Sixty-seven crews are counting down the hours until this weekend’s Rally of Whangarei gets underway as the second round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.
Once again, the first eight cars are all from different manufacturers, making the NZ championship probably the most diverse in the world.
Much of that is due to the highly successful regulations that the series is running under, with R5 cars mixing with the locally produced AP4 machines, and the more traditional production based models, such as the Subaru Impreza and Mitsubishi Lancer.
Reigning title holder, Ben Hunt (Subaru – main picture), has been seeded car number 1, but favourite will once again be Hayden Paddon in his factory-backed Hyundai i20 AP4 that blitzed the field in the Otago Rally in April.
The top 10 is a who’s who of New Zealand rallying at present, and made up of Emma Gilmour (Suzuki Swift), Raana Horan (Skoda Fabia), Robbie Stokes (Ford Fiesta), Matt Summerfield (Mitsubishi Mirage), Jack Hawkeswood (Mazda 2), Josh Marston (Holden Barina), Regan Ross (Ford Fiesta) and Kingsley Jones (Skoda Fabia).
On the fast and open Northland roads, much lauded by drivers in the World Rally Championship in years gone by, picking a top five is no easy task.
On their day, any of the top 10 can finish on the podium, setting up a classic battle over the 18 stages and 260 competitive kilometres.
The fight for two-wheel drive honours will again be one to salivate over. Ari Pettigrew showed scintillating form at Otago in his BMW 318i, but classic regulars Marcus van Klink (Mazda RX8), Shane Murland (Escort RS1800) and John Silcock (Mazda RX7) will all be there or there abouts.
After a pair of spectator stages at Pohe Island on Friday evening, the rally proper gets underway on Saturday morning with eight stages to the north of the rally base.
Four stages will be repeated twice, split by a midday service back at the Semenoff Stadium. With all stages over 13km in length, it means that consistency and reliability will pay dividends.
A further four stages, each run twice, will take place to the south and south east of Whangarei on Sunday, with the rally’s longest test set to put a final sting in the tail.
The 22.55km Waipu Caves stage will be run just before the lunch time service, and again as the final stage.
Will Hayden Paddon extend his NZRC lead, can Ben Hunt get back in contention, or will Emma Gilmour finally see some much needed vehicle reliability?
We wait with baited breath.
Heatway Rally Reunion Tour announced
The New Zealand rally community will be able to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Heatway Rally with a reunion tour set down for April 2023.
This follows the recent 2021 tour, that was well received.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise 2023 is the 50th anniversary of the never to be repeated mammoth two island 1973 Heatway Rally,” event spokesman Paul Smith said.
“In the next few months initial planning will take place and before the end of the year we will announce more details.
“Suffice to say, a week-long event will probably start in Timaru and finish in Rotorua, taking in the best stages of the 1973 event and include the popular evening social functions and dinners.
“It’s now only 23 months to the 2023 reunion tour. It is going to be mega!”
Nearly two years out, calendars are already being updated, and budgets planned.
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