“It should be awesome,’ is the way current Repco Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen sums up this weekend’s Kennedy Park Resort Rally Hawke’s Bay, the fourth round of the 2022 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship. Van Gisbergen, along with co-driver Glen Weston, have entered their #97 Skoda Fabia R5 in the event as preparation for competing in the 2022 WRC Rally New Zealand at the end of September.
“It’s a really tough challenge,” commented van Gisbergen. “I don’t expect to be at the front, for me it is about finishing every km.”
Having won the recent Copthorne Bay of Island Far North Rally, expectations from rally fans could well be high, given some of the national competition that had entered such as Dylan Turner (Audi S1 AP4) Todd Bawden (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII), Ben Hunt (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) and Raana Horan (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo). Not so, says SVG.
“I think the Far North Rally wasn’t that fair, to be honest,” said SVG. “A lot of good drivers were on old tyres and some had problems. This weekend will be a fully competitive rally.”
Van Gisbergen explains that there is still a lot to learn (which means he can only get faster)!
“It is going to take time. I don’t like not knowing what is around the corner so it is about trusting the (pace) notes and having confidence in a six-left or a five-right.”
This weekend’s Rally Hawke’s Bay will be very competitive. With current NZ Rally Championship leader Hayden Paddon competing in Europe, it now paves the way for another competitor to win a round of national championship with Ben Hunt the favourite having finished runner up to Paddon in the first three rounds of 2022.
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