Holder steps up to world stage
The 2016 NZ Rally champ David Holder, along with regular codriver Jason Farmer, will contest the FIA Junior World Rally Championship in 2018, lifting his rallying hopes to the international level.
The JWRC follows the ‘arrive and drive’ formula established by the WRC Academy in 2011, with competitors driving the Ford Fiesta R2 Eco Boost rally cars built and maintained by M-Sport Poland.
Holder, of Tauranga, has already registered for the championship, but must await the first selection of confirmed competitors being finalised today to be 100% sure of his entry.
Meanwhile, he’s hard at work trying to raise the necessary €185,000 budget.
The five-round championship takes in some of the WRC’s key European events – Sweden in February, Corsica (France) in April, Portugal in May, Finland in July and the unfamiliar roads of Turkey in September.
Plenty of speedway at Ruapuna
Two hotly-contested events take centre stage this Saturday night at Ruapuna Speedway with the South Island TQ Championship and a round of the Southern Midget Series on the programme.
Jeremy Webb will be in for a busy night, doing double duty as he defends his TQ title and also tries to make up some lost ground in the Midget series.
The TQ event has attracted 26 entries with a good muster of local drivers being complemented by entries from Nelson and Greymouth.
One visiting driver who will attract plenty of attention is Nelson’s Alicia McLachlan who has made a couple of appearances at Ruapuna this summer in the Hydraulink War of the Wings Series where she currently sits fourth on the points table.
This Saturday night she will revert back to the TQ.
With a big programme on offer, the meeting will start earlier than usual at 6pm.
More Kiwi drivers in Supercars While Red Bull Holden Racing have confirmed that Earl Bamber will team up with Shane van Gisbergen for the three Supercars endurance rounds – Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast Porsche have also confirmed his northern hemisphere racing program for 2018.
In the US the World Endurance Champion and double Le Mans 24 Hour winner will compete in the IMSA Weather Tech Sportscar Series.
This is the flagship series that competes at 12 of North America’s leading sports car venues, including Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, Long Beach and Road America.
In Europe he will also compete at Le Mans in France and the ADAC 24 Hour race at Nurburgring.
Confirmed last week was Richie Stanaway’s participation in the 2018 Supercars Championship.
The 26-year-old will drive for the Prodrive Racing team. Also stepping up again to a full Supercars season is Andre Heimgartner who will replace Todd Kelly in the Nissan Motorsport Team.
He will race alongside Rick Kelly, Michael Caruso and Simona De Silvestro at the Braeside-based squad. With five Kiwis now with full time drives in Supercars, the season is shaping up to be even better than 2017.
A seventh Kiwi, Chris Pither, will make a return to the Wilson Security Racing GRM team for the endurance series. Pither drove with GRM back in 2015 partnering with David Wall.