RALLY OF WHANGAREI
The 2019 International Rally of Whangarei took place over the first weekend of May. This was round two of the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) and the Asia-pacific Rally Championship. The event was open to various classes, including 4WD, 2WD, Historic, and many more. The start on Friday night included two runs through Whangarei township’s Pohe Island before the event moved north of Whangarei on Saturday to take in the regular special stages, such as Helena, Crows Nest, and Tapuhi, which were all raced twice, both in the morning and again in the afternoon. In total, 264km of special stages were used.
On Sunday, the rally covered roads south of the main township, and again four Special stages were raced twice over before returning to base for the ceremonial finish.
Of the many cars entered, one which stood out in particular was the Toyota Levin AE85
of Queenstown-based Andy Gillies and Nathan Pilcher. This is the car that had been previously owned by Hayden Paddon’s father Chris. All the way from Ireland, Frank Kelly and his daughter Lauren were another pair of crowd entertainers, racing his Ford Escort MKII (‘Baby Blue’) in the Open 2WD class.
The Historic class included Regan Ross and his Escort RS1800; Jeff Judd, who was also driving an original Escort RS; and Steve Cox in his Toyota Starlet KP61. Jeff Judd and Sarah Brennan took out this class, as Cox and Ross both retired with mechanical issues.
The rally was won by Hayden Paddon and co-driver Samantha Gray in his Hyundai i20 AP4. They were entered into the Asia-pacific category to not take away from the NZRC, since he won’t be racing all of the local rounds. The winning NZRC driver was Ben Hunt.
The next NZRC round will be the Lone Star Canterbury Rally on 2 June.