Young rally driver, David Holder of Tauranga, is stepping up to a Mitsubishi Evolution 8 for next year’s 2014 New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), after demonstrating his pace in the two-wheel-drive class in 2013.

Holder (24) says he knows driving the Mitsubishi is a huge leap from his Stadium Finance Ford Fiesta but says he is looking forward to the challenge.

“Obviously it will be a fairly steep learning curve, stepping up to New Zealand’s highest level of rallying but I’m really excited to have been given such an amazing opportunity,” says Holder.

“Looking back, this was literally a dream two years ago. But now to actually be on the verge of going head to head with some of my New Zealand rallying idols is unreal.”

The opportunity, brought about with the support of Holder’s sponsors including Stadium Finance, comes after a year competing in the NZRC’s two-wheel-drive championship where the youngster challenged, and sometimes set faster times against more modern and more powerful Ford Fiesta R2’s.

“The two-wheel-drive class was a great class to learn the intricacies of the championship in, as it was always so close between first and third. I also learnt a lot about pace-notes [detailed directions of the road] and car control among other things.”

The Stadium Finance Mitsubishi Evolution 8 was previously owned by multiple New Zealand Rally Champion, and world rally driver, Hayden Paddon, who also doubles as Holder’s mentor.

“David [Holder] shows great potential as a rally driver. I’ve been working with him for a while now and he continues to make improvements to every aspect of rallying. I think he will be competitive in the Stadium Finance Mitsubishi Evo once he’s clocked up some miles in it,” says Paddon.

The Stadium Finance Mitsubishi Evolution 8 will be set up in full Group N specification, allowing Holder to benchmark his times against Nelson’s Ben Hunt who is set to contest the 2014 season in a similarly powered Subaru Impreza.

Holder says, “The age-old battle between Mitsubishi and Subaru starts again! I’d like to be challenging Ben [Hunt] but we know that he’ll be very hard to beat and has significantly more miles than us. But we’ll definitely be trying hard and hopefully we can be competitive against him towards the end of the season.”

The Stadium Finance Mitsubishi will also sport similar livery to Paddon’s newer Mitsubishi Evolution 9 with Paddon and his team also helping to prepare Holder’s car before the beginning of the 2014 season.

“Hayden’s [Paddon] support over the last two years has been truly humbling and it’s going to be even more exciting working closely with him preparing for next year.”

“We will also be writing our own notes this year which will be another new challenge. Hayden [Paddon] and John [Kennard] will be helping us with that as well, so we’re very thankful for their massive support.”

While the new car is set to debut at the first round of the NZRC in April next year, Holder says there is still a significant amount of work to do before the season starts.

“We are extremely grateful to have had such good sponsors this season but we still have a lot of work to do in terms of securing the budget required to compete next year. Our Ford Fiesta from last season still needs to be sold which would certainly help in the interim but even so, there is still more work to do.”

Holder and his team are supported by loyal sponsors: Stella Pumps, Stadium Finance, Magnum Compliance, Gull, Rally New Zealand, Maurice Trapp Group, PRELIM, Chris Brown, Mckerchar Industries, Bay Panel Beaters, Mount Wheel Alignment, Speedy Signs, Sew Hot Monograms, Repco Mt Maunganui, Ultimate Ford Tauranga and Attentive Design.

Stadium Finance offers nationwide finance and operates several branches around the country including Christchurch, Tauranga and Dunedin. The company is ‘the home of good sports’ and is involved with many sporting and cultural events around New Zealand. For more information, please visit www.stadiumfinance.co.nz or follow them on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/StadiumFinance or https://www.facebook.com/StadiumCarsMotorsport.

Alternatively to keep up with date with David Holder and his rallying endeavours, head to www.holderbrothersracing.com.