If the start was excellent, the finish was even better as Team MRF’s Esapekka Lappi nailed the opening round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship 2013 here on Sunday.

Stuart Broad claimed a hat-trick today as he led England to a comfortable 46-run win over a New Zealand XI in the visitors’ first hit-out of their two-month tour.

A failed gear box combined with a problem with the windscreen ruined Gaurav Gill’s plans of a podium finish as the MRF driver ended the race seventh at the International Rally of Whangarei, the third