A pivotal round for the Vantage Aluminum New Zealand Rally
championship (NZRC) is in store this coming weekend at the International
Rally of Whangarei. Marking the middle of the five round NZ rally
championship it presents competitors the opportunity for those that stay
on the road to either extend their lead over their rivals or catch up
and pass those that fail to maximize points from the rally.
Unique to the NZRC, the Rally Whangarei is an international event being
part of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). Thus points
gained from this rally can go to three different championships -, The
APRC, the NZRC and the Stilo Top Half Rally Series.
Dean Sumner leads the NZ Gold Star Rally - Group N championship (the
premier class of the NZRC) on 145 points ahead of Emma Gilmour (126) and
Chris West (113). The top ten drivers are all within ninety points of
each other, hence this round has the potential to be the ‘make or break’
of the championship.
The NZRC has what appears to be a complicated points system. What it
does is issue points for a competitor’s position on each day of
competition and for their overall result in the rally. While most of
the rounds have two days of competition the Rally NZ held in May had
three.
For example a competitor who is 1st on day one is given 32 points, 1st
on day two (32 points) plus 10 points for 1st overall which equals a
total of 74 points for round.
So far this season there have been five days of competition for drivers
to gain points, plus two overall rally results – Rally Otago and Rally
NZ.
Consistency is the key and it is Dean Sumner and Emma Gilmour, first and
second who are reaping the dividends after finishing all five days.
Chris West (113) is third but retired out of the Rally Otago on the
second day. He clearly has the speed but needs to finish.
Fourth on the table is Hayden Paddon fifty one points behind leader Dean
Sumner. Paddon who missed the first round at Otago because of his
international commitments to the Pirelli Star Driver program made up
ground at the Rally of New Zealand. He pressed home the advantage of
the three day rally (and gathering three days of points) gaining 94
points and now is within striking distance of the leaders.
Richard Mason has had a difficult season so far, only scoring 56 points (ninth overall) and these came from the first day of the Rally of Otago. He has failed to score from the other four days of the championship. Mason has the speed and experience to be at the top or within striking distance before the end of the season.
The spoke in the wheel for this rally is the addition of international drivers. Japanese driver Katsuhiko Taguchi has the honour of being top seed for the rally in his MRF Tyres Mitsubishi. Second seed is Australian Chris Atkinson in the new Proton Satria R3 rally car. Also throw in other drivers from Australia, India, Indonesia, Finland, France, Japan and the United Kingdom. While not in contention for local NZRC points the international competition has the ability to take the focus off local drivers.
Add the up and coming drivers such as Patrick Malley, Sloan Cox and Ben Jagger; all who have moved up from 2wd last year as well as Glen Inkstar and Kingsley Thompson. All are capable of a podium finish.
The New Zealand Rally Championship also has classes for open four-wheel-drive, Kiwi 2, and historic cars which are joined by competitors from the Stilo Top Half Rally Series which has five classes for clubmans’ competitors.
The rally action takes place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 July with crews
heading as far south as Maungaturoto across a variety of roads in the
Kaipara and Whangarei districts, before participating in the finish
ceremony back at the Quayside Town Basin at 3:30pm on Sunday
NZ Gold Star Rally - Group N championship table – top ten
1 Dean Sumner 145
2 Emma Gilmour 126
3 Chris West 113
4 Hayden Paddon 94
5 Kingsley Thompson 73
6 Patrick Malley 71
7 Sloan Cox 71
8 Glenn Inkster 68
9 Richard Mason 56
10 Ben Jagger 55
Points available
1st 32 2nd 27 3rd 23 4th 20 5th 18 6th 16 7th 14 8th 13 9th 12 10th 11
11th 10 12th 9 13th 8 14th 7 15th 6 16th 5 17th 4 18th 3 19th 2 20th 1
