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Gisborne rally attracts top drivers

This Saturday’s (10 September) 2011 Gisborne Vehicle Testing Rally has a strong driver line-up that includes 2010 winner Stewart Taylor, from Havelock North, for the one day event.

The 36-year-old business manager from Hawke’s Bay will start as first car on the road for the six special stages through rugged terrain north-west of Gisborne. Driving the Tomoana Warehousing Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X he and co-driver Warwick Searle took to second overall at the recent Rally Hawke’s Bay makes the pair the form favourite among the 34 entrants.

“We’ve had a bit of seat time after the recent result at Hawke’s Bay so feel pretty good for this weekend. Warwick and I always enjoy our rallying and are looking forward to having a good time this Saturday. We’re also treating it as a home rally as both Warwick and my wife’s family are from Gisborne, so we have a lot of local support and we feel like we’re part of the community,” said Taylor.

“Plus we’re quite inspired at the moment to return to the New Zealand Rally Championship for next year. So we’re going to run different Hankook tyres to help make our decision for next year. We’re still getting a handle on the size and weight of the new car. It works the tyres harder but it’s a better balanced car, so it should suit the open Gisborne roads as well.”

Second on the road is Coromandel’s 19-year-old Alex Kelsey who drives the Subaru Impreza STI he hand-fabricated as a replica to the technology used in the former World Rally Championship Subarus. Third car away will be Pukekohe’s Shannon Chambers in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII.

Fifth on the entry list is prominent Palmerston North businessman Brian Green in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Green, whose international rally career spans more than 40 years, has driven many of the Gisborne roads when they were last used several years ago in Rally New Zealand as a round of the World Rally Championship.

The only South Island entrant likely to start is Christchurch’s Jeff Judd, who will drive his Ford Escort with a smaller 1600cc engine following a failure three weeks prior when he contested Rally Hawke’s Bay. Judd’s justification and motivation for returning to the north was to compete on the internationally-renowned roads.

Current New Zealand Rally Championship two-wheel-drive competitor Phil Campbell, from Tauranga, starts his Ford Fiesta ST behind former category winner Aaron Cook from Wellington in a Honda Civic Type R.

Entries have also been received by two Japanese novice drivers: Shinji Ogura (Mitsubishi Mirage) and Kohei Izuno (Suzuki Ignis Sport).

Teams start from the Gisborne Cosmopolitan Club at 8am on Saturday, heading inland toward Pehiri, before working their way north to the first of two service stops at Matawai. Made famous when Rally New Zealand visited the east coast in the late 1990s, Matawai’s remote location became a bustling hub for a day. The region was famous for its hard based, flowing roads which feature numerous changes in style to make them a real nemesis for drivers.

Saturday’s truncated version of that journey still includes sections of road well remembered by elder competitors such as Brian Green, who frequently contested Rally New Zealand. Roads such as 30.37km Whakarau and 25.29km Rakauroa have both familiarity and a formidable reputation.

Saving the best for last; the longest stage of the rally is the 39.93km Rakauroa / Wharekopae road. Finishers then have a 53km journey to Gisborne for ceremonial presentations back at the Gisborne Cosmopolitan Club from 4:45pm.

The rally is also the penultimate round of both the Geartech Central Region Rally Series and Stilo Top Half Series, and is organised by Rally New Zealand in association with the Gisborne Car Club.

Spectators can get out and watch for free, with a spectator map available on the www.rallynz.org.nz website in the Rally Gisborne section (left hand side navigation).