants into spectators.''