Rising stars ready for Rally Otago

Rally New Zealand

Media statement re Rising Stars driver development programme

15 May 2009

Rising stars ready for Rally Otago

Six talented young rally drivers will be counting on good results in this weekend’s Otago Rally to help towards their success in Rally New Zealand’s Rising Stars driver development programme.

The programme offers a substantial prize of expert mentoring and funding worth $50,000 towards their 2010 rally campaigns for two young drivers.

In Otago, three drivers will be driving for points towards the Rising Stars Development Award: Ben Hunt and Dominick Unterberger, both from Nelson, and Ben Jagger from Whangarei. Vying for points towards the Rising Stars International Award will be Geraldine’s Hayden Paddon, Nelson’s Kieran Hall and Rotorua’s Sloan Cox (17).

Points for both awards have already been earned at April’s Tomoana Warehousing Rally Hawke’s Bay. Young Auckland driver Patrick Malley currently tops the Development Award table with ten points, but hasn’t nominated Otago as a points-earning round. Jagger has nine points, while Hunt and Unterberger start their Development Awards campaign in Otago and are yet to earn any points.

In the International Award, Paddon was the only driver to nominate Hawke’s Bay, so earned the maximum ten points for that event. Hall and Cox are yet to earn any points, with Otago being the first of their four nominated events.

Rally New Zealand’s chairman Chris Carr explains the process: “For each of the awards, drivers must be registered competitors in the Vantage New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC). They nominate two NZRC events in addition to two compulsory events in which to collect points towards their desired award. The two compulsory events are June’s NAC Insurance International Rally of Whangarei and August’s Possum Bourne Memorial Rally.”

The Rising Stars Development Award is for competitors currently running in the N3 or production car front-wheel-drive championship, and offers the 2009 winner support to run a four-wheel-drive car in Rally New Zealandand the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2010. The Rising Stars International Award provides the 2009 winner with significant funding and support to contest a major international rally in 2010.

Joining the bid for the International Award in Whangarei will be Christchurch’s Josh Marston.

“With four talented young guys vying for both the Development and the International Awards, we’re going to have some exciting weekends of competitive rallying to enjoy as we head towards a one day shoot-out programme to decide each of the awards. In October, after the last NZRC event Rally Nelson, the top two points’ scorers will be joined by a wildcard entry for each award to decide who takes out the inaugural Rising Stars Development Award and Rising Stars International Award,” says Carr.

Late last year Hunt won the first sector of the three-part Rising Stars programme when he took out the inaugural Rising Stars Scholarship Award at a two-day shoot-out against eleven other young rally drivers, including Unterberger. Hunt’s prize includes the use of a fully-funded two-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta with which to contest the five events in the 2009 Vantage New ZealandRally Championship and the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally.

ENDS/

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