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Rally New Zealand features at Pukekohe’s opening race meeting

This weekend’s opening round of the MotorSport New Zealand summer championship series will feature some top-class rally cars and Rally New Zealand 2010 alongside the circuit racers.

This season the premier circuit racing series, which includes the New Zealand V8 touring cars, Porsche GT3 Cup cars and the Suzuki Swift Sports Cup, includes a new entertainment complex called the ‘downtown village’ and among the cafés, bars and merchandise outlets set up for racing fans to enjoy will be the team from Rally New Zealand.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to remind the many thousands of motorsport fans expected to enjoy a full weekend of racing at Pukekohe that the World Rally Championship returns to New Zealand in May 2010,” says Rally New Zealand’s general manager Paul Mallard.

“Rally New Zealand is offering fans the chance to go in the draw and win a ‘money can’t buy’ experience for you and a friend during the event which runs from 6 to 9 May next year. The prize includes a ride in a rally car for both you and a friend at the Rally New Zealand shakedown session in Auckland in May 2010, a behind-the-scenes tour with one of the WRC teams where you can meet the drivers, plus two passes providing entry to all the key spectator areas to enjoy three days of WRC action.”

Visit the Rally New Zealand stand in the ‘downtown village’ at the Pukekohe Park racing circuit on Sunday 8 November.

Rally New Zealand’s home-base in 2010 is Auckland City and the rally route takes competitors both north to Whangarei and Kaipara districts and south to the Franklin, North Waikato and Raglan districts with the remote service parks used on each of the three days now confirmed at the Quayside Town Basin in Whangarei, Hampton Downs motorsport complex and the Raglan airfield. For more information, visit www.rallynz.org.nz.
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Photo information: Free to use. Please credit: Alan McDonald/Macspeedfoto. Image shows Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen in action during the 2008 running of Rally New Zealand.

For further information, please contact:
Paul Mallard, general manager, Rally New Zealand
021 272 5596 or paul@rallynz.org.nz

For high resolution or alternative images, please contact:
Kate Gordon, media manager, Rally New Zealand
021 587 227 or kate@rallynz.org.nz