As reported by Talk Motorsport last week, the World Rally Championship is heading back to New Zealand after 12 years, and not even COVID-19 can get in the way.
All going well, late September and early October next year will see the world’s best drivers in their new hybrid rally cars competing on the best gravel roads in the world.
Early indications are that Rally New Zealand will use a route similar to what was proposed for the cancelled 2020 event, with an Auckland base and using some of the rally’s most famous stages, including Whaanga Coast.
The final day would likely include the popular Jack’s Ridge test.
“We have worked so hard and waited so long for this moment. We got agonisingly close to having the WRC return last year before COVID interrupted and so this feels so rewarding knowing we will get to run one of the country’s most iconic sporting events once again,” Rally New Zealand chairman PJ Johnston said.
Rally New Zealand first appeared on the WRC calendar in 1977, and 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the series.
One of the most anticipated announcements in coming months will be what New Zealand’s fastest rally driver, Hayden Paddon, has planned for next year.
Paddon has been out of the WRC 2018, and attempts to get his career going again have been thwarted by accidents and a global pandemic.
With major backing from Hyundai New Zealand, it would appear highly likely that the South Islander will be driving one of the brand’s new hybrid Rally1 cars next September.
However, Paddon would need time in the car leading up to Rally New Zealand, so a multi-event program will be under consideration.
Without extra rallies to get up to speed in the car, he would be at risk of being outshone, even on roads that he’ll be much more familiar with than his rivals.
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In Spain last weekend, Hyundai’s current leading driver, Thierry Neuville, put on a tarmac driving masterclass to take his second win of the season.
Neuville trailed Toyota’s Elfyn Evans initially, but once he found his mojo there was nobody within striking distance of the Belgian, who took a comfortable win.
Evans led home Hyundai’s Dani Sordo to keep his title hopes alive, although fourth placed Sebastien Ogier is still in the prime position to take an eighth crown in Monza in November.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Ogier though, who was fined by the Stewards twice over the weekend.
The first came when he overtook illegally on a road section, while the second was because he didn’t have his balaclava secured inside his driving suit on stage six.
It is not the first time the Frenchman has come under fire this year. He was fined for contesting a stage without his helmet secured, and also fined and copped a six month suspended sentence after leaving the scene of a traffic accident in Croatia.
The final round of this year’s WRC is in Monza from November 19 to 21. The series was originally to conclude in Japan, before the pandemic put paid to that for the second year in a row.
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