![Richard Mason and co-driving wife Sara are among the top Kiwi competitors entered for this year’s Rally New Zealand which takes place 7 to 8 May. [Photo: Lance Hastie]](http://www.rallynz.org.nz/media/2011/04/mason-otago-by-lance-hastie.330x219.jpg "Richard Mason and co-driving wife Sara are among the top Kiwi competitors entered for this year’s Rally New Zealand which takes place 7 to 8 May. [Photo: Lance Hastie]")
A top-quality line-up for the 2011 running of Rally New Zealand on 7 and 8 May sees New Zealand’s most talented rally drivers tackle over 260 kilometres of competitive stages through the Franklin, North Waikato and Raglan districts.
The 71-strong field features top Subaru pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard as the top seeds. The former New Zealand rally champions, from Geraldine and Blenheim respectively, currently lead the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship after the first round in Otago in April. Second in the official seeding list is defending NZRC champion Dean Sumner with co-driver Paul Fallon (Mitsubishi, Rotorua), with Chris West and Erin Kyle (Mitsubishi, Timaru), third seeds.
“Rally New Zealand is the second of five rounds on the 2011 NZRC calendar and the event’s starting order uses the current Goldstar rally drivers’ championship points following April’s DriveSouth Rally of Otago to rank the four categories of NZRC competitors,” explains Rally New Zealand chairman Peter (‘PJ’) Johnston, the organisation behind the event and promotion of the championship series. “The seeded entry list then slots in competitors from the Rally New Zealand Historic Rally and Possum Bourne Memorial Rally fields.
“It’s one of the sharpest fields we’ve had in a long time for a New Zealand Rally Championship event. At the front of the field, competition is sure to be intense, particularly with Hayden Paddon, third in last year’s Production World Rally Championship, as the number one seed.
“Fourth seed is Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour, who with co-driver Glenn Macneall, held second overall in their Subaru STI behind Hayden at Otago for a time. Following Emma – runner-up in the 2009 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship – on the first day of competition is the former champion husband-and-wife pairing of Richard and Sara Mason in another Subaru STI. You can be sure that Richard will be drawing on every bit of experience gained in local and international competition in Australia and around Asia as he strives to make the most of this unique opportunity to get his name on the Rally New Zealand trophy!
“Sixth seed is Feilding’s Geof Argyle and Phil Deakin in their open-class Mitsubishi. Geof is another former New Zealand champion and also has extensive Asia Pacific experience, having finished runner-up in that prestigious international series in 2004,” adds Johnston.
“All this experience gives our younger stars like Sloan Cox, Ben Jagger and Matt Jansen a great chance to benchmark themselves against the top five as they are all driving similar Group N production specification cars.”
Queensland’s Matt van Tuinen and co-driver Nathan Long is the only off-shore team entered in the NZRC field of Rally New Zealand, having registered and already made their mark in New Zealand’s premier rally series.
“I was very impressed with Matt’s progress in Otago on roads he’d never seen, let alone driven before. He’s already enjoying what our championship has to offer so I know Rally New Zealand will give him an even bigger smile to take back to his Australian counter-parts,” says Johnston.
Auckland’s Dave Strong and Bruce McKenzie have the only non-turbocharged car in the premier category, starting their Ford Fiesta S2000 car ahead of Palmerston North’s Brian Green and Fleur Pedersen. This Mitsubishi-driving pairing is followed on the seeding list by 1985 New Zealand champion Brian Stokes from Kaipoi and co-driver Ally Mackay, driving a Ford Escort RS1800, the highest seeded pairing in the Rally New Zealand Historic Rally category.
“We also have a mixed and competitive two-wheel-drive field, both modern like the Ford Fiestas and historic like the Ford Escorts,” notes Johnston. “We saw at Otago the technology in modern cars can beat the brawn of the spectacular historic cars. There are eleven historic class cars with the early series lead held by North Shore’s Rob Wylie who returns to competition in his Nissan 240RS after a year away. This time, Wylie, who was the 2008 classic champion, has former champion driver Deborah Kibble as co-driver. This isn’t a new role for Deborah, but co-driving in the Nissan will certainly be different. Feilding’s Euan Fuge is another former champion and, with co-driver Donna Elder, is a sure-shot for the weekend’s class podium in his Mazda RX3. You also can’t overlook Hamilton’s Gary and Troy Smith for podium honours as they are currently second overall in their Ford Escort.
Johnston continues: “Among the modern two-wheel-drive cars, we can expect some competitive times. Nelson’s Ben Hunt and Tony Rawstorn got their Ford Fiesta in the way of a few four-wheel-drive cars at Otago, so we’re sure to see the same again at Rally New Zealand, where they could finish ahead of the historic cars. Tauranga’s Phil Campbell and Mal Peden pilot the second of three Ford Fiestas, starting ahead of Christchurch’s Josh Marston and Sarah Coatsworth. We’ll also be watching out for the Skoda bio-diesel powered car of Matt and Nicole Summerfield – this car is regularly fastest among the 2WD models.”
The 71 teams contesting Rally New Zealand comprise three divisions with further sub-categories.
Clerk of the course Willard Martin explains: “Division one is for cars contesting the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship and associated classes. Division two cars are those contesting just the historic section and division three are cars are also competing for honours in the Smartwood by Alpwood Possum Bourne Memorial Rally, which runs only on the Saturday stages.
“In effect, any one of the 71 drivers has a chance of getting their name etched on the Rally New Zealand trophy that carries the names of rallying legends like Colin McRae, Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz. Only four Kiwi drivers have their name on that trophy, the last being Jim Donald in 1981, so this year competitors have the chance to create history.”
On Friday 6 May, the event starts with a free-to-attend driver autograph session and official start ceremony at the Manukau City Centre from 6:00pm with the first competitors going over the start ramp from 7:30pm. Competitors then depart at timed intervals from 8am on Saturday morning from the Hampton Downs rally headquarters to contest eight special stages throughout the day, including two super special stages run around the Hampton race circuit. On Sunday 8 May, rally crews face six further stages around Raglan, including the iconic Whaanga Coast stage, before returning to Hampton Downs for the final super special stage on the race track, followed by a prize-giving track-side from 5:30 pm.
At Hampton Downs, in between the rally super special stages, other races and action takes place on both Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday’s ‘High Octane on Hampton’ event set to be a must-see day of exciting motorsport action which includes the first-ever running of a Ken Block-style Gymkhana X competition, a Gran Turismo 5 virtual racing challenge with great prizes on offer, drift demonstrations from the stars of D1NZ, a time attack competition around Hampton Downs’ sweeping circuit, a bikini model challenge, a 100-car park-up, and circuit racing from classic and modern muscle cars, sports and GTs, and a specially-invited field of Formula 5000s and Atlantics.
More details, including a free spectator map are available from the Rally New Zealand website, www.rallynz.org.nz. Access to rural rally stages is via gold coin donation to support the community groups which help with on-event parking and safety marshalling, while adult ticket prices at Hampton Downs are $10 on Saturday and $25 on Sunday and include viewing for the rally’s super special stages run on the circuit.