This weekend’s opening round of the 2013 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship celebrates a number of milestones that begins with a 807.28km journey over roads with crests and blind brows during the 6 to 7 April Drivesouth Rally of Otago.
It will be the first of two visits to the South Island for the six round series – and includes a record line up of entries vying for championship honours. Divided in to three competition categories a total of 24 have entered for the Super Rally supported by Auto Finance Direct field. That includes former champions Chris West (Timaru) and Hayden Paddon (Geraldine) along with defending and three-time champion Richard Mason (Masterton).
The 20th consecutive time a round of the championship will be contested over the Otago roads, another milestone will be the introduction of a new generation car to the series – firstly by local Emma Gilmour. The Dunedin based businesswoman has spent the off season overseeing the construction of Suzuki Swift Maxi to the new championship rules – and will have the first of three similar cars in competition for her home event.
However it will be Mason leading the field off in to the remote Otago reaches with the line-up containing a number of returnees mixed with the rookies, including two Australian based teams: Matt van Tuninen (Subaru, Super Rally) and Stewart Reid (Ford, Historic Rally) – both from Brisbane.
Also eligible for overall Goldstar title contention are the seven in the BNT Historic Rally Challenge category. Headed by defending champion Marcus van Klink from Kaiapoi, he will again campaign a Mazda RX7 that once ruled the rural roads.
Currently three are entered to the Gull Rally Challenge – a short-form step in to the championship where teams only compete for the Saturday journey of 410.17km, covering eight special stages.
“We’re looking forward to returning to Dunedin and the Otago rally as we’re happy with the car and comfortable with how it handles having spent the last few season’s refining things,” describes Richard Mason, who is co-driven by wife Sara in the championship winning BNT Subaru.
“It will be interesting to see how it goes in Dansey’s Pass and the roads to the north on the Saturday. We found the roads very heavily gravelled last time we went through there in 2009 and I’m not sure if that’s a common occurrence. If it is road position could play a factor. So we’ll be watching the weather closely, combined with what we observe during reconnaissance and make a call on tyres as late as we can – and I think we’ll find it will catch a few out.
“Hopefully it will be nice there for the weekend – it’s always more enjoyable when the sun shines.”
All teams start on Friday evening with an assembly of cars at Dunedin’s Octagon from 5pm. Fans can meet the drivers and collect autographs at the 5:30pm signing session which is followed by a ceremonial start from 6:05pm where the first car will be flagged away. The action proper begins on Saturday morning with crews and cars leaving from Dunedin’s Southern Cross Hotel from 7am, journeying north to the first of eight special stages for the day.
Following a quick service break at Dunback after the second special stage teams will contest the infamous 28.26km Dansey’s pass. After a further two stages crews get a second service stop, this time in Oamaru, followed by two more stages and a return to the city. The day ends with a blast through Dunedin’s industrial quarter, as teams tackle the 2.15km tarmac super special stage, starting at 3:20pm.
Teams get a further hour service time before the cars are locked away for the night.
Sunday’s continuation, post daylight saving clock corrections, is a further eight special stages held closer to the city centre totalling 120.48km of the 397.11km travelled for the day. Starting from 7:40am with the 28.70km Ramrock road, inland from Karitane they have the 10.75km Moonlight stage before a service break in Middlemarch. A further two stages and the repeat of the Moonlight Rd the following service is a last break before the sprint to the end. Tackling the 12.66km Waipori Gorge and 15.05km Kuri Bush the climax is the 10.94km Whare Flat – a stone’s throw from the city centre.
Fastest championship team through this nominated ‘power stage’ earns an additional five championship points and $500 – for each of the three categories. Prizes are awarded down to third and points down to fifth.
The survivors then journey the remaining 10km to the Dunedin Railway Station and the ceremonial finish, from 3:25pm.
News and information about the championship – including driver profiles and team news – can be found on the website www.nzrallychampionship.co.nz, or follow New Zealand Rally Championship on Facebook.
