Motivated to be the first Kiwi since Possum Bourne to win the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), Cromwell's Hayden Paddon has confirmed his chase for the 2020 international title.

A sub-series to the global travelling World Rally Championship (WRC) it has long been used as a preening ground for up-coming talent. Many former champions are iconic names including Carlos Sainz, Kenneth Eriksson and two Kiwi’s; Rod Millen and Possum Bourne.

In 2019 three Kiwi’s started the final round with a chance of taking the title: Andrew Hawkeswood, Michael Young and Jack Hawkeswood. ...    more...

Rally New Zealand will make history inside Mt Smart Stadium when it returns as part of the World Rally Championship in Auckland this September.

Today (21 January 2020) Rally New Zealand organisers confirmed that Mt Smart Stadium will act as a base for the event’s service park and rally village for the fans.

An historic Super Special Stage is also set to be created to run inside the stadium on both Friday and Saturday of the rally.

The four-day event will be based in Auckland from 3 to 6 September 2020, and has the backing of ...    more...

The opportunity to compete for both an FIA Regional and International championship and to compete as part of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has never been more accessible for New Zealand rallying competitors.

The 2020 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) calendar sees three of the five rounds running as International events. The opening two rounds, Rally Otago and Rally Whangarei are both qualifying rounds for the FIA Pacific Cup, while the series will conclude with the FIA World Rally Championship round in Auckland.

Competitors who compete in two qualifying rounds of ...    more...

Fresh challenges are what motivates 2019 Targa New Zealand winner Haydn Mackenzie. So this year he is adding a NZ Rally Championship programme to his Targa tarmac event schedule.

“Yes,’ he said this week. “I’ve always wanted to have a go at rallying – on gravel - and I actually bought a car (a Mitsubishi Evo 6) and sort of tucked it away thinking I’d see how I went in it once I’d got the hang of 4WD on tarmac.”

Having won both Targa events (the three-day ...    more...

Targa tarmac motor rally organiser, Ultimate Rally Group (URG), is in the process of completing a switch of event sanctioning, permitting and licensing authorities begun earlier this year.  

That switch will see all three 2020 Targa events running solely under permits issued by the Auckland-based Australasian AutoSport Alliance (AASA), rather than long-time incumbent, the Wellington-based MotorSport New Zealand organisation.

This year permitting and licensing functions were split at both the three-day Targa Hawke’s ...    more...

Christchurch’s Dylan Thomson is pleased to announce he will work with co-driver Kieran Anstis for his 2020 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship.

Thomson has worked with partner Amy Hudson since making his rallying debut in 2016 but with Hudson purchasing a rally car of her own and looking to do some driving, Thomson didn’t have to look far for a replacement co-driver.

Anstis comes well credentialled as a graduate of both Motorsport New Zealand’s Elite Academy and Rally New Zealand’s co-drivers academy, while also sitting alongside ...    more...