Rally NZ News

Previous news: Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next

Mikko Hirvonen on his way to his first Rally Finland win

Hirvonen takes rally win in Finland

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver Mikko Hirvonen fulfilled a childhood dream by winning Rally Finland – a round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship – in front of his hometown fans.

Current World Championship Leader Mikko Hirvonen at Rally Poland

Rally returns home to Finland

This weekend’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship moves to the Nordic region of Finland (30 July – 2 August), home to many of rallying’s specialist gravel drivers.

Regarded by many as the highlight of the season and an epic contest, Rally Finland will be headed by BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team's flying Finns Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen in the record-breaking Ford Focus RS World Rally Car.

Mark Tapper and co-driver Jeff Judd completed their aim of finishing the Acropolis Rally of Greece and came home second of the five Pirelli Star Drivers over the rock-strewn roads.

Tapper cleared for Rally Finland

Auckland rally driver Mark Tapper will compete in this weekend’s Rally of Finland, a round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, having been given medical clearance after breaking his wrist at home in June.

This is the fourth event for the New Zealand driver in the Pirelli Star Driver programme where the 28-year-old drives a Ralliart Italia prepared Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) driver scholarship programme.

Malcolm Stewart at Rally Australia 2005.  Credit Lance Hastie

Rally New Zealand mourns loss

New Zealand motorsport identity Malcolm Stewart passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning (22 July).

Suffering from the degenerative motor neurone disease, Hawke’s Bay resident Stewart was a successful and active competitor in rally events. He is recorded as the most prolific competitor of Rally New Zealand, having contested it 29 times in the 39 years it has been run. His first event was in 1972, aged 26.

Wairarapa results change Rally’s Rising Stars standings

With this weekend’s Trust House Racetech Rally Wairarapa completed, Geraldine’s Hayden Paddon and Whangarei’s Ben Jagger still feature at the top of the points’ tables for the two Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Awards. But now Rotorua’s Sloan Cox and Auckland’s Patrick Malley have closed in on Paddon and Jagger in the International Award and the Development Award respectively.

Inaugural Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Scholarship Winner Ben Hunt in action.  Credit Alan McDonald Macspeedfoto

Rally’s Rising Stars head for Wairarapa

Competitors registered for the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars programme get their next chance to score points during Trust House Racetech Rally Wairarapa this weekend, 18-19 July.

The driver development award programmes see competitors, aged 26 or younger, select four rallies in which to collect points towards either the Rising Stars International Award or the Development Award, explains Rally New Zealand chairman Chris Carr.

Previous news: Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next

WRC Updates

WRC TV

Alternative content