Car brand battle begins
This weekend’s opening round of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship begins a new battle for
supremacy between Japanese car manufacturers’ Mitsubishi and Subaru.
Top billed in the five-round series that travels the country, the two brands fill the four-wheel-drive turbo-charged
line-up starting this weekend at the Tomoana Warehousing Rally Hawke’s Bay (4 – 5 April).
Led by last season’s champion Hayden Paddon (Geraldine), his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 assisted the team to the series
manufacturers’ title – dominated by rival Subaru for the past three years.
Starting in second spot – and well poised to emerge as an early leader, Masterton couple Richard and Sara Mason return
in their Subaru Impreza – Mason a former double champion.
The field also includes Christchurch’s Chris West and Garry Cowan (Mitsubishi EVO 8), Hamilton’s Emma Gilmour and Glenn
Macneall (Subaru Impreza), Rotorua’s Dean Sumner and Paul Fallon (Mitsubishi EVO 9), along with Hastings pairing of
Stewart Taylor and Logan Taylor (Mitsubishi EVO 9).
Boosting the Subaru corner, rookie teams Kieran Hall and co-driver Peter Hart (Nelson) plus Matt Jansen and co-driver
Jason Farmer (Christchurch) start their first championship event in the Premier Group 1 (production Group N)
With seven Mitsubishis including two brand new Lancer EVO X models, Subaru has four representatives vying for the
top-crown.
Other brands competing in the series include Ford, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Skoda.
Preceding the Hawke’s Bay opening round action, all the championship cars will be on display at Napier’s Sound Shell
from 4:30pm Friday afternoon, before crossing the ceremonial ramp adjacent to Marine Parade at 7pm. The competition
begins in earnest Saturday morning with a 25 kilometre journey to start off the Napier/Taupo highway and in to the
18.53km Waipunga stage.
Progressing north, the cars complete a further three tests before a lunch service stop in Wairoa to turn the teams south
through traditional county and forest reaches before the end of day stop in Napier. Adding to the tests set down for
the weekend, the season end to daylight saving at 2am on Sunday will give teams an extra hour to prepare for the final
day. Resuming from 7am Sunday morning, the journey pushes teams north and inland, refreshing during the day at the
Whirinaki Pulp Mill service area.
Adding to the spectacle, the 11.28km Triple Bridges stage alongside the Ngaruroa River between Hastings and Napier
provides the penultimate test before a 24km sprint through the ‘Dartmoor’ stage brings the crews to the ceremonial
finish at Napier’s Pak ‘n Save Supermarket carpark on Station street from 4pm.
Ends.