Motorsport: Auckland to star as WRC returns

Hot on the heels of the World Rally Championship (WRC) returning to New Zealand next year comes the news that the rally will again be based in Auckland.

Rally New Zealand will use a number of inner-city locations next June, with organisers expected to repeat the popular super special stage at Auckland Domain.

The official ceremonial start and finish will again be at Viaduct Harbour, in the centre of Auckland's redeveloped waterfront, with exact locations still to be confirmed.

"The rally is a great showcase for Auckland. Having the ceremonial start and the parc ferme on our new waterfront will be a great way to show the millions of fans, who watch coverage of the rally around the world, what a great place Auckland is," said Mayor Len Brown.

"Added to the special stage in the Domain, Auckland couldn't ask for a better international platform. This is a great international sporting event and I am very happy to welcome it back to Auckland.

"Hosting major events such as this is critical if we are to achieve our ambition of being the world's most livable city.

"The event provides another excellent opportunity to showcase Auckland as a popular visitor destination."

Rally New Zealand chairman Peter Johnston is equally, if not more, fired up in anticipation of showcasing to the world what great rally roads New Zealand has and how much fans love seeing international stars compete here. "There are 32 other countries, and some of them with a lot of money, especially the Arab ones, who want a round of the WRC in their country and we tendered for it and got it," said Johnston. "We have fantastic rally roads here in New Zealand and the drivers love our roads. It's been said we have the best roads, as far as rallying goes, in the world.

"The teams like our roads and, despite New Zealand being a long way away from Europe, they all love coming here."

When last here, in 2010, the WRC event attracted worldwide television coverage of over 50 million people in 108 countries. More than 230,000 people visited the WRC website over the five days the event was held with 95,000 fans taking in the action, including a crowd of 25,000 at the night-time super special stage at the Auckland Domain.

"With Auckland again as the host city, we have numerous options to take the rally route into surrounding regions which allows us to develop an event which provides a true test of the drivers' skills," said Willard Martin, Rally New Zealand's clerk of the course. Kiwi Morrie Chandler, former president of the world rally commission, has been a champion of the series coming to New Zealand. He said we had a rich history in rallying and to see the competition back on-shore was a good thing.

"I'll be honest and say it's no more than we are entitled to [having the rally in New Zealand]," said Chandler, who is now an FIA vice-president.

"Looking further ahead, the FIA are looking to a slightly different style of rally and FIA wants to take the sport to the people and introduce a bit of night time stuff and get a bit of the adventure back into the sport.

"The current president of the FIA, Jean Todt, was involved in rallying in the past - both as a co-driver and manager of the Peugeot team when they competed here [New Zealand] in the 1990s. He has a lot of recall of that time and sees it as adventurous.

"He thinks a lot of the adventure has gone out of the sport and wants to see it come back again."

It may be a long bow to draw, but if the FIA president thinks New Zealand is the adventure playground for rallying and wants to see some of it back in the sport, we might be seeing more of it on home soil in the future.