Local Ari Pettigrew has claimed both the Unlimited 2WD Class title and outright record at the 2026 Ashley Forest Rallysprint over the weekend. Driving his new Porsche GT3, Pettigrew set a record time of 59.13 seconds during the top 16 elimination runoffs, breaking the previous record of 1:00.90 set by Chris Hey (Toyota MR2) in 2019.
“Pretty cool,” commented Pettigrew. “Just trying to catch my breath after that run. We are still struggling to get it off the line.
“Obviously Chris (Hey) has had a pretty cool run. All credit to him, it has been a massive effort from him in holding the record for so many years”
Going under the minute again in the class run off, Pettigrew becomes the first driver in 16 years to take the class win.
The man who held the reigns to the class is Chris Hey. His time was good enough to finish in second place. Christchurch driver Nic McCullum was on his debut at the event and drove to a brilliant third place finish.
While the Rallysprint was first run in 1979 and won by Steve Millen in a Vauxhall Chevette, the current course was created in 1980 and was won by John Woolf in a Mazda RX-3 in a time of 1:10.81
Dunedin Goldsmiths Unlimited 2WD Class podium
1/ Ari Pettigrew, Porsche 911 WRC 59.34
2/ Chris Hey, Toyota MR220 1:03.08
3/ Nic McCallum, Ford Escort MKII 1:13.19
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