The opening two rounds of both the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) and FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship Pacific Cup powered by Wurth (APRC) have highlighted the success of both current and former Rally New Zealand development initiatives. New Zealand Motorsport has a proud history of competitor development including New Zealand […]
Ben Hunt and Tony Rawstorn have gone back-to-back in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship and opened up a healthy championship lead with victory at International Rally of Whangarei Sunday. The Hydraulink Subaru pair started the day in a tight battle with Stephen Barker but pulled away through the morning loop […]
With the prospect of being back in the calendar, the team @ RallyNZ are working hard to be hosting the worlds biggest motorsport event here in Tauranga, New Zealand, in 2018.
The revised Rally New Zealand event will be two days and based in the sunny Tauranga area and part of the 2017 NZRC.
The last running of WRC New Zealand with Sébastien Loeb winning the event from Mikki Hirvonen and Petter Solberg. NZ's first driver home was Hayden Paddon in a Škoda Fabia S2000 from Richard Mason and Emma Gilmour 3rd Kiwi.
Finns Marcus Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen, took Sainz's crown as the most successful driver in Rally New Zealand history when he beat Sebastién Loeb by 0.3 seconds to claim an exciting victory with the closest winning margin in the history of the WRC to 2007.
Next came the reign of Scotsman the late Colin McRae and co-driver Derek Ringer, and the rise of Subaru. McRae won in 1993 and 1994 before emulating Sainz with a third successive win in 1995 and his WRC title in 1995.
Carlos Sainz, and co-driver Luis Moya, of Spain who won for the first time in 1990. Sainz was the first driver to successfully defend his title in 1991 and went on to grab a hat-trick in 1992. All three titles were at the wheel of the Toyota Celica GT-4.
The last of the GrpB cars to win Rally New Zealand was Juha Kankkunen in a Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 at an average speed of 99.67 km/h.
Rally New Zealand was first included as a round of the World Rally Championship in 1977 and the winner was Fulvio Bacchelli driving a Fiat 131 Abarth.
... was the first to be accorded international status and attracted 67 entries, with 15 from outside New Zealand. For the first time an overseas team, Australia's Bruce Hodgson and co-driver Mike Mitchell, scored a narrow victory in their Lotus Cortina from the Holden Torana GTR XU1 of New Zealand's Ralph Emson and co-driver Wayne Jones.
It was organised by the Canterbury Car Club and run in the South Island with a total of 67 entries.
It was won by Grady Thompson and co-driver Rick Rimmer in a V8 powered Holden Monaro. Of the 33 starters in Taupo, 22 were classed as finishers.
