The New Zealand Rally Championship roars back into action this Sunday, with round three, the Canterbury Rally.
Weather conditions are expected to clear and sunny by Sunday, much to the delight of the event’s 70 entries, 38 of which are entered in the national component.
Starting as the hot favourite will be dominant championship leaders Ben Hunt and Tony Rawstorn in their Subaru WRX.
While the pair have been somewhat overshadowed in the first two rallies by Hayden Paddon and his scintillatingly fast Hyundai i20 AP4, the ex-WRC star is not registered for NZRC points in 2019.
That has left former champion Hunt with a commanding 37 point title lead over Josh Marston in his Holden Barina AP4, and a further three points clearly of Andrew Hawkeswood’s Mazda 2 AP4.
Hunt won’t definitely have it all his own way, however, with last year’s Canterbury Rally clearly on his mind.
Marston took a brilliant victory last year, while the Subaru man lasted less than one stage before electrical problems sidelined him, and it will be that result that will have the Holden man brimming with confidence.
It’s definitely his biggest chance yet to narrow the margin between he and the series leader.
“We have stepped up a bit in car pace this year which I am really pleased about,” Marston said.
“It is super encouraging.”
Absent from this weekend’s event will be Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour, who has parked her Suzuki Swift after a horror start to the season.
Two non-finishes, despite a power of time, effort and money being put into the car over the off-season, has forced Gilmour to temporarily abandon her championship aspirations until the car can be made more reliable.
Andrew Hawkeswood will also be absent in his Mazda 2 AP4.
Nearly all of the other top 10 regulars will be there, though, with the usual strong mix of makes making an appearance.
Phil Campbell (Ford Fiesta), Matt Summerfield (Subaru Legacy), Raana Horan and Kingsley Jones (Skoda Fabias), Jack Hawkeswood (Mazda 2) and Dylan Thomson (Subaru WRX) will all be well in the running in an event that never fails to throw up a few surprises.
A little further down the field, Marcus van Klink and Regan Ross are set to continue their friendly rivalry for the leading two-wheel drive trophy.
Ross and his Escort BDA missed the previous event in Whangarei, giving van Klink’s Mazda RX8 not only the 2WD lead, but fifth in the overall championship.
These two don’t start rallies to come second, and it promising to be an exciting battle with both likely to spend most of the day on the lock-stops!
Anthony Jones will also be nipping at their heels in his Escort, as well the ever-present Jeff Judd in another Escort.
Tony Gosling makes a welcome return to the NZRC in his ex-works replica Subaru Legacy RS Turbo, and young second-generation driver, Robbie Stokes, will continue his development in his front-drive Fiesta R2.
Making a welcome rallying return on his home event (although not registered for NZRC points), will be Robbie’s father, Brian Stokes.
The former national champion will drive the team’s developing Ford Fiesta AP4, the car that Brendan Reeves drove so impressively at Otago.
The Lonestar Canterbury Rally offers crews eight stages with a total competitive distance of 162.11km – a huge distance for a one day event.
Starting at 8.45am, the last stage doesn’t get underway until 6.00pm, meaning all crews will be running the stage in darkness.
Five of the rally’s eight stages are 22km long or longer.
It’s hard to pick against the in-form Ben Hunt, and the Subaru star looks set to further extend his NZRC lead as the championship reaches its half way point.
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