Home-town hero Emma Gilmour has Masterton ace Richard Mason to contend with as she aims to stamp her authority on this year's Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship when round three, the Drivesouth Rally Otago, is held in Dunedin this weekend.
And Gilmour will not only have to worry about Mason, fresh from his commanding Wairarapa rally success, but also Coromandel's Alex Kelsey, current leader on the 2012 national championship table, and a former national champion in Chris West from Timaru.
The Drivesouth Rally starts in Dunedin's famous Octagon at 6.15pm on Friday with competitors heading south for three special stages run in the dark before they confront eight competitive stages on Saturday and six on Sunday.
"An event win is what we need to stamp some authority on our championship title bid," says Gilmour, dealer principal of local new-car dealership Gilmour Suzuki. "It's a very fast rally, you just have to be pushing it all the time. Our car has a good base setup now but you always have to keep working on what you can do to be faster each time - because there will be someone there on your heels if you don't."
Mason for his part regards the Otago rally as quite different to other events in New Zealand.
"You have undulations in the roads, crests and you run along ridge-tops before dropping into gullies. Roads in other areas tend to follow the hillside rather than going up over the top of them, that makes Otago quite interesting. Plus the road surface can be quite a mixture, it could be really loose gravel or really hard - you don't know until you get there," says the three-time national champion.
Mason said he "liked the tighter roads, such as Waipori Gorge, the 13km final stage of the rally which provides a big challenge for the drivers as far as speed, control and accuracy is concerned".
Mason retired from the first day of the national championship opener, Brother International Rally of Whangarei, but his Wairarapa win means he heads to Otago with a mere 3-point deficit to championship leader Kelsey.
"I've said earlier in the year the points system will reward those chasing for good results - and that's exactly what we will be doing," said Mason. "We're planning on having the lead heading to the next round in June."
Kelsey will start first on the road again as he did in Wairarapa. The 19-year-old competes in the open four-wheel-drive category in a Subaru WRX which is built to different specifications to the Group N Subaru STI rally cars that Mason and Gilmour use.
This year the overall championship title can be won by any competitor registered for the championship, regardless of the class of car they compete in. This makes Kelsey eligible for the outright title in exactly the same way as Mason, Gilmour, West and company.
Heading to Otago, Kelsey has 51 points. Mason and Gilmour are on 48 and 47. Christchurch's Matt Jansen is fourth in the overall NZRC drivers' championship standings with 33pt and Kerikeri's Kingsley Thompson fifth with 21pts.
Chris West, another South Island favourite, is keen to get his championship back on track.
The Mitsubishi driver is languishing in seventh place after being plagued by a fuel issue and other challenges in the first two events.