Rally cars line Te Matau ā Pohe Bridge during last year's International Rally of Whangārei. The rally is back from Friday to Sunday this weekend.
Rally cars line Te Matau ā Pohe Bridge during last year's International Rally of Whangārei. The rally is back from Friday to Sunday this weekend.
Hamilton rally team Todd Bawden and Paul (Barge) Burborough don't think they'll be too disadvantaged this weekend by not having competed in the International Rally of Whangārei previously.
The pair had an ''extremely satisfying'' and successful debut at last month's Rally Otago – the opening round of the 2022 BrianGreen Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), and are looking forward to their first run in Northland.
In Otago they got their first competitive opportunity to experience the performance and potential of Chassis #46 of the M-Sport factory's latest rally creations. Their Ford Fiesta R5 MkII is M-Sport's current weapon of choice in the second tier of the World Rally Championship (WRC2) and proved to be everything they hoped it would be as they blasted through the 14 rollercoaster stages.
Rally Otago is the fastest NZRC round, this year with an average speed, for the 250km, of almost 120km/h, with some top speeds in excess of 200km/h. Their Fiesta (Rego FORDR5) hit "only" 187km/h.
"The Fiesta isn't designed or set up for outright top speeds," said Barge.
"Its pace and performance come through its handling, traction and corner speed, as evidenced by those two third fastest times coming on stages that had slower average speeds than most of the others."
So having used Otago as a prolonged high-speed test session and familiarisation run for everyone, they are really looking forward to Whangārei this weekend, Todd said.
"We've recently had the chance to do some more testing and have made some significant gains in improving the setup and handling which has given us a real boost in confidence.
"Most of the stages are also being run in the reverse direction this year and therefore previous knowledge might not be such an advantage to those crews who have done Whangārei for the past few years.
"So it will be awesome to let the car loose on the roads up north, with all the camber, and, as it's the round with the lowest average speed [98km/h], it will be very interesting to see how well we can go on those more technical stages."
Hamilton rally team Todd Bawden and Paul (Barge) Burborough are looking forward to their first race on Northland's perfect rallying roads this weekend, after last month's International Rally of Otago
The International Rally of Whangārei has 18 Special Stages over around 264km on what is widely regarded as the world's best gravel rally roads from Friday to Sunday.
Kiwi star Hayden Paddon will be defending his title at the rally this weekend.
Paddon is going for his eighth title in Whangārei after winning last year's event, and is already at the head of this year's championship after winning the opening rally in Otago.
The fast cambered roads of the North will host the second round of the 2021 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship and there will also have a strong Clubman's field full of both locals and drivers from across the country.
Rally details
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Friday:
5pm - Official rally start and Ten4 Super Special Stage at Pohe Island. This will be an evening of action for all ages. From 5pm onwards all rally cars will be on display on the Te Matau ā Pohe Bridge, where fans can see the cars up close, meet the drivers, and grab an autograph. The bridge will be closed to public traffic before the display.
6pm approximately – Official opening of the event.
6.15pm approximately – First rally car over the start ramp.
7.13pm approximately – Ten4 Pohe Island Super Special Stage. All rally competitors will complete the 1km gravel super special stage under lights. Sweeping corners, hairpin bends, under the overbridge, and over the great jump, providing several prime viewing positions. Live rally commentary, plenty of parking.
